Raystown Lake

[cjbs2003]

Anyone on the forum fish Raystown Lake? I used to fish it quite a bit while I was in college but since leaving PA after college I haven't been back more than a couple times. Now that I have a little bit more leave to take from work, I am hoping to get back to Raystown Lake a bit more. I hear many guys talk trash about how bad the fishing is at  Raystown, but I always loved the lake. I'd love to hear from anyone else who fishes the lake... Stripers, smallies, largemouth and other fish as well!

[smallieking]

i havent fish the lake for awhile  i fish the feeder river the raystown branch alot and i love the smallie fishing there    a guy named Bassinbrett from what i heard fishes the lake quite a bit

[RobbyZ5001]

The lake is absolutely beautiful and I have only fished it once. This topic is a sore subject for me! Just had a tournament there on Sunday caught 0 got bit 0. There were 40 degree water temps just tough.

[Bassnbrett101]

lol then you werent fishing with a jerkbait and you weren't fishing points and or ledges.  All the smallmouth there right now are schooled up on ledges, all similar sized fish in a school.  And the largemouth should be off points.

Yeah i've fished it quite a bit in the past few years and every year I fish it the bites are getting harder and harder to come by.  There are alot of big bass in that lake however, my average fish now is almost 3 lbs.  now i would fish jerkbaits and shakey head worms on ledges (last year this week I caught my PB smallie there).

In the summer fish weeds with a with spinnerbait when its sunny, and when its cloudy fish a frog over the weeds and sometimes pitch tubes into the weeds.  Thats a largemouth pattern.  For smallies just keep going with a jerkbait down ledges until you hit a school purple back and pearl sides are the best color for raystown.

And thats about all i got for you, if you need to finish out a limit go to a ledge near the dam and fish a tube jig or dropshot along those ledges, that usually produces a quick bunch of 12-13 inch smallies

[RobbyZ5001]

Bassnbrett101 go ahead and fish it catch a new PB! Good Luck bud! I guess you know better then the guys in my club with more then twice your age in fishing experience and probably near your age just fishing Raystown. I am guessing you have logged or remember distinctly the temperature, past temps., and current weather and I guess it must be the same as last year at this exact time. I guess the fishing that was continuing to get worse and worse every year stayed exactly the same last year and this year as well? I don't know you are the lake pro I am new to the lake.

[Bassnbrett101]

lol I'm no local and I'm not trying to put you down in anyway.  From my experience thats what the lake does this time of year.  I fished it the past couple years in early april and last year at one point we had an inch of snow on the boat.  

All the guys that brought in a limit last year caught them fishing jerkbaits on ledges and points.

and btw I DID beat alot of guys with more than twice as much experience as me last year at the PA Bass state classic on that lake.  I was the only person under 40 to make it to divisonal teams and I am the youngest person from PA to EVER make it to divisonal teams..... Thanks for making me feel like an *******

[RobbyZ5001]

lol then you werent fishing with a jerkbait and you weren't fishing points and or ledges. All the smallmouth there right now are schooled up on ledges, all similar sized fish in a school. And the largemouth should be off points.

Yeah i've fished it quite a bit in the past few years and every year I fish it the bites are getting harder and harder to come by. There are alot of big bass in that lake however, my average fish now is almost 3 lbs. now i would fish jerkbaits and shakey head worms on ledges (last year this week I caught my PB smallie there).

I basically took what you said like you were laughing at me saying I sucked and that anyone could go to Raystown this time of year and do amazing. I am somewhat new to this competative bass fishing game but I know that 15 mph winds, 40 degree water temp, the water was cold and muddy as well. All of this in the midst of a cold front are not "ideal" conditions. Another thing I threw the jerkbait for the majority of the time I would say about 70% of my day. I also threw a jig a good 20%. I tried pig and jig and a T-rig speed craw. All we fished the whole day were points and ledges. I don't know how you wanted me to take the "lol then you werent fishing with a jerkbait and you weren't fishing points and ledges". That is basically a big kick to the grapes. I am by no means a pro, and you probably won't hear me talking like I know everything. You should have got ahold of Ike when he and Marcia Rubin fished Raystown. They only got one dink.. maybe with your expertise you could have informed them that no matter what is happening on a given day that he could have just fished the spinnerbait when it was sunny, when its cloudy use a frog, and sometimes pitch the tube. Then fish the dam to finish out the limit!

[Bassnbrett101]

no no i say lol all the time.  I always take things in GOOD SPIRIT, like thats alright you'll get em next time.  And for raystown, everyone has had days like that there.  I even had one there last year i didnt catch any keepers at all, it was a prefish day in the middle of summer too.

I didn't mean for you to take any offense to what I said, I'm sorry.  I just like to laugh ;D

[Bassnbrett101]

And last year when Ike was there, the fishing was bad.  It was the middle of summer and even the locals said it was the worst fishing they've seen in years.  You just couldn't find any fish.

