Hey guys,

I should preface this post with the fact that I am a Casitas bank fisherman.

I have been fishing and doing pretty good and then all of a sudden have not been able to locate baitfish or any topwater action.  Think the bass have eaten them all.  Are you guys out there experiencing the same thing at your local lakes?  Also, from a bank fisherman's vantage point, what would you guys suggest? 

The shad may have just gone deeper. Start fishing a jig or a swimbait. Fall is all about the bigger baits.

Hey! All you that are just passing over and reading this, post your opinions.  I want to know what you think.

Not a whole lot to say really, Bantam answered it for you.  The only thing I would add is that last year at this time in S. Cal, I did good from shore by hopping a Hopkins or War Eagle jigging spoon.  You can really get it out there into some deeper water and cover the whole water column with it.  You will loose a couple but you should be rewarded with a few chunky fall bass. 

Good info..not many guys toss spoons from shore that I can see..

And ditto on what Bantam said..

Not a whole lot to say really, Bantam answered it for you. The only thing I would add is that last year at this time in S. Cal, I did good from shore by hopping a Hopkins or War Eagle jigging spoon. You can really get it out there into some deeper water and cover the whole water column with it. You will loose a couple but you should be rewarded with a few chunky fall bass.

x3 deeper and bigger (size matters)

Continue to work the bank look for cover! Mossy beds a great place for bass to hide and feed. Early morning will get best results.

Thanks for the input guys! Keep it coming.  Fished yesterday, caught a dink on a drop shot in about 15 feet of water.  Worked that kastmaster also.  You guys throw deep diving cranks also? or predominantly swimbaits?

At some point they will stock the lake with trout if they have not done so already. The bass will switch from shad to the trout. It may not happen right away, but they will start targeting them. You want to be there on that day.

Shad imitators like spoons, underspins, and flukes all have there place too.

Drop shot might only get you the smaller grade fish right now. I'm not saying you will only catch small fish, but your chances of catching better size fish will be on bigger baits.

shad have gone deep....

I was at the castaic lagoon last Sunday..the only guy that caught bass was a dude on a yak, fishing deeper water, my guess is about 40' or so. He tagged a 9+ lbr on a deep crank or a swimbait, I couldn't see the lure so good..All the rest of us on shore got a big 0..Oh, he got 3 more bass within an hour after the big girl..That tells me the fish are going deeper, the ? is, for how long..?

Bassin' has slowed down to a halt at my local city lake. The last decent sized bass I last caught was in the month of Oct.

The DFG is starting to dump stocker trout in the city lakes. So start breaking out the swimbaits if you got'em anglers or just put that trout gear you have stored away in the garage back in use :. 

Tight Lines