Have you ever been on a lake durring the week and catching them like mad then weekend comes around and the fish just shut off? It seams like it happends every weekend. How do you adjust to the weekend shutdown?

I start finesse fishing.  Throwing smaller baits and fishing them very slowly.  Especialy if I think the bite has stoped due to fishing presure or due to boating pressure.  Around where I'm at I have to deal with alot of recreational boaters on the public lakes or rivers.  I think this makes the fish a little skittish and more weary of anything thrown at them.

                              Kajun

The lakes around me area perfect example of a "weekend shutdown". I really don't change anything unless the weather changes. It took me 50 trips to Shafer and Freeman to figure out the "weekend shutdwon" mystery but I did solve it.The fish haven't moved they just need to be worked before they'll bite.Making repeated casts will usually catch them. If I'm fishing a spot I know holds fish I may make the same cast 20 times before I get a bite. If you know the lake and you know that theres fish on the spots your fishing then stick it out. Anyone who has ever fished Shafer Lake in Motecellio will know what I'm talking about. That lake has about 3-4 patterna that will work evertime you fish there regardless of time of year or weather. I have 12-15 spots I know will hold fish almost everytime I hit them. If I take the best 4-5 spots and make a little milk run out of them I will usually get 5 keepers. It may take 3 or 4 times during the day hitting the same spot with the same bait before I'll finally get a fish but sooner or later they'll bite.

How I solved the weekend shut down mystery on my home lakes. Not saying its fool proof but it has been paying off for me. A few years back I hit a stump and bent my trolling motor shaft and was unable to get it to turn at all. My back up motor was in the shop getting the board replaced so I figured I was done for the day. I headed back towards the weigh-in with an empty box and 6 hours of fishing time left and a real bad attitude. I stopped at one of the bridges I always caught fish off of and tied off to a pier. For the next 5.5 hours I chucked crankbaits under this bridge and ended up with 5 good fish. I didn't as much move my boat 1 foot during the 5.5 hours I just kept casting. Over and over agian I hit the same exact spot and ever 50 or so casts I'd get a fish. All of them weren't keepers but I bet I boated 25 fish that day and culled a few times. I placed 4th in the tourney and cashed a pretty nice check. I know when the fish came up to this spot they would be feeding and probadly be easy to catch. I would usually hit this spot once during the day in a normal tourney but now I hit it 4-5 times and will always get a keeper or two from it.

I had never really considered that there would be a difference between the work week and the weekend till i fished tournaments. Im telling you on some lakes its like night and day. Boat traffic is high, jet skiers get on your nerves, weekend fishermen, oh yeah night and day. I have found the same thing skipper found that if you cast to an area 20 or 30 times it produces fish. What i do is run my boat right up against the bank if i am fishing a rock bank and run my crankbait down the rock 20 or 30 casts then move my boat up about a boat length then cast again. I do that all the way down the rock shore. If i find wood or brush i might pitch into the spot many times or let it soak longer to get bites. I took a guy out fishing one time and he wanted me to show him how to fish a jig. We pulled up to a brush pile i told him to fish the wood like you would normally. He did the mistake that most do he fished the outside then fished the inside then said there was no fish there.( I was having a jedi moment )I said now see the power of the jig. I pitched it into the thick stuff and hulled out a nice 5 or 6lb bass. then the guy told me that the fish being caught messed up the spot. i said wrong young jedi then pulled two more nice fish from the same spot. Then i told him the problem with most is they don't give a place time to produce or they don't fish it right and by making the fish aware that you are there most of the time will cause them not to bite. weekends i tend to try to fish with no splash and put the bait on their nose. ;D

Increased boat traffic does seem to drive the bass deeper, or into thicker cover.  That's where jigs and soft plastics shine.  The lion's share of tournamnet money is won around here by excellent jig fishermen regardless of the conditions or time of year. They fish deeper, slower, and in brushy places. Those Saturday and Sunday bass are quite a bit harder to catch than they were on Thursday.

Another thing I have found is to change my location. I try to get away from the noise and boat traffic and try to find a spot that might be less effected. Some places its hard to do but when you can it helps out a lot. It could be areas that don't get hammered by a boat wake or an area that tucked away from the rest of the fishermen. (backwater areas) Deep water is another option but in dirty water it can be a lost cause. Something else is to look where everyone is fishing and fish areas that they stay away from. Some of the nothing banks when you fish them you will find cover or structure that most just pass by. Also watch what they use and where and use something different. One day i was fishing a rock bank with a buzzbait and catching fish. The next thing i knew a guy pulled infront of me throwing the same thing. I changed to a spitt'n image and continued catching fish and caught a good kicker fish right after this guy. Changing your tactics can be key or size bait. I tend to reaction fish more on weekends and for me its payed off.

for me its like a weekday shut down, i cant catch much during the week but on weekends is when i catch alot.

