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I went fishing yesterday morning and had a pretty good day. I caught 3 Rainbows, one 18 incher that was 3 lbs one 19 incher that I didn't wiegh and one 21 incher that was 3 3/4 lbs (picture included below). Also caught 3 LM Bass, two of them were 11 inchers, and one was 12 1/2 inches, and 6 or 7 Bluegills.
My question is this, The water was so clear I could see to the bottom of the lake where I was fishing, and I could see the bass swim up and look at my lures/bait and then swim away. I caught one of the bass on a rapala, it bit it almost as soon as my cast hit the water, the other two were on live worms one was rigged with a slidding weight, and the other was weightless. I had them look at a few different plastic worms, and jigs I put out, but I just couldn't get them to hit for some reason, I tried wacky style and weedless rigs. They would swim right up to them and then swim off and sometimes circle around and look again as I was jigging it and then swim off. Other than the one hit on the rapala, they weren't interested in it at all, None of them even followed it or any of the others I tried, they weren't interested in spinners either. Even with the live worms I had more bass than I can count swim up to them look at them and swim off, but only the two bites.
What can I do differently to entice the LM's to bite in these conditions? Are there different lures I can use? Or do you think I'm not working the ones I have properly? Or were the fish not hungry? I'd love to hear any suggestions of what works for you in these conditions.
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We've all had that problem and most of us still haven't figured it out. The one little bit of advice I can offer is, keep yourself and your line invisible to the fish. Sorry that's all i've got but i've drove myself crazy in the same situation.
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Wow, that spot brings back a memory or two... Haven't fished there in a couple years. As far as the LMB not biting for you it could be numerous things. Maybe the water temp was a little off, didn't like what you were throwing to them, maybe even the presentation of what you did throw. We used to catch some pretty decent size LMB around the area I think you were fishing. We always did well with a couple different spinnerbaits.
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In clear water I like to:
1. Stay back... if you can see them you might be to close
2. Use lighter line that is of a color hard for the fish to see
3. Be quiet & sneaky (Fish can probably hear the same in dirty or clean water but it just makes me feel better!)
4. Use lighter colored lures.
Hope that helps[  ]
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this is kinda what I do with hard too catch bass, they for the most part have a long time too watch the lure/bait, so you want too use something fast that gets an impulse strike, and that crank is a place too start, I would suggest maybe a rip-n-rap or some other lipless crank you can move fast with, maybe a spoon depending on the weeds or my all time favorite that goes against what I just said is a watermelon Sinko, either rigged weedless or wacky, and experiment with colors, another good one is a bigger all bronze spinner you normally would throw for trout works great on bass,
Matt
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They have pretty much said everything I would say. Stay back use floro line in something like #6 and it either needs to cause them to react without thinking or it needs to look really natural and sink sloooow.
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I use to spend a lot of time there and those bass have been there for a long time i think there a new breed that never eats [:p] try a green woolly worm in those ponds with a clear bubble those trout love them
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Everybody had really good advice so far. Just remember, if you can see them, they can probably see you. Windy or overcast days can be you friend on clear water. If you get some good wind, try throwing a double willow spinnerbait in a natural color or a lipless crank. Plastics should be subtle like watermelon or green pumpkin. I agree on scaling down your line too.
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Braid+fluoro leader which it appears you already have. From there I'd try either an albino fluke or a small drop shot. Try topwater in the morning or at dusk. If that doesn't work, a nightcrawler nose hooked will catch em.
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Definitely the best way to fish plastics. I'll never go back.
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A few years back at Condie I was having the same exact problem, they would swim up and look at the bait but I coulndt get a strike. One of my cast I got caught up on a small bush and was trying to lightly jig my bait off of the bush which made it sit there for a minute trying to get it off and all the sudden a pretty nice bass smacked the crap out of it. For the next several hours I was able to walk the bank and snag up on small structures which I would just sit there and jig my bait on. I could see the bass just swim up and stare at my bait almost in a trance and then wham. I got it on film but its on my old high 8 video and I dont know how to transfer that stuff to my computer. Anyway that might be an idea. Give you a little more presentation time instead if the fast instinct strike doesnt work.
