Fished South Holston  in TN yesterday for about 10 hours.. found multiple schools of fish on FFS off long tapering points in about 15-25ft of water cruising the bottom..  I threw a drop-shot (finesse worm and minnow style), neko rig in a 7in and 5in finesse worm, dragged a jig, dragged and hopped a ned rig, threw a crankbait grinding the bottom, fished a 3in jighead minnow, fished a jerkbait, and also threw a bladed jig and spinnerbait..  For the life of me I could not get any of these fish, in multiple schools on multiple parts of the lake to react to ANYTHING. They’d follow my baits, swarm it, dart after it, but would not eat it..  I left the lake very humbled and feeling a little deflated.. I haven’t zero’d in a long time.. Any suggestions on how to get fish like these to bite?

 

Water was around 80 degrees, several feet high, and stained..  I also fished the banks

some flipping, cranking, and wacky worms and not a sign of a single fish up shallow

I imagine FFS is very frustrating on a day like that! I guess if they don't want to eat you can't make them by wanting them to. I guess my first question is how sure you are that they are bass and not something like carp, big shad or suckers?

 

Assuming they are bass, I would try a Ned rig with a 2.5" TRD or a spy bait. For the drop shot I am not sure what soft plastic you were using but once again I would try something very small. Another idea would be to try something like a 1/16oz maribou jig. You can fish it very slowly and have good action.

 

Also, how aggressively were you fishing the drop shot and Neko? Did you try just dead sticking them?

Sometimes they just take a day off and watch lures go past with a Modelo.

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Sometimes they just take a day off and watch lures go past with a Modelo.

Had one of those days this morning. Caught 1 bass in 3 hours of hard fishing. Tough conditions. It was the triple header of badness: spiking barometer, dead calm, and bright blue skies. 

 

After 3 hours I said, "This is dumb, I'll come back another day" and went home. So, at least you're not the only one who walked away disappointed in the last 24 hours. Sorry man. 

2 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Sometimes they just take a day off and watch lures go past with a Modelo.

 

That's when I say to myself maybe they're biting up shallow and go flip some laydowns.

5 hours ago, pdxfisher said:

I imagine FFS is very frustrating on a day like that! I guess if they don't want to eat you can't make them by wanting them to. I guess my first question is how sure you are that they are bass and not something like carp, big shad or suckers?

 

Assuming they are bass, I would try a Ned rig with a 2.5" TRD or a spy bait. For the drop shot I am not sure what soft plastic you were using but once again I would try something very small. Another idea would be to try something like a 1/16oz maribou jig. You can fish it very slowly and have good action.

 

Also, how aggressively were you fishing the drop shot and Neko? Did you try just dead sticking them?

 

 I used a 4.5 in roboworm texas rigged, nose hooked, and gilly hooked and a 3.25 in GLF Drop Minnow nose hooked… 

 

I dead sticked the neko and ned rig.. Even suspended fish would follow it down to the bottom and hold on it, sometimes for 5 or 10 seconds and not bite it..

 

As far as were they bass? You never truly know until you catch one but they sure looked like bass to me.. 

 

 I did go to the banks and flip jigs and used wacky rigs.. the banks were like a ghost town..

8 hours ago, RHuff said:

 

 I used a 4.5 in roboworm texas rigged, nose hooked, and gilly hooked and a 3.25 in GLF Drop Minnow nose hooked… 

 

I dead sticked the neko and ned rig.. Even suspended fish would follow it down to the bottom and hold on it, sometimes for 5 or 10 seconds and not bite it..

 

As far as were they bass? You never truly know until you catch one but they sure looked like bass to me.. 

 

 I did go to the banks and flip jigs and used wacky rigs.. the banks were like a ghost town..

 

 

Some days they just don't bite where you're fishing for em.

 

For what it's worth - I feel like regardless of season - 90% of the water on my lakes is a waste of time and that 90% changes weekly.

 

It's not that there aren't fish everywhere - there are - but the places they're biting seem to fire for bits of time and then shut down and then other areas will fire.

