This is my first post. I've been bass fishing with my dad and step-dad all my life in south alabama rivers, and mid-florida lakes. there, with my fathers' help, i have been very successful as a fisherman. i've always loved bass fishing, i moved up to tennessee last year, and just recently bought my very first boat. i have been fishing up here for about a month now, and i am extremely frustrated. first of all, as i said, my dad (and step dad) are both great fishermen. they always just told me what baits to use and never why. now i am up here, and absolutely shocked how LITTLE i actually know about fishing, despite having caught hundreds of bass throughout my life. i am having a hard time figuring out this lake i am fishing (see my signature for details). I've never fished water this clear. i have been using primarily a white/red spinner with chrome willow leaf blades, about 1-4 feet deep, and i have had minimal success (1-2 fish over the course of about 3 hours on average). then yesterday, late evening, the fish came up to feed. i was literally watching them swim 1-2 feet deep in school, and i was running buzz baits (chartreuse/red), spinner baits (white/red; chartreuse/red; pink/white; red), and rattle traps (blue/white shad) right through, in front of, and over the fish for about 45 minutes with ZERO bites. I've never been so frustrated with fishing before.  I'm not used to being able to see the fish 4-5 feet deep, but it seems like the ones that i can see, i can never catch... WHAT??? am i doing wrong?? please help!! by the way, can't wait talk to y'all.

Chances are those schooling bass are staging for the spawn and will be VERY hard to get.  Try using a smaller inline spinner (Mepps are good), or, better yet, a 3 or 4 inch senko wacky rigged, maybe in junebug or watermellon color.

The difference between being consistent and being not is the ability of adjusting to the conditions or the locations, what are you doing wrong ? you are not adapting, you are fishing the way you are used to and you are not experimenting, bass are bass here and in China, they behave the same here and there but they react the same under the same conditions.

I've never fished water this clear

That 's the problem, you are not used to fish clear water.

i have been using primarily a white/red spinner with chrome willow leaf blades, about 1-4 feet deep,

See the point ? 1-4 ft of depth in clear water is not deep enough, which once again brings us to the previous point, not used to fish clear water.

i was literally watching them swim 1-2 feet deep in school, and i was running buzz baits (chartreuse/red), spinner baits (white/red; chartreuse/red; pink/white; red), and rattle traps (blue/white shad) right through, in front of, and over the fish for about 45 minutes with ZERO bites.

Schooling fish in clear water can be extremely hard to catch ( which is in the other hand very fun ), if you saw them they saw you first, they are aware of your presence which makes them spooky, since you are not used to fish clear waters you don 't know which baits and what techniques work better in clear water situations, sight fishing requires a much more stealthy approach: thinner & less visible line, smaller baits with a much more erratic action, time to put those flukes, super flukes, tubes, 4 inch grubs, suspending crankbaits and french fry worms to work, in other words, time to hone them finesse tactics & skills.

With what you can make them bite is the easy part, everybody is going to suggest you baits, but what they are not telling you is that you need to change your fishing habits and have a different mindset, you are not fishing what you were used to fish, it 's completely different world.

RauL said it all.

Welcome and Good Luck!

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Raul did say it all.

Welcome and keep asking questions

Welcome Hibachi,

You've come to the right place to to cure your problems. Like Muddy said, keep asking questions. I can't think of a better place to get the correct answer.

Falcon

WELCOME ABOARD !!!!!!

What everyone said including a hearty "Welcome"!

Dan

Raul is right on the money, I went right to baits in my head as I read your post. Clear water really killed me in the fishing club. It's a totally different world, I had to go to my spinning reel and act like I was after Crappie to get any success. If you can find or can get info from Guys on this site who fish deep smallies in clear water you"ll get all the answers you need. I gathered the best clear water info reading up on smallmouth bass than I could find on largemouth. when you do get hit in clear water it's awesome at what you can actually see.

Welcome aboard!

WELCOME !!!

Raul is right ! Brush up on finess tactics and techniques. Might want to learn some tricks from TROUT fishermen/ Fly fishermen. There are lots of books, magazines, websites dealing with trout. If you learn how to deal with trout in a 10ft wide cristal clear creek, you 'll have no problem dealing with any kind of bass in clear water. You don't have to actualy start fishing for trout, just learn the ways to aproach spooky creatures in gin clear water.

Good luck and tight lines!  

Welcome  You have some good information being given.  I would also suggest that you try to find someone who fishes those clear waters  to go out with you.  Once you get them in your boat talk about lure choice and presentations that will work in that lake.  Actually you do not need to be in the boat to have those conversations.  Lots of big fish have been caught in my office

Good luck ;D    

Welcome...

WELCOME to the forums!!

                                                  As Ever,

                                                   Skillet

2 words.

Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong casts. lol

WELCOME ABOARD. If the water is that clear say you can see 20ft down I would use ghost colors on jerkbaits fished very slowly and pausing for a 30 seconds or more and don't be afraid to downsize a Pointer 78SP in ghost colors is a good start.

Welcome to the forum  

Just want to say, THANK YOU to everyone, for both your hospitality and your wisdom.  You guys are great, and I have enjoyed reading everyones posts on all types of subjects.  I have learned a great deal over the past 3 days just from reading here.  I don't know many fishermen in this area, but I did talk to a couple of guys last night at the ramp.  They said that they have been very successful using C-rigged lizards and crawfish 15-30 ft of water with 6 ft long leader.  I've never heard of using such a long leader with C-rigging, but I will certainly try it next time.  I have also found a lot of very useful Carolina rigging tips, under the C-rig topic in this forum.  WOW!  I am so glad I found this place, and I'm sure I will be able to put my new knowledge to work.