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According to the pro's in Bassmaster magazine, if you can get them to pay attention, you're close and on the right track - you just need to modify your presentation. Color, speed, size, retrieve pattern, line - just find the right tweak to what you're already doing. Good luck!
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Downsize your presentation.(smaller lures)
If the fish were coming up to your lure then then werent worried too much bout you so I would say staying back isnt a big deal in this situation. the fish were refusing your lure not spooking. Try an albino colored zoom super fluke jr rigged weightless texas style on a 2/0 extra wide gap hook. Let it sink with a few twitches every once in a while. Most bass wont pass up a 3/4 of the way dead baitfish sinking close by.
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Thanks for all of the great advice everyone! I've used many of your suggestions as I've gone back several times since, and done really well on the bass. Watermelon Senkos wacky rigged have caught 6-8 bass in the 11-13 inch range usually in two or three hours every time. I think my biggest problem was staying in one spot the whole time. I've found that with the bass generally if they are going to bite in an area it will be within the first 15 minutes I'm there, often on the very first cast. If they are looking at the bait a long time, on multiple casts I have just been moving to another spot. Then I will come back and try the spot where they were looking at the bait earlier again in a half hour or 45 minutes and they will often hit it on the first or second cast.
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when i was a teeneager i grew up fishing the clear water ponds in boise for large mouth bass. i would throw small plastics weightless with fair to good results. the bass can be surprisingly attracted to large baits as well. there was a big bass i tried to catch for two days she would lay under a 2x2 piece of plywood right below the surface i threw the kitchen sink at her even tied a string of two inch rapalas together to simulate a bait fish school and she wouldn't bite it.( did have luck with it before) finally out of frustration i tied on a big bass oreneo lure probably 6 " long and 3/4 to 7/8 of an ounce. soon as it hit the water she stormed out and hammered it. she weighed a tad over 5 lbs.
however...........and this will be controvercial but the best way to catch shallow/ clear water bass without fail is to head hook a fat nightcrawler with a # 10 or # 8 hook and 4 or six pound test. fish it weightless. it will work at least 75% of the time.
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There's just something about spinners, Mepps specifically, that almost seems to make fish mad enough that they bite. I've caught a ton of different species on a gold #2 Mepps, including LMB and SMB. Also, it is very possible that they were just cautious because you were a little too close. I've seen tons of fish follow a lure all they way in but then they turn around real quick when they get within 10 feet or so from me. Perhaps try distancing yourself as much as possible from the fish and then make a long cast.
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[quote Cantstopfishing]I went fishing yesterday morning and had a pretty good day. I caught 3 Rainbows, one 18 incher that was 3 lbs one 19 incher that I didn't wiegh and one 21 incher that was 3 3/4 lbs (picture included below). Also caught 3 LM Bass, two of them were 11 inchers, and one was 12 1/2 inches, and 6 or 7 Bluegills.
My question is this, The water was so clear I could see to the bottom of the lake where I was fishing, and I could see the bass swim up and look at my lures/bait and then swim away. I caught one of the bass on a rapala, it bit it almost as soon as my cast hit the water, the other two were on live worms one was rigged with a slidding weight, and the other was weightless. I had them look at a few different plastic worms, and jigs I put out, but I just couldn't get them to hit for some reason, I tried wacky style and weedless rigs. They would swim right up to them and then swim off and sometimes circle around and look again as I was jigging it and then swim off. Other than the one hit on the rapala, they weren't interested in it at all, None of them even followed it or any of the others I tried, they weren't interested in spinners either. Even with the live worms I had more bass than I can count swim up to them look at them and swim off, but only the two bites.
What can I do differently to entice the LM's to bite in these conditions? Are there different lures I can use? Or do you think I'm not working the ones I have properly? Or were the fish not hungry? I'd love to hear any suggestions of what works for you in these conditions.[/quote]
Poor feller has no tail! Nice fish!!
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