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

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.

Frustrating Day

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June 22, 2025Jun 22

Super User

20 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

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

Same here, then again, that's what I say pretty much anytime I'm bass fishing when that big ball of light is up in the sky. 😂 If they ain't in the laydowns, they're in the weeds. Dropping a worm or a beaver on their heads will usually generate at least a few bites.

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June 22, 2025Jun 22

Super User

6 hours ago, RHuff said:

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..

I know it seems obvious but tried and true stuff catches bass - 1/2 oz Texas rig 10" ribbon tail worm. 1/4 oz shaky head trick worm. 3/4 oz jig with craw or swim bait trailer sloooooow rolled and grinding the bottom around the fish down there or even dead sticked. Carolina rig + lizard. There's certain stuff that just works for bass. No need to get fancy or reinvent the wheel at all in my humble opinion and the summer is THE time for these bread and butter deep structure power house techniques.

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June 23, 2025Jun 23

5 hours ago, gim said:

@throttleplate @MN Fisher

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

hello Gim, i did catch 2 bass on the shrimp with the tiny hook and shrimp, the bass were your average 1 lb dinks and didnt fight as hard as the bluegill.

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June 24, 2025Jun 24

Author

So how is everyone getting these warm water, bottom relating fish to bite?

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June 24, 2025Jun 24

Super User

1 hour ago, RHuff said:

So how is everyone getting these warm water, bottom relating fish to bite?

Light shakey head with a Zoom finesse worm.

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