[Pugs]

I've been out the past two weeks and nothing to show for it except the occasional dink. I've thrown everything. Grubs, senkos, top water plugs. You name it I've thrown it. With nothing going on I decided to go UL and maybe pick up a crappie or blue gill. I was fishing a small bucktail with 4lb test and something slammed it and drove the line straight down. Of course it snapped my line. Must have been another one of those damn carp.
Anyway, anyone else not catching fish???


Sorry for the rant. It's Monday.

Pug

 

[got_A_way]

I can't figure the pattern either

I fished my normal pond last two weekends and only managed a couple into the boat.

I know I have a lot to learn - I can't seem to find that deep hole that holds the B I G bass in the winter. Guess I'll keep looking.

Fish Hard!

 

[earthworm77]

Pugs....maybe the bass are not where your targetting. I am picking up fish about 10 yards off shore in 6 to 8ft of water. I caught a ton my last time out. Keep trying, you will get into them if you mix it up. Don't rely on your summer and spring tactics.

 

[JOHN G]

Earthy, keep in mind that Pugs does all his fishing from shore....


this time of the year, that is the LAST place I would want to be.....

despite the Indian Summer , and despite the mild fall, many fish are already deep and proper access from shore is very difficult....

 

[Gregg]

Don't rely on your summer and spring tactics.

Or your summer and sping spots. Sometimes it not what your throwing but where! also when! This time of year I believe afternoon is better them morning.

 

[earthworm77]

John, for the record, I too was confined to shore.....I waded. I can't launch a boat with one hand.

 

[JOHN G]

but again, Earthy it is also WHERE you wade!!

I could wade a dozen spots on various NYC reservoirs right now, and I know the ones that have little chance of producing and the ones that will.....

it always comes down to knowing your waters intimately.......

obviously, there is always better water to fish, and you have to find it.....


there is no doubt in my mind that Pugs would fare better with better choices of WHERE he went, not necessarily HOW he fished the places he went......

Craig what is working well wading for you now, I could put you on some spots on , say, Kensico, and it wouldn't produce anything.....

so where and when is also important.....that is where the years of experience fishing your waters on the Island come in handy.....

you are picking wisely before you even wet a line.....

 

[BULLFROG]

shore fishing

Pugs,

Two things Earth Worm and John G pointed out I experienced this weekend. WHERE and HOW to fish. I do alot of fishing from shore and this time of year I fish the smaller lakes and ponds so that when I cast I can reach the center of the lakes in the deeper water where I know there will be bass there. On bigger lakes you may not be able to reach the fish from shore. Second as EW points out I don't fish the same way I do in spring and summer. I fish much slower with worms and grubs. This weekend I was trying one of EW's 1/8 jig and was catching alot of small bass. I thought I was fishing slow but didn't catch anything until I literally let the jig sit on the bottom for a few seconds while I sneezed. after a few seconds while I blew my nose i twitched the jig and bam started catching fish. After that I would count to 5 or 10 before working the jig and caught about 20 bass all under 2lbs in abou 3 hrs.

BTW wher do you fish from shore?

 

[Lpbassman]

Have to agree with Bullfrog as I learned this lesson the hard way on Maho this past Saturday. With the weather so amazingly warm, I convinced myself that the fish would responding to "spring-like" patterns. MAN WAS I WRONG! I continued to work my plastics as I would in the sping & summer and wound up with a GOOSE EGG for the day. GO DEEP & SLOW IT DOWN!!

 

[Pugs]

Senkos?

 

[BULLFROG]

jigs/tubes

I haven't used a senko since september. I've been using tubes,jigs,and zoom fat alberts all weighted and working them slow on the bottom. One pond I was on still had some weeds and caught a couple on an in-line spinner.

 

[Pugs]

Bullfrog thanks.
I'll give it a try.

PS I like to fish the smaller water in Westchester. Tibbets in Yonkers. Twin Lakes, Larchmont reservoir. Not a whole lot of big fish but enough in the 2-4 pound range.

 

[Jighead61]

It's interesting that "deep water" keeps coming up but let's not forget that deep is a relative term.

Earthy may be catching fish from 6' to 8' of water in a lake which may be no deeper than 15 feet (my assumption).

John G brings up a good point regarding Kensico. This lake is about 150' deep and you couldn't buy a fish by wading now !!!
I can confirm this as most fish have been showing up on the sonar between 50' to 70' on my last couple of outings.

Leigh makes a very good observation. Regardless of the recent warming trend, most fish will still be located in deep water. Maybe not necessarily in small lakes and ponds but definitely on the majority of the deeper lakes.


Ronnie

 

[HookUp]

For rivers atleast

Even though the temps are in the low to mid-80's in NoVA, the fish have not moved back to the shore.

They are in their deep water winter holes - in the rivers I fish.

Now, the temps have brough them to the shallow edges of the deep water holes, but not to the shore line.

