What are these PA bass doing?

apiazza · April 06, 2020, 03:00:24 PM

Well Zip and Fishballer, you guys have me stumped...

You both pulled some nice toads out of your local water recently and the ole instagram tells me that a well respected tournament kayak guy pulled a serious fatty out of my local reservoir just the other day. I spent 4ish hours on the yak yesterday, but couldn't figure out a pattern, along with everyone else on the water it seems. So what am I missing?

Air temps were in the 60's, passing clouds. Breeze was light and variable. Water temp started at 50 and was up to about 54 in some of the back shallows by the time I got off the water. water clarity on a couple feet at most.

I fished the brush covered banks, points, ledges, lay down. Threw a jig, trap, chatterbait, and several squarebills. I'm stumped at the moment.

zippyduck · April 06, 2020, 04:53:07 PM

All of mine have come from flats located near a drop off. Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and t-rigs have been the baits of choice so far. They have all eaten the whole bait. Many have taken repeated casts into the same area. They are moving very slow so slow down your presentation and cover the entire area with fan casts.

apiazza · April 06, 2020, 08:51:57 PM

Stud caught around the corner from me.

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zippyduck · April 06, 2020, 09:03:48 PM

April is always a big fish month in Pa. Those big girls are hungry and moving shallow.

fishballer06 · April 07, 2020, 08:36:57 AM

Our waters are dirty here, so I like to throw baits that help the fish find the bait. That being said, 6 of mine came on a spinnerbait and the other came on a football jig. Like Zippy said, all my fish were inhaling the baits. My fish were all within 20-30 feet from shore in rocky area's. The sun being up was a big factor too. Shallow water warms up the quickest this time of year, so when the sun gets up and its warm, that will make those fish get close the banks.

Now granted, every body of water is different, so that might not mean anything on your waters. But its definitely a pattern that you should try before trying something else.

apiazza · April 07, 2020, 09:54:27 AM

The water has been pretty dirty here. I was throwing noisy baits in thought of drawing the bite that way but may need to switch to the flash of a spinner in combination with its thump. I did throw the chatterbait for the last 30 minutes or so up along the brush lined bank.

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apiazza · April 07, 2020, 04:41:37 PM

I was reading a bit and I've heard several mentions that this time of year that fish move up on the north side of the lakes first. Is there any truth to that?

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zippyduck · April 07, 2020, 05:57:44 PM

Quote from: apiazza on April 07, 2020, 04:41:37 PM
I was reading a bit and I've heard several mentions that this time of year that fish move up on the north side of the lakes first. Is there any truth to that?

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They don't necessarily move to the Northern part of the lake as much as the ones that live there get the benefit of the warmest waters first. It is well worth looking into unless the Northern part of the lake is also the deepest part.

apiazza · April 07, 2020, 07:41:04 PM

Quote from: zippyduck on April 07, 2020, 05:57:44 PM
They don't necessarily move to the Northern part of the lake as much as the ones that live there get the benefit of the warmest waters first. It is well worth looking into unless the Northern part of the lake is also the deepest part.

The south definitely has more arms of the lake, but the north has a few smaller arms that seem to have good contours. I might give it a go tomorrow.

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zippyduck · April 07, 2020, 08:16:02 PM

The reason Fishballer and I are doing well is the lake we are fishing has been on a schedule as long as I've been fishing it. We know when it should start and where to start looking for them.
Keep a log book once you start to catch them and it should be a kind after three years.

This lake we fish is terrible in the summer. No way to get to the fish as it is shore only.

apiazza · April 09, 2020, 08:26:50 AM

I'm still riding the struggle bus.

I was out yesterday for almost 4 hours. We had heavy thunder storms the night before which badly stained the water and likely dropped the water temp. Less than a foot of visibility in some places. The wind was blowing me around a fair bit so I tried to fish sheltered areas. I fished the brush a lot flipping a black/blue jig with a sweat beaver and t-rigged an X-zone muscle back for the most part. Threw a wacky work but was getting hung up too much.

zippyduck · April 10, 2020, 01:58:51 PM

You are probably fishing too shallow. This time of year I focus on 6-8 fow.

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apiazza · April 10, 2020, 02:42:03 PM

Quote from: zippyduck on April 10, 2020, 01:58:51 PM
You are probably fishing too shallow. This time of year I focus on 6-8 fow.

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Based on the information I was given, I was focusing on the bluff walls on the north side of the 'flats' but I was probably still a bit shallow. The surface temp is just barely hanging above 50 degrees. I might have to work another location until the water warms enough for the fish to push up into that flat, especially after this cold and windy couple of days.