Recently I have been Skunked trying to catch Largemouth Bass at a SoCal lake, Yesterday I could see over 100 bass 2 lbs and up just swimming under and around my boat. Tied everything in the tacker box from Wacky, Jigs, spinners everything. no luck. There's are a lot of Shad and small bass swimming in the mix, but can't find the right tool. any suggestions. 

PS been real slow for weeks I fish every week.

 

Thanks

Four to six-pound test.

 

VERY long casts.

 

Live bait if artificial fail.

If you can see the bass they can see you is a truism. 
Back off a fly line unweighted wacky rigged 4” Senko on 6 lb mono or FC line.

Cast it to where you think the bass are located let sink on its own and watch the line for any movements. When it moves reel the line tight and do the rod speed sweep hook set. Repeat the cast several times. 

Tom

Drop shot?

I'm tried using 6lb FC Wacky with 4 and 5 inch Baby Bass, Morning Daw, black and Red flake, green punken thin senko weightless. the water is only 10 feet deep or less. these fish just are not taking anything.  I'll try live worms next week

Been a few weeks now no fish, Thanks for you'll help

I fish a drop shot whenever I find the bite difficult, or I want quantity. When I fish a drop shot in fairly shallow water, I make sure to use a very light weight. In my opinion, nothing catches stubborn fish like a drop shot. No need to pop/jiggle/shake it all too much, just hold it there and drag or pick it up and redrop slightly closer and hold again. Slow, yes. Effective, yes.

19 hours ago, 4n2t0 said:

Drop shot?

Give it try!

 

4 hours ago, thackerK said:

I'm tried using 6lb FC Wacky with 4 and 5 inch Baby Bass, Morning Daw, black and Red flake, green punken thin senko weightless. the water is only 10 feet deep or less. these fish just are not taking anything.  I'll try live worms next week

Been a few weeks now no fish, Thanks for you'll help

Live night crawler fly lined.

Try a spybait

If nothing else works, hook a nightcrawler in the head. Cast it with no weight, which is hard to do, but that combo provokes hits.

When my bass are keyed in on fry to 1.5" shad, it's almost impossible to find something that works better than a spoon.  Kastmaster, little cleo, and jigpara mini in 7 & 10g have been my main three this summer.  Profile and rate of fall really seems to dictate the bite, I love to use the extremes of reeling it as fast as possible and then tightlining so it falls as slow as possible.  I do most of my damage casting at schools but will get on top of them every now and then and catch them vertically.

 

scott

throw some gold fish flakes and move ...throw some topwater and bam! 

 

 

I call it August.    

3/0 owner twistlock cps with a 3.5" osp dolive stick on it in the color that looks the most like that shad you mentioned...if that doesn't work a little dipper can go on that same hook. If they won't bite either of those and a drop shot isn't working it would probably be more efficient to just switch fishing spots for a week or two.

 

But if you insist on staying eurotackle make a small nage swimbait that you could throw along with a karashi and see if they will hit one of those...

 

 

Greg had the same issue 

 

Throw weightless worms.. avoid making big splashes.. the fish probably already know you’re there.. big commotions probably lock them down… Try fishing at night..

12 hours ago, RHuff said:

 

Throw weightless worms.. avoid making big splashes.. the fish probably already know you’re there.. big commotions probably lock them down… Try fishing at night..

You’re right of course, but at times the opposite is also true. 
Most times a silent entry is what we want but other times it isn’t.
In fairly thick vegetation especially in pads a crash in will help them locate your bait as some may swim over to see what the commotion is all about. 
 

Ever drop a frog in an opening in a pad field and a few seconds later see a line of pads move ever so slightly in a straight line coming right for it?
 

I’ve done it many times and it does help but you gotta pick your spots  
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

On 8/10/2025 at 9:10 AM, softwateronly said:

When my bass are keyed in on fry to 1.5" shad, it's almost impossible to find something that works better than a spoon.  Kastmaster, little cleo, and jigpara mini in 7 & 10g have been my main three this summer.  Profile and rate of fall really seems to dictate the bite, I love to use the extremes of reeling it as fast as possible and then tightlining so it falls as slow as possible.  I do most of my damage casting at schools but will get on top of them every now and then and catch them vertically.

 

scott

Kastmasters are phenomenal baits in the tropics, I’ve used them extensively in Puerto Rico. Love them. 

In this situation, I immediately think “dropshot”. I really like an Evergreen Bow Worm Noodle nose hooked on a tiny, like #4 hook. Just deadstick it and let the worm do its thing, drives inactive fish nuts.
 

Next thing I’d do is a 4” curl tail worm on a splitshot rig. For this my favorite is a salt and pepper or similar really transparent color.
 

Sometimes going the opposite way will get results - had a few days this summer where violently ripping a big bait in the water column would trigger a bite when they were following but couldn't get any commits. 

I'd break out the tiny stuff. Hard baits like the Lucky Craft pointer 48 SP, Yo-Zuri pin minnows. Maybe dropshot on 4 lbs test with 2" EZ minnow or swing impact in electric shad. Another one I use in tough conditions where all the bass have to do is swim around with their mouth open and they can inhale all the microshad they can handle is the 2.8" Keitech sexy shad, but pinch about half of the thick part of the body off and put it on a tiny dropshot hook like a mosquito light. 

On 8/8/2025 at 4:30 PM, thackerK said:

, Yesterday I could see over 100 bass 2 lbs and up just swimming under and around my boat.

I cant help you. I've never witnessed this situation.  

Here is what you need. 😄

 

 

 

On 8/14/2025 at 8:01 AM, Mike L said:

You’re right of course, but at times the opposite is also true. 
Most times a silent entry is what we want but other times it isn’t.
In fairly thick vegetation especially in pads a crash in will help them locate your bait as some may swim over to see what the commotion is all about. 
 

Ever drop a frog in an opening in a pad field and a few seconds later see a line of pads move ever so slightly in a straight line coming right for it?
 

I’ve done it many times and it does help but you gotta pick your spots  
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

 

 My advice was geared towards ultra clear water not heavy cover. For thick pads, working a frog aggressively and fast across the top has gotten me more bites than anything else...  I agree the noise and commotion helps them track and key in on it, but only under those exact circumstances. 

I've been fishing a gin clear lake lately.  I noticed when I went from 8lb to 6lb line drop shotting my bites went up and so did the fish size.  I'm really considering trying 4 or 5lb(if i can find it.) Flouro Line.

The Threadfin Shad spawn happens in SoCal around May so the schools you are seeing in September are probably 2”  Silversides and like small shad bass get focused on tiny baits they are hard to catch on artificals.

The Megabass Karashi is working on light 5-6 lb line during this period in SoCal if you want a hard lure.

Tom

PS, DVL has some big bass and stripers that eat Karashi!