I have been mostly a shore fisherman, until last year when I purchased a crawdad jon boat. I also went out & bought a eagle 300 depth finder/fish finder.
I feel a little lost when I have tried to fish away from shore. I'm so used to throwing @ something such as lily pads, downed trees & big rocks.
What's your approach when fishin in summer for bass holding in deeper water?
I feel a little lost when I have tried to fish away from shore. I'm so used to throwing @ something such as lily pads, downed trees & big rocks.
What's your approach when fishin in summer for bass holding in deeper water?
I like to fish points, islands, i also look 4 drops 10ft droping to 8ft 6ft stuff like that. also their are logs, brush,hydrilia, out in the depths as well look 4 diffrnces on the bottom with the fishfider also their are websites that explain what to look 4 with ur fishfinder good luck
I find it hard to leave the bank. It is much easier to throw at a target than look at you electronics and assume your in the right area.
I have had some success fishing weed lines and underwater humps.
Having a quality sonar and gps are your best bet. This way you can mark your location and come back another time.
Note: turn off your fish i.d because this takes away from the detail of the bottom contour. Honestly i have sat in a seminar with Jimmy Houston and he said that the fish i.d is mostly a gimic. How can the sonar decide if that is a fish,algae,weeds ect.
When you look at your sonar read it from right to left as it scrolls by. The first 1/2 of the right side of the screen is closest to real time and as it moves towards the center if you are moving that could be 100 ft behind you.
I am still learning all the time but this is some of the items i have learned about. I hope this helps.
Good luck
Jay
I have had some success fishing weed lines and underwater humps.
Having a quality sonar and gps are your best bet. This way you can mark your location and come back another time.
Note: turn off your fish i.d because this takes away from the detail of the bottom contour. Honestly i have sat in a seminar with Jimmy Houston and he said that the fish i.d is mostly a gimic. How can the sonar decide if that is a fish,algae,weeds ect.
When you look at your sonar read it from right to left as it scrolls by. The first 1/2 of the right side of the screen is closest to real time and as it moves towards the center if you are moving that could be 100 ft behind you.
I am still learning all the time but this is some of the items i have learned about. I hope this helps.
Good luck
Jay
if you're fishing out deeper and it's still hot, go with finesse fishing and plastics. don't be afraid to downsize lures and line as much as you can. i didn't do it until this year, but give drop shotting a try, especially if you find that the fish are suspending right off the bottom.
this video helped me out with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RFpdwWKa80
this video helped me out with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RFpdwWKa80
i still love fishing heavy heavy cover the kind you could walk across for the slobs that are still holding high under the stuff.
true story (no really) an old timer that i used to see down the river all the time showed me how to do it. this crazy bastard would tie literally a heavy wooden plug (looked like a knot from a tree), he screwed some weedless hooks, two of em into each end and worked like a frog over the junk. if that ole sonofagun didn't pull out a 7 lb larry several times in front of me, i obviously wouldn't believe it.
now i don't used tree knots, but i have rigged up a few number 7 indiana blades and a 1 1/2 oz spinnerbait and a 40 to 50lb braid dropped into the pads weeds whatever and have had great success over the years.
it can be a struggle but when something explodes in that heavy cover and seperates the pads in a good 3-4 ft radius, well yeehaw is all i got to say!
true story (no really) an old timer that i used to see down the river all the time showed me how to do it. this crazy bastard would tie literally a heavy wooden plug (looked like a knot from a tree), he screwed some weedless hooks, two of em into each end and worked like a frog over the junk. if that ole sonofagun didn't pull out a 7 lb larry several times in front of me, i obviously wouldn't believe it.
now i don't used tree knots, but i have rigged up a few number 7 indiana blades and a 1 1/2 oz spinnerbait and a 40 to 50lb braid dropped into the pads weeds whatever and have had great success over the years.
it can be a struggle but when something explodes in that heavy cover and seperates the pads in a good 3-4 ft radius, well yeehaw is all i got to say!
Hey guys thanks!
I got out Sunday evening @ 5:30 fished til 9. I plugged in my depth/fish finder & was determined to find bass on the deep side.
Didn't have much time before dark & then rain rolled in too. So, I searched close to boat launch site of Horn Pond. i was able to find fish with the fish finder but , wasn't always sure if they were
LMB. I was assaulted by yellow perch (5) & 1 good size white perch.
I was amazed by the yellow perch chasing my 1/2 oz baby bass spinnerbait! That's a big bait for the size of the fish?
Now, I thought that if there were bait fish in the area I was fishing, that there had to be some LMB on that side of the pond eating them? But, didn't catch anything. I tried the spinnerbait, a med diver crankbait, Deep diver crankbait & nothing. The North & west side of pond tapers slowly from 3-4 feet at shore out to 30 feet on the center. I did find some small humps & rock piles (that's where the perch were). As i was leaving a couple anglers where getting there boat out & packing up so, I asked how they did? They caught 3 on the other side of pond (figures right!) I'll try same approach next time on the east side?
How did I do? Was I on the right track? Or would you have done something different?
I got out Sunday evening @ 5:30 fished til 9. I plugged in my depth/fish finder & was determined to find bass on the deep side.
Didn't have much time before dark & then rain rolled in too. So, I searched close to boat launch site of Horn Pond. i was able to find fish with the fish finder but , wasn't always sure if they were
LMB. I was assaulted by yellow perch (5) & 1 good size white perch.
I was amazed by the yellow perch chasing my 1/2 oz baby bass spinnerbait! That's a big bait for the size of the fish?