Yeah Bass work on weekends and they have off on weekdays so their not home...! :

Fish where others fear. I Honestly believe that when I am fishing a shallow lake I can catch more fish deeper than most folks that stay on the banks. Main reason being is due to pictures and notes taken of spots that I have found during winter draw downs. One such spot has 2 points that are only about 50 ft apart at the bottom. At the top where the to points come together, they are over 200 feet apart. One just has some old river rock on it. The other one has 2 stumps, a vertical piece of concrete, a small house foundation and a ditch. All far enough way from each other to hold some nice size bass also. When the lake is at full pool, all this stuff will be under 35-40 feet of water, and I have never had to race to beat anybody to it and rarely don't pull at least a few fish from it.

Man after looking back at my post from 15 Jan, I can see that I was still on the pain pills from surgery. LOL.

What I meant to say was 50 feet at the botom of the the lake, and over 200 feet on the shore.

Man those were some good pills. 8)

Their are a few things I will try...

1) Downsize, just try to get some good bites and fish

2) Cover lots of water trying to pick up the active fish

3) Worst cast situation I pick up my favorite baits and start fishing

from what I have been readin, bass recognize even the smallest change in their quiet environment.  weekend warriors is a huge change, and it makes sense that they would cut off.

this book I'm readin says that when fishin high pressured situations.  find your good structure, but don't fish the obvious cover.  look for one small stump, or a few rocks.  maybe one rock.  that the bigger fish are more likely to be found there.  if usin a depth finder, somethin barely showin up but looks like some sort of cover, is the perfect spot to hit.  bein that the structure is right.

i think it is best just to use smaller lures and if that dosen't work use a lure that you have became good at fishing with

the book I'm readin talks about fishin high pressured lakes, mostly directed to catchin big bass.

don't fish the obvious cover located on structure. that spot most likely gets alot of fishing pressure. look for a stump, or a small bush, somethin barely showin up on a depthfinder, and hit that hard.

bass notice even the smallest of changes in their quiet world. when heavy traffic or fishing pressure occurs, they notice it and turn off. (thanks for letting me tell you what I learned today ;D ) lol

I target what the lake has that is fishable, I target marinas and boat docks, and no wake zones. Fish are usually accustomed to boat traffic in these areas. A lot of fish stay under big deep marinas year around until time to lay their eggs. Enough bait and shade will keep fish from hardly moving out. If the lake is void of marinas and boat docks, I look for vegitation, jet skis don't care for that too much, patches of timber seems to slow pleasure craft down also. Fish will feed, their metabolism this time of the year will require them to. They might go on the night feed on weekends when traffic is down to minimum.

Let me add some positive about boat traffic. I have found that the boat wave was hitting a clump(10yds long) of reeds in 8-14" water. with a drop off to 3ft. about 8ft out. The pounding of the reeds was washing crawdads out I was guessing. I have hit them before and caught a dink or two. But when the waves are crashing in on them the bite can last most of the day. Also, boat waves pound the banks creating a mudline moving out depending on the traffic. I target the edge of the mudline with success on points on a regular basis. I used what the recreational boats has created. I have targeted those areas in same conditions before with no luck. Thrown alot of worms. The reeds are now a go to spot with a craw worm texas rigged 3/16oz sinker grn pmkn on the drop off. The mudline, medium diving excalibur Tenn. shad. The right offering is all it took to make those patterns work in the summer. I don't hardly fish those areas unless the boat traffic is helping position my fish.  It took me over three years of fishing this area to learn those secrets.  The lake in question is Lake Travis in Austin Texas.  All I need is to find the points with fish, make my casts into the wind is a must, its the difference in 10 fish  or 35-40 and the mudline keeps the fish positioned  without me having to guess.  I learned a little each time out.  But it all came together after starting a fishing log.  I honestly think If I had the started the log in 1994 when learning that lake, I would have put it together in half the time.

All good information, especially the repeated casts.  One thing that works for me, and I have really been concentrating on this year more than before, is to slow down.  I think too many people(including myself at times) fish way to fast.  I know it's more entertaining and less painful to cast and reel, cast and reel, but I have found especially this year I have caught more and bigger bass by slowing down.  Unless you are good enough, like KVD to cover lots and lots of water with very accurate casts, I believe it's important to slow down.  Especially with a worm or any plastic.  Which is another thing I will go to to try and coax the fish to bite.  I don't believe you can fish a plastic to slow.  Even spinner baits, I have caught more fish slow rolling a spinner than burning one.  More pressure SLOW DOWN!