Hey, would love to hear what you guys would have done in my shoes. 

 

Twice in the last week I've fished very shallow (like 8' max depth) natural lakes between 300-500 surface acres. Both lakes weed up terribly in the summer, but are navigable this time of year before the weeds really pop. Both days were bright sunshine with not a cloud in the sky and very little shoreline structure (shadows) to fish. In both cases the water surface temps were in the high 50s or 60s and the bite was very, very slow.

 

I managed to catch fish both days, but I was somewhat frustrated because it felt like I didn't have many variables I could change. I tried fishing different areas, fishing fast vs slow, high in the water vs on the bottom... but the uniform shallow bottom and lack of diversity in these lakes meant there was only so much I could change to try to "find the bite". 

 

So, my question is, what would you guys have tried in these conditions? How do you manufacture "variables" to tilt the odds in your favor? 

1 hour ago, JackstrawIII said:

So, my question is, what would you guys have tried in these conditions? How do you manufacture "variables" to tilt the odds in your favor? 

 

I would not expect to find many if any feeding bass in the conditions you described. Especially in super clear water.

No doubt in my mind, you were very comfortable and these were great days to and times to go fishing.

But what about the bass ?

They often use certain 'conditions' to feed in and feeding fish are usually far more cooperative.

Conditions that give a bass some type of an advantage over whatever prey they are hunting.

So low light, first light and even night time can be good.

Overcast, some wind and sometimes just a ripple on the water is WAY Better than flat calm water without a breath of air movement.

If there's some cover for the bass to get 'under', some sun might position them in somewhat predictable spots.

Docks and Lily Pads could be good.

If I had to fish flat calm water, I'm there a very first or last light or at night.

Middle of the day might be left for yard work.

Good Luck

A-Jay

(btw - a swimjig with a paddletail trailer sounds like it would produce where you're fishing.

In the right conditions of course. 

I agree with Andy. I fish shallow, clear water bodies of water and I prefer to launch at four in the morning when it's foggy or raining. The problem for you and me right now is that it can be cold at four in the morning. At the very least, fish cloudy days if you can.

 

As Andy noted, fishing in the wind can help, but if you're a paddler, you'll have to work for your bass. Here's a bass caught in the wind yesterday, caught on an underspin with a paddletail trailer. If you had watched me catch it, you would have laughed, for the shorelines, as you can see, are lined with woody bushes and it's always a race to boat the bass before the shoreline hooks me:

 

On 4/29/2025 at 5:41 PM, A-Jay said:

btw - a swimjig with a paddletail trailer sounds like it would produce where you're fishing.

In the right conditions of course. 

You’re spot on. The ones I did catch were on a paddletail swimming very slowly along the tops of the weeds. I did find a stick or two to flip a creature bait towards with some success, but minimal. 
 

I think you’re right about the conditions being what they are. However, I’m in the “fish whenever you can” stage of life with young kids, a job, grad school, etc. I’m just happy to be able to get out occasionally and wrestle with whatever conditions nature is serving at that given time. 
 

On 4/29/2025 at 7:21 PM, Swamp Girl said:

I prefer to launch at four in the morning when it's foggy or raining.

And this is why you’re such a legend haha. I want to be like you when I grow up. 

While better conditions would be better, you can’t influence those.  You gotta fish when you can fish.  I have a couple lakes like that around here and they can be tough at times.  What I find is that this time of year, there is still a significant amount of grass, either left over or fresh.  Find the fresh stuff that is thick and the fish will be in it.  Find the edges and work them over as close to the grass as you can.  If you have electronics or sunshine enough to see the grass, pitch to the holes with a jig or Texas rig.  Vary the weight and profile until you find out just what they want.  If it is sunny, still, and clear water you can be sure that they will be tight to the cover that is there.  Sometimes they just won’t eat and you can bet they probably won’t be active and chasing.  So you just have to find the right profile they want falling at the right rate- faster reaction bites or slower sit in their face bites.