Now, I thought that if there were bait fish in the area I was fishing, that there had to be some LMB on that side of the pond eating them? But, didn't catch anything. I tried the spinnerbait, a med diver crankbait, Deep diver crankbait & nothing. The North & west side of pond tapers slowly from 3-4 feet at shore out to 30 feet on the center. I did find some small humps & rock piles (that's where the perch were). As i was leaving a couple anglers where getting there boat out & packing up so, I asked how they did? They caught 3 on the other side of pond (figures right!) I'll try same approach next time on the east side?
How did I do? Was I on the right track? Or would you have done something different?
I've never been there, but I'm looking at the map right now... (I'd print it out and take it with you to the lake)
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/maps/ponds/pdf/dfwhorn.pdf
in the hot summertime, those 2 mid-lake humps might be good for deep diving crankbaits, jigs, dropshot rigs, etc. There's that one just northwest of the island in 25-30 ft of water that comes up to 15, then farther south, there's one where it gets down to 30, then comes back up to 20.
The water drops very quickly just to the northeast of the island - quick access to deep(er) water is important, especially in hot weather. Often times(but not always, like during the spawn), where those contour lines are closer together, those seem to be better places.
This is pretty geeky - but hey, I'm a geek
- but you can print out a lake contour map and take a colored pencil and trace each line in a different color - 5 ft red, 10ft blue, 15ft yellow, etc. It makes it abit easier to visualize the changes in bottom contour and see features which may hold fish.
The natural lakes here in the north don't often have alot of bottom structure, unlike the expansive southern reservoirs*, which are dammed-up rivers that flood the surrounding countryside - so cover(weedlines, etc.) is sometimes all you've got to go on... so those mid-lake humps can be a goldmine.
One thing you CAN try is using your sonar to find the deep edge of the weedline - that is, the deepest the weeds grow, which will vary depending on water clarity/sunlight penetration. That transition between weeds/bottom can be a form of 'structure'. If you find the deep weedline is say, 10 feet(for example), then follow that 10 foot contour until you find something 'different' which might possibly hold fish.
It's a guessing game - but the more we fish(and the more we learn about the fish we're after), the more educated those guesses get!
*Many years ago I had a VHS tape of Jimmy Houston on largemouth bass fishing(smallies are a different beast) - and he said that most of the time, people should mainly concentrate on water 7 ft deep or less - which would immediately make the amount of water to search for fish, MUCH smaller. How that would work here in the north, I dunno... we have pretty much ZERO natural lakes down there, only ones amounting to small farm ponds of a few acres or less. Of course, our understanding of the fish has expanded exponentially over the years. That being said, a bass is a bass...
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/maps/ponds/pdf/dfwhorn.pdf
in the hot summertime, those 2 mid-lake humps might be good for deep diving crankbaits, jigs, dropshot rigs, etc. There's that one just northwest of the island in 25-30 ft of water that comes up to 15, then farther south, there's one where it gets down to 30, then comes back up to 20.
The water drops very quickly just to the northeast of the island - quick access to deep(er) water is important, especially in hot weather. Often times(but not always, like during the spawn), where those contour lines are closer together, those seem to be better places.
This is pretty geeky - but hey, I'm a geek
- but you can print out a lake contour map and take a colored pencil and trace each line in a different color - 5 ft red, 10ft blue, 15ft yellow, etc. It makes it abit easier to visualize the changes in bottom contour and see features which may hold fish.
The natural lakes here in the north don't often have alot of bottom structure, unlike the expansive southern reservoirs*, which are dammed-up rivers that flood the surrounding countryside - so cover(weedlines, etc.) is sometimes all you've got to go on... so those mid-lake humps can be a goldmine.
One thing you CAN try is using your sonar to find the deep edge of the weedline - that is, the deepest the weeds grow, which will vary depending on water clarity/sunlight penetration. That transition between weeds/bottom can be a form of 'structure'. If you find the deep weedline is say, 10 feet(for example), then follow that 10 foot contour until you find something 'different' which might possibly hold fish.
It's a guessing game - but the more we fish(and the more we learn about the fish we're after), the more educated those guesses get!
*Many years ago I had a VHS tape of Jimmy Houston on largemouth bass fishing(smallies are a different beast) - and he said that most of the time, people should mainly concentrate on water 7 ft deep or less - which would immediately make the amount of water to search for fish, MUCH smaller. How that would work here in the north, I dunno... we have pretty much ZERO natural lakes down there, only ones amounting to small farm ponds of a few acres or less. Of course, our understanding of the fish has expanded exponentially over the years. That being said, a bass is a bass...
OK Thanks Tony!
I have that map laminated & cary it with me all the time! I'm fishin this pond all the time to try & learn as much as possible about bass fishin. Before I venture out to different or bigger waters. Also, its 5 minutes down the road! I tried the under water hump north east of the island. But its started getting late & rain was moving in.
I tend to dought myself when I'm out on the water for 3-4 hours & not catchin anything. I supose I just need to put in more time on the water. My wife will love to hear that!! LOL!
I have that map laminated & cary it with me all the time! I'm fishin this pond all the time to try & learn as much as possible about bass fishin. Before I venture out to different or bigger waters. Also, its 5 minutes down the road!
I tried the under water hump north east of the island. But its started getting late & rain was moving in.
I tend to dought myself when I'm out on the water for 3-4 hours & not catchin anything. I supose I just need to put in more time on the water. My wife will love to hear that!! LOL!
OK Thanks Tony!
I have that map laminated & cary it with me all the time! I'm fishin this pond all the time to try & learn as much as possible about bass fishin. Before I venture out to different or bigger waters. Also, its 5 minutes down the road!
yeah, that's why I'm always at Massasoit State Park - it's like a 10 minute drive or so... and I seem to do pretty good there, even from shore, so... I keep going back! LOL
I've gone back to that spot where I got the BIG one and haven't gotten another bite - not even a nibble! But my wife caught a few bluegills there... I wonder if it was a fluke? Surely there's more fish there... *confused*