Tournament this weekend. New lake... what to do/use?

[saltfisher]

A buddy of mine that fishes this lake quite often, gave me and my partner papers. We also signed up, but never fished this lake before. We were going to go up this weekend, but my buddy had problems with his boat trailer so we just drove up to check things out.

Water temp is hovering around 45-46. Water looked a little stained... and its going to be 70 here in PA monday. We have 6 days untill the tournament. Stopped in at a local tackle shop, and the guy there said stick/jerk baits work well fished VERY slow. He said the shad that are in that lake are a white'ish color, so grabbed a pointer 100 lucky strike in a "woops"y shad color.

I heard another guy come in saying he had a few on jigs, and wanted to know what works well also.... the guy told him the same thing....


I know from talking to people that this lake has quite a bit of weeds, and there is a underpass at the end of the lake that goes under a bridge, and opens up to lilly-pads in the summer. Would this be a good place to go now pre-spawn? You can see it on the map I will post below.


What do you guys think we should do? I never fished too much cold water bass either.... I was thinking, pig/jig slow. Lipless cranks/rattle traps, and some jerk baits off points. Also throw some red eye shad KVD through the weeds and try for reaction bites. Ideas?

Here are a few pics of the lake to get an idea how its set-up...

[willthebad]

Cant see the picture on my comp, but here is what I'd chunk at 'em..

Jerkbait, Rattletrap, crankbait(size depends on depth), Jig(Blk/Blue w/blk/blue or green pumpkin trailer), Spinnerbait or Swimbait (Zoom Swimming Fluke) depending on water clarity and if temps warm, possible creature style plastic and possibly a senko, and then finally a flick shake...maybe a c-rig if there's points with deep water...

[DBrooke]

If I had to pick 1 bait it would be a jig n plastic. Throw close to the bank and work it back to you until it gets to the boat or 10' of water. Doing this for a bit may help you find where they are sitting or staging. 2nd bait would be a suspended rogue worked like a jerkbait but with 8-10 secs between movements. Yes that is a long time when you are in a tourney but the fish may not be in a chase mood so this will give them time to check it out then strike it.

Believe it or not, last weekend I had the same water temps and the fish were NOT sitting in the sunny spots, they were actually in the shade spots all morning. Only conclusion I had to that was the dead vegetation was holding heat still from the previous afternoon and rather than burn energy looking for a warmer spot they just hung out there and waited for food to come to them. Since they were in the shade it also made them harder to be spotted by their forage.

[saltfisher]

One of my favorite baits is a swim senko with no weight. I will for sure be tying one of those on a rod, also a blk/blue jig, with a blk/blue yamamoto craw as a trailer. Also will have the pointer 100 in "woops"y shad tied on, and probably a lipless crank/red eye shad. My last rod will probably have a deeper diving crank in a brighter color.

I will have to test out everything... I was really wanting to pre-fish....

[D_Loomis]

Whatever you throw....slow down...when you think your fishing sloww enough, slow down a little bit more.

[tmiller2]

i have one this weekend as well...in similar conditions...along with a jerkbait, jig, lipless, and spinnerbait, i will have a drop shot and a shakey head rigged up which will force me to slow down...i will be looking for deep weed beds or any other cover that may be in 10+ feet of water...i doubt the fish will come up shallow even though we are supposed to have warm weather because the rain should keep the waters cool

[Camden]

Here is the pic I think you was trying to post

[saltfisher]

Yeah thats it. Thanks... It came up on my browser after I posted, but then the next time, didnt. hmm...

[Swede]

Hmmm - water temp says it's cold and bass will be in their wintertime patterns yet - possibly thinking pre-spawn if temps rise to 55-60.  Speed = SLOWWWWWW.  What type of cover is there?  How deep is the lake? If wintertime pattern is still on, look for deeper haunts along breaklines with a deep crankbait in shad pattern (I like Rapala DT series - Helsinki Shad is a good one).  Turn that reel handle just enough to feel the wobble - no faster.  Deep running jerkbaits also good option.  Ensure during retrieve you are pausing 10 to 20 seconds between jerks and watch your line for a pop from the strike.  Jig-n-Pig good as well around specific cover and like laydowns.

[coldfront]

Hmmm - water temp says it's cold and bass will be in their wintertime patterns yet - possibly thinking pre-spawn if temps rise to 55-60.  Speed = SLOWWWWWW.  What type of cover is there?  How deep is the lake? If wintertime pattern is still on, look for deeper haunts along breaklines with a deep crankbait in shad pattern (I like Rapala DT series - Helsinki Shad is a good one).  Turn that reel handle just enough to feel the wobble - no faster.  Deep running jerkbaits also good option.  Ensure during retrieve you are pausing 10 to 20 seconds between jerks and watch your line for a pop from the strike.  Jig-n-Pig good as well around specific cover and like laydowns.

this time of year, water temps can change in a hurry...both up or down...sometimes both in the same week here in the plains...

one thing I like to know this time of year:  what were water temps last week...sometimes, I think on those 'rising temps' where they go up real fast, the fish take a little longer to respond... 

[saltfisher]

I just rigged up a rod for drop shotting, and another with a shakey head.

There are rows, and pockets of weeds, and heard there is a rock pile in the middle of the lake in front of the swimming area. It goes from 10-12ft up to 4-5ft where the rocks are.... then back to 10-12ft. I think the whole lake is around 10-12ft, and the channel its around 15-16. Except towards the dam where it starts to drop to 20-30ft.

[NateG]

I'd throw a small jig, worm, and a spinnerbait.

[GBAngler]

     Have you tried any mapping sites w/ satellite images to help you "scope out" the layout of the lake? There are many out there, but Bing Maps seems to be quite revealing for this particular lake. Go to www.bing.com/maps/ and use the mouse wheel to zoom in on your area. To change from road maps to satellite images put your cursor over "Road" at top of map and click "Birdseye". Make sure both boxes on "Birdseye" are checked. Now, zoom in all the way on the lake. Left click/hold to drag to different parts of the lake.
     Luckily for you, the up-close images were taken when this lake was approx 5 ft low, so a lot of the structure is exposed! The area that intrigues me the most is the SE side of the bridge. There's a large rockpile that would not be seen at normal pool. It's in about 4 ft of water, drops to maybe 10+ ft, and is adjacent to the main creek channel. Another area is further SE along the south shore next to a small cove. There's a rock levee that starts on the shore and extends out about 200-250 ft into deeper water. Two-thirds of this rock wall is normally submerged. You can see this if you zoom out to an image with lake at normal pool. Just to the east is what appears to be a small beach area. About 100 ft NW of the deep end of the levee is a large rockpile. This might be the one you were referring to in an earlier post. Definitely, hit this area! Anyway, the other fellas have given you solid advice on "what/how" to fish it. This site should give you some ideas on "where" to fish. Come up with a gameplan on areas to hit, and work those areas thoroughly on tourney day. Good Luck! And let us know how you faired.

[saltfisher]

Wow.... Good info!! Thank you! Those areas will help alot and now our game plan on where we will go, has changed. I have not heard of that rock pile right before the bridge. One thing that really makes me want to hit this area, is its right beside the channel, and the water temp will only be around 46-48. Awesome map info!!