 

Being around lots of fish doesn't always mean lots of bites for sure.

 

Sometimes those shallow ghost towns have some big fish hiding in there.

 

You just can't see em all - they're good at hiding!

 

I think also sometimes it'll be one little thing like rate of fall or speed of retrieve or profile - you can be doing all the right things in the right spots and not getting bit and then make a small change and suddenly the flood gates open.

 

There was one day this summer where we were fishing for hours and everything looked good. We kept getting nips and nibbles or nothing and then my son made the switch from the big ribbon tail to the lizard and then he caught a 20 lb bag in about 2 hours.

 

I figured maybe it was timing or something but we took that ribbon tail to places we had already fished and gotten bit and started catching those fish too afterwards.

 

But like usually if there are fish and they're not biting, I'm going to keep moving and fast. 

 

I'm more likely to come back to a fish that's not biting then keep trying to make it bite with lots of different lures. 

 

But that's just something I've learned to do from sight fishing (similar to what forward facing sonar shows you).

 

You're almost always most likely to catch the fish if you let them rest and try something different after a while instead of cycle baits on their face repeatedly and then leave and not come back to them.

 

I don't know very much about how you approached it or what you did, but these are just some things that come to mind. 

 

Summer is definitely a tough time of year because the fish have seen a lot of stuff and you have to be pretty strategic about your approach to areas you think have fish. Because even if you're doing the right thing in the right place, the fish are pretty much over people by this point in the year.

Live bait ! 

i've experienced this twice this week. practice day for a tournament I caught nothing and only one a tournament day. but get to weight in and people catching 17 lb bags really kicks you in the you know what. FFS at the lake we were at I havent figued out due to so much trash fish but stayed on the bait both days without any results. it does humble you but cant give up, got to keep grinding. 

8 hours ago, RHuff said:

 

I dead sticked the neko and ned rig.. Even suspended fish would follow it down to the bottom and hold on it, sometimes for 5 or 10 seconds and not bite it..

 

 

I'm blind electronically, but tend to do better dead sticking with a fine cut skirt or hair.  Maybe a ned or finesse ballhead with a skirt or hair can give that movement without moving.  A trailer with a pintail might be helpful too.  I'm like you, that if they follow and nose on it, you know you're close.  Nothing can be more frustrating.

 

With the swarming and darting, maybe going with very erratic spoons and tightlining a tailspin to the bottom and a fast reel rip and repeat could trigger.  I also will play with a heavy finesse scrounger or hair jig that falls much faster tightlined thru the school and do the same reel rips off the bottom.  I can't exactly see this myself electronically, but history tells me that I've spent a lot of time around schooling bass that don't want to bite.  So I usually default to the more erratic and faster approach to "find" them and then slow down.  Half the time it's sometimes effective, .  The reality is, summer can just be tough for me.

 

scott

 

South Holston is typically clear from what I understand , maybe the stain was working against you. How was the boat traffic ? 

I feel your pain.

 

A few weeks ago I fished Tobesofkee and watched the spotted bad swim right by me while I fished the shallows in my kayak. I swear that one looked at me and gave me the finger when he swam by.

 

Yesterday I fished Flat Creek PFA and on Livescope I saw in 18 foot deep water hugging flooded trees at about 4 feet deep. I couldn’t get anything to bite.

 

For the most part, I think I’m done fishing for the summer. It’s 10 am right now and the real feel heat is 96. Brutal heat + tough fishing = no fun.

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

South Holston is typically clear from what I understand , maybe the stain was working against you. How was the boat traffic ? 

 

 Boat traffic was pretty heavy…

5 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

 

 

Some days they just don't bite where you're fishing for em.

 

For what it's worth - I feel like regardless of season - 90% of the water on my lakes is a waste of time and that 90% changes weekly.

 

It's not that there aren't fish everywhere - there are - but the places they're biting seem to fire for bits of time and then shut down and then other areas will fire.

 

Being around lots of fish doesn't always mean lots of bites for sure.

 

Sometimes those shallow ghost towns have some big fish hiding in there.

