Im in my second season of bass fishing and cant get enough. Due to time considerations, Im limited to Lake Luxembourg in Bucks County PA.

Last year I caught small and large mouth bass almost every trip out. I caught everything with an inline spinner - specifically Mepps Aglia #2: silver, gold and copper with a natural squirrel tail or without. Tried others but this was the one that caught the most fish -with a slow to very slow retrieve. Most catches were +/-2 pounds and I got a few in the range of 5-6 pounds.

The Lake & Conditions Today: about 150 acres of surface area normally but very low due to lack of rain; very little structure; stained water with 8 to 12 inches of visibility; fishing from the shore the depths are shallow on retrieve but lure lands in about 10-12 feet; air temperature has been in the 90s and water temperature is most likely around 85 degrees.

ISSUE: This year has been generally bad. I read through a lot of the resources on this site and tried to match color selection and size to season and conditions - without luck. I did notice a lack of activity in the normal spot - no jumping - so I recently moved to a new location where there seems to be activity all day long. As I did before, I started with the Mepps #2 and quickly rotated throught a wide range of color selections with no luck. Fish are jumping all around me and nothing! I noticed a lot of minnows and tied on a Blue Fox Vibrax spinner - silver and blue with white tail (photo attached). Never used it before. Boom! Caught about 10 fish that day but mostly small guys but 1 or 2 decent size fish. Three days in a row Ive been catching fish and only with that lure!? This morning I used every other spinner with no luck and got nothing. Tied the Fox back on and got two in a row. The only problem is that 90% of the fish are so small that I hope they shake off the hook so I dont have to waste energy with the pliers. Also, most of the catches are small mouth.

So, what is the deal? There are large fish in the lake so why and I only catching the smallest guys. Lure color seems to attract the small guys but why not larger fish? Is lure size the issue? Do I need a larger spinner? The only other thing I can think of is that the larger fish are out of my casting range.

While Im here, Ive also been having a problem keeping the blade spinning on slow retrieves which didnt seem to be a problem before. Im wondering if it is the unusually high water tempreature this year? Is that logical?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Get some bigger spinners white w/sliver trailer, white/gold/ flurocent with silver or gold.

Get some 5" senkos

It sounds like you can fish, just gotta fine tune things

good luck

Are spinner-baits all that you use ? Try differant lures . Cranks , plastics , top water baits.

The same lure will never reproduce success for an infinite amount of time; you need to have other confidence lures to cover different situations like the one you are facing now.

Your "spinners" are great lures, but they only cover a portion of the water column. Fish move throughout the lake and won't always be in the same areas. This can be due to environmental reasons, or feeding reasons.

You seemed to have nailed the right color, but "profile" is another aspect that you might be missing. Try a larger lure, or try fishing deeper with a jig or some other lure that can get to the bottom. You're catching the small ones that normally hang around shallow depths; get down deep.

With that being said, keep your lure, but don't use it all day long. Switch up your bait, and continue to experiement with color and lure changes. Try a spinnerbait, or a jig, and see if the larger bass are hanging low.

A blade not spinning on a slow retireve is often a lure issue. Are you running the same line and the same knot? If so, make sure the lure is not damaged or the blade isn't bent. As a last resort, try changing your spinner to see if the first one is defective; it happens.

Thanks - great advice from all.  Ill try it all. 

By the way, are top waters only effective in the early morning and early evening?  Thanks

Your in-line spinner is too small, size 2 is too small if you want to catch something bigger, and why is it too small ? because it 's in the size that catches even the sand, it 's ideal bite size for 10" inch fish and less and since there a bunch of those that 's what you catch, I 'm against discriminiation but in these circumstances I discriminate ---> use a bigger lure, size 4 & 5

I do not agree with: only cover a portion of the water column

A bait that sinks as a rock covers all the water column and even though the wide blade labels it as a shallow runner such thing is not entirely accurate, the depth the bait reaches is determined by for how long you allow it to sink, the depth at which you maintain it depends on how fast or slow you reel it in, shure that type of blade creates a lot of lift ...... if you reel it fast, you want the bait to maintain more depth ? ----> reel in at a slower pace.

You are doing good, but get a larger sized bait.

I fish a local pond in mass. Its 106 acres & the water really warms up fast. If water temps are in the 80's. Try slowing your retrieve. Warmer water doesn't dissolve oxygen as well as cooler or cold water, which can make the fish sluggish. Also, like everyone said try a different lure? Texas rig worms work really well when it gets hot. 

Excellent.  I'm out to get me some larger spinners to tie on.  Ill also try the senko again - tried it before without much luck but that was very early spring. Ill let you all know how it works out.  Thanks again.

as an afterthought to this great advice...the lures that are new to you or that you dont have as much confidence in like you mentioned with the senko... you should try and throw them when you know you have the fish located and active.

i know its hard to set down a lure that you are catching fish on but throwing a lure you dont know or beleive in at no fish/inactive fish is a sure way to never use it again.

fish your spinner and find those one pounders and then switch to a t-rig plastic or a suspending jerkbait or something and see if you can get the bigger fish around them.

with the water being so muddy (8-12 inches of visibility) i would say try some of the basics for muddy water... a saftey pin style spinnerbait with a medium to large single colorado blade ..... a shallow running rattling crankbait, such as a Mann's baby 1- (very good from shore as it only goes 1 foot or less) ............ and a large jig with a plastic craw trailer around any objects/cover you can find (maybe black and blue, or anything dark)

With the water being so muddy the fish are probably not going to be very deep so you need to be very stealthy as you go along the bank, and also make most of your casts parallel to the bank instead of casting to the middle all of the time.

with 8-12 inches of visibility the fish will be feeding primarily by sound and their lateral lines. They will be able to find larger, louder items easier. Most of the time in muddy water a steady retrieve is best because the fish can home in on the sound/pressure waves of the lure. If you are pausing your crankbait a lot, every time you do the fish loses contact with it (a great thing to do though if the water is clearer and they are feeding visually)

If you have cover to fish, let the jig fall to the bottom, and dead stick it for a little while maybe moving it slightly, but give the fish time to find it before making another cast.

Repeated casts to the same piece of cover are often also necessary in muddy water to trigger a strike as well, with any lure your using.

Good luck!

I would tend to agree... large size.  In-line spinner baits are probably the most underated bass lure.

Should I throw the senko weightless or not?  Im thinking that I need a little weight in order to get it out into the deeper water and retreive it back through the shallow.  Im familiar with the weedless rig, but not sure how to add the weight.  Splitshot?  Also, what are solid colors for this time of year?  Thanks