Hope this helps in your quest on lakes.

 

[earthworm77]

Actually, Ronnie, I would say 8 ft might be the maximum in this particular water. If you're in waters where you can't catch them....change to a different water. If I couldn't catch fish at the Res., I'd move to a stream or other body. I'm sure the eddies in the creeks are teaming with fish.

With that being said though, it is possible that you are on the right water, only looking in the wrong spots using the wrong baits. John, I understand what you mean by intimately knowing your water but I've only been to this body of water a handful of times....ever. It is easy to walk around, so it was my logical choice.

Went back today, with the upcoming frontal conditions, I anticipated a good bite......correct on that but only one big fish worth talking about. Bait of the day was a Madtom and slider worm on one of the pro heads. Spinnerbait and crankbait also both produced well. I changed the hooks on my Honey B to Diachi Bleeding Bait red trebles and the fish reacted with some very hard strikes. Most fish were between 12 and 15 inches. The wind was howling pretty good and again most fish were holding off the shoreline about 10 to 15 yards in about 5 feet of water. The weeds are almost all gone, anything on the surface has been gone for over a month now. These fish are very aggressive. They were striking hard. I think the key to the presentation was movement. This to me is pretty cool because most of the season I chuck jigs and plastics with a spinnerbait on occasion.

It is funny how my injury has totally dictated my style.
I'm using Fireline and Sea King Braids exclusively....due to the fact that I can't retie without a lot of effort. Steady retrives using baits that pretty much hook them when they strike. A little pop of the wrist is all it takes.

I've also discovered some monster yellow perch with consistency that I can count on if the bass slow down a bit.

 

[Mr. Micropterus]

Why do bass move deep in the fall instead of moving shallower where it is easier to pick up craws and feed on shad? I've heard conflicting things on where to go in the fall. Deep or Shallow? Or does it change from day to day? Thanks - fishinut

 

[JOHN G]

you know Earthy, sometimes it is just the water......

I will quote PUGS:

"Tibbets in Yonkers. Twin Lakes, Larchmont reservoir. Not a whole lot of big fish but enough in the 2-4 pound range"

Tibbets is a mud hole, where the very middle of the lake is no deeper than the shoreline......

Larchmont Reservoir: depends on whether you are fishing the lower or upper level....much bigger fish in the upper level, but I have never found these waters to produce well in the fall

Twin Lakes: tough walk around....a lot of muck and old weeds close to where you cast.......this is a water that begs to be fished from a boat OUTSIDE of these weedbeds, very difficult to do from shore.......

none of these are quality waters, believe me........

Pugs: your choices are holding you back in this case.....

 

[JOHN G]

Fishinut: the problem is that with the cool nights, the shorelines have the greatest fluctuations in Temp....

the same way they will heat up the most in the lake under the midday sun, they will cool off the most overnight right now.....

it is a combination of water temp/and/or feeding opportunities.....

in lakes where turnovers have occurred, there is now a more even water temp throughout......

think about this: if you are a fish sitting in a lake, and the water temp is 50 degrees on the shorline, and 50 degrees 20 feet down.....why would you be on the shoreline, where: anglers can pick you off easily, cormorants and herons can pick you off easily.........

remember: although the bass is a predator, he is also predated himself and a lot of his activity is designed not only for ambush or feeding opportunities but for his own protection......

when the feeding opportunity ONLY exists shallow, then he will have to take that risk , or when hormones and instincts are pushing him shallow to spawn, then alright....

but under normal circumstances, as long as there is reasonable feeding opportunity down deeper, he himself is much safer down there.....


that is why I mentioned in Pug's example, Tibbets Brook Pond: if the water shoreline is 3 feet and the water in the middle of the pond is 3 feet, it is much safer and secure for those fish in the middle of the pond....

if there is an exceptional feed opportunity ( crawfish ) shallow, they might take the risk, but otherwise, there is nothing to be gained by being shallow.......

when a bass lurks in the shadows, it is also for his own protection as well as ambush....keep that in mind.....

two things will drive a bass shallow: Spawning urges and exceptional feed situations......

in all other cases, he has way more to lose by location shallow.....

 

[earthworm77]

I think in the fall, deeper water stays more consistent in temperature. Fish do move in and out to feed via migratiton routes. Find the routes, you find the bigger fish. So both may be right as far as shallow and deep. You have to hit it right. It's just that when the bass do come shallow, it is to feed and they can be aggressive as in my case. Now, I'm a firm believer that some fish stay shallow all year but this time of the year, the percentage of shallow fish vs. migrating fish is much smaller. I think this also differs from water to water though.

 

[Steve_IA]

Cover... especially live weeds... should have an influence in your fishing location decision. Shallow weeds that are still alive will hold bass this time of year and shallow weeds growing amoungst rock and boulders will hold average sized smallies (trophies are probably in a deep weedless pattern). When the weeds are gone depth and deep sudden topography changes will become their prefered cover.