 

You just can't see em all - they're good at hiding!

 

I think also sometimes it'll be one little thing like rate of fall or speed of retrieve or profile - you can be doing all the right things in the right spots and not getting bit and then make a small change and suddenly the flood gates open.

 

There was one day this summer where we were fishing for hours and everything looked good. We kept getting nips and nibbles or nothing and then my son made the switch from the big ribbon tail to the lizard and then he caught a 20 lb bag in about 2 hours.

 

I figured maybe it was timing or something but we took that ribbon tail to places we had already fished and gotten bit and started catching those fish too afterwards.

 

But like usually if there are fish and they're not biting, I'm going to keep moving and fast. 

 

I'm more likely to come back to a fish that's not biting then keep trying to make it bite with lots of different lures. 

 

But that's just something I've learned to do from sight fishing (similar to what forward facing sonar shows you).

 

You're almost always most likely to catch the fish if you let them rest and try something different after a while instead of cycle baits on their face repeatedly and then leave and not come back to them.

 

I don't know very much about how you approached it or what you did, but these are just some things that come to mind. 

 

Summer is definitely a tough time of year because the fish have seen a lot of stuff and you have to be pretty strategic about your approach to areas you think have fish. Because even if you're doing the right thing in the right place, the fish are pretty much over people by this point in the year.

 

 

 I can see your point about leaving the school and coming back..  Let me ask you all this… Do you feel I was using the right techniques? Days like this even makes me question if I’m even in the same stratosphere of doing what is right…

 

Lemme again explain the conditions and yall tell me the first or second technique that comes to mind..

 

High stained water (2-4ft visibilty) on a usual clear lake, lots of boat traffic and current moving, clear and sun, fish hugging bottom on long tapering points in the 15-20ft ranged.. Baitfish were present in most areas too… 

 

My top three was dropshot, neko rig, and jighead minnow… like I said, no bites..

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Live bait ! 

Try some shrimp from the freezer section of your local supermarket.

10 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

Try some shrimp from the freezer section of your local supermarket.

I'll be confirming or debunking that on Tuesday morn....we'll see if that works down here as well as "Up Nord".

Structure spoons to catch whatever you are seeing of FFS!

Tom

45 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I'll be confirming or debunking that on Tuesday morn....we'll see if that works down here as well as "Up Nord".

I used on friday some raw shrimp and cooked shrimp, cooked shrimp was the better choice and the raw got all sticky and goooey when sittin in the container all day. Cooked also stays on the hook better.

 

1 hour ago, throttleplate said:

I used on friday some raw shrimp and cooked shrimp, cooked shrimp was the better choice and the raw got all sticky and goooey when sittin in the container all day. Cooked also stays on the hook better.

Good to know - guess I'll be cooking some shrimp tomorrow for prep.

@throttleplate @MN Fisher

 

The OP is targeting bass.  Not sunfish.  Just a FYI

1 minute ago, gim said:

The OP is targeting bass.  Not sunfish.  Just a FYI

Considering that a couple of the bass I caught last time out were on my jig/bobber rig with worms....I think the shrimp might have a chance as well.

1 hour ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Structure spoons to catch whatever you are seeing of FFS!

Tom

 

 Any suggestions on a specific one, Tom?

3 hours ago, RHuff said:

Lemme again explain the conditions and yall tell me the first or second technique that comes to mind..

 

High stained water (2-4ft visibilty) on a usual clear lake, lots of boat traffic and current moving, clear and sun, fish hugging bottom on long tapering points in the 15-20ft ranged.. Baitfish were present in most areas too… 

Since you asked, to me this sounds like time for the deep diver crankbaits. Not necessarily always using them deep. Can throw them up shallower and drag bottom the whole way. But, seriously, sometimes the fish just don’t want to eat as much. It happens to everyone.

On 6/21/2025 at 3:08 PM, RHuff said:

threw a crankbait grinding the bottom

Which you did

1 hour ago, RHuff said:

 

 Any suggestions on a specific one, Tom?

1/2 Kastmaster chrome or gold works.