I was there either the week before or the week after Ike was there, i remember somebody mentioning it to me at the launch ramp, and i caught one keeper that day.  It was an anorexic smallie that probably woulda went 3 lbs if it was full bodied.  I was so frustrated i was trying a jig in 50-60 ft of water of the ledges on the upper part of the lake, to my dismay there were no takers.

[Tin]

lol I'm no local and I'm not trying to put you down in anyway. From my experience thats what the lake does this time of year. I fished it the past couple years in early april and last year at one point we had an inch of snow on the boat.

All the guys that brought in a limit last year caught them fishing jerkbaits on ledges and points.

and btw I DID beat alot of guys with more than twice as much experience as me last year at the PA Bass state classic on that lake. I was the only person under 40 to make it to divisonal teams and I am the youngest person from PA to EVER make it to divisonal teams..... Thanks for making me feel like an not a very nice person

Can I have your autograph?

[Bassnbrett101]

You could, but I still can't sign my name in cursive  .  I woulda never brought that up but i'm tired of people telling me stuff like that.  I just got the guys that I fish tournaments with to start listening to me lol.  

Granted that post probably looks alot like bragging, but in my mind its evidence  : lmao

[WTRDOG]

I'll take one too,if you don't mind bret.

[WTRDOG]

Sign it , To wtrdog,someday you will be a pro,and be just like me... :

[Bassnbrett101]

lol i wish

[Tin]

I'm gonna have Brett's avatar tattooed on my arm for inspiration.

[Bassnbrett101]

you guys are just jealous of my mad skills lol j.k.

-and i charge for autographs, 25 cents plus shipping and handling

[RobbyZ5001]

You better hope Long Mike doesn't catch wind of your j/k's, mad skills, and lol's! You don't want to awaken the beast.

[Bassnbrett101]

I'm just joking, I'm smart enough to know that most of the guys on this website are better at fishing than I am

[CityBoy]

Brett,

Sounds like you know what you are doing.  I on the other hand am new to fishing and Raystown in particular.  Maybe you can help me out.  When you say you are fishing jerkbaits off points and ledges, what depth are these ledges generally at? How far off the shore are the ledges?  Do you fish any particular part of the lake?

Thanks

[Bassnbrett101]

give me a time of year and i can help you out more but heres what I got for you now

Some of the better ledges are down by the dam, esp. for the smallies.  The smallies will school up in summer though and usually you'll see them busting the surface during the day and they'll give up their position.

It takes alot of time to find the schools in the early spring however.  It even takes a whole week sometimes.  The points usually work all year round, my personal favorite is the one by nancys camp (nancys camp is the point to the left coming out of james creek, you'll see alot of tents and such because you can only get to the campground by boat).  But two years ago no one could find any fish except for one team in the KBBC and they were using jigging spoons in 30-40 ft of water off a grassy point.

I try to fish around the weeds as much as I can however.  It always seems like the biggest largemouth come out of the weeds.

all in all I think it changes by year and the best way to catch alot of fish at raystown is to fish it alot and get a feel for the lake.  I wish I could give you a secret spot that always works, but to tell you the truth I havent found any yet.  It seems like everytime I go the fish are somewhere else

[cjbs2003]

Well, being an outside observer here... I got the impression there was some braggin' and shots fired in the initial post. Brett seems to know how to bass fish, no doubt about that. But perhaps he accidentally picked the wrong way to share his knowledge with us without sounding like a condescending jerk...  But most fisherman like to brag every now and again and the fact that Brett is so young doesn't help his cause. Let's all give him a break here.

[Bassnbrett101]

it was an accident I promise, i didnt mean to sound like a jerk.  I guess i just need to work on my wording like you said.  I PMed Robby and apologized, i still feel really bad.  I was really just trying to share information

[robdob]

bassnbrett when are you going on tour with the elite series? ............... i challenge you to a raystown fish off you can use your jerkbaits and i will use a drop shot... i'll even use the same type and color of worm the whole time. ........................

and for anyone else who likes to drop shot and wants to fish raystown... find manmade brush piles that are near the thermocline in the summertime. i've even caught 10lb stripers on 4 inch roboworms .

[bassfisherjk]

If you get a chance to fish Raystown,do it.You will like it.

[thats right]

not new to fishing raystown but new to this computer crap. Brett the point your talking about is on the right coming out of james creek on the main lake going south or up lake across from mile marker 14. I live here and can see water from my house. I was reading all these entrys and just wanted to say that this lake gets a bad rap about good fishing. I have to tell ya it is a hard lake to fish thats it. we have as much and as big of fish as anywhere. This lake requires time spent on the water for sure and there is days it will show you whats here and it is unreal for all kinds of fish not just bass. The fish here can go anywhere very shallow to very deep in all kinds of structure to none. One thing to always keep in mind here is it is like three little lakes in one and you can break it in 3rds down, middle, and up all having patterens and water differences even when it doesn't look like it. And for the fishing for bass in the 40 degree range can be very good sometimes i would have thrown a spoonbill or staysee pulled it down then left it sit while I ate a sandwich lol produces huge fish alot of times try it but colors can be critical.