Bass approach right now?

[The Quadfather]

I feel like I've noticed this the past couple years in my small urban lakes that I bass fish.
Currently the lakes have 1" bass fry travelling in large schools within the shallows. I hit a lake yesterday where I should have pulled more fish out, for sure. Got one 3 lber, on my last cast of the morning. I would cast up in the shallows, and the water would boil with these fry.

So, when the new 1" fry are in these small lakes, can we assume that the full size bass are gorging on the fry?
What are you throwing at this time, when you see this? I've got a few rattletraps that are shaped like fish, of course larger than the 1" fry. Maybe the resident fish are just over fed, and not as interested during this short window of fry?

[NineFingerFury]

I'm interested as well. Lake Wilderness is also full of small fry.

[G-Man]

I'm pretty sure the big ones aren't focused on the fry, this time of year is when I chuck top water baits into the shallows of my local urban lake. When I'm dragging a weightless worm, frog or the like over the budding lilypads I can hear the theme to jaws playing in my head until... POW! Top water blowups never get old.

[The Quadfather]

Yeah, I suppose. Just seems like they would be in a frenzy chasing all those fry.
I agree, the top water blow up is great!

[Amx]

They do get tired of the small fish, and go looking for a real meal = BIGGER small fish. lol

Then of course they get a taste for crayfish and go looking for them.

[Larry3215]

I think its more a matter of what ever they can catch thats small enough so they can eat it before it eats them and still big enough to be worth chasing

[fishingmachine]

The big females will pull off to the deeper water to recoup from spawning. most the lakes will ne in their summer patterns in the very near future! Pm me if you need more in depth info Quad!

[Jamesb]

After spawn the minnow fries are a good place to toss a top water minnow but make it bigger then the fry. I got a 14" at very small lake by noticing a swirl and fry scatter by me. So toss my minnow over there and bam fish on! A countdown minnow can work this time of year as they will be chasing minnows or rat L trap. Good luck but warmer weather would really help now.

[odddoylerules]

Big bass eat planter trout no?

[Amx]

no

[Amx]

they DEVOUR THEM!

[odddoylerules]

The other day 3 guys were bragging about catching 6 10" rainbows the day before, I walked to the other side of the point as they waded in and 3 monster bass cruised around the corner away from them. Idk if they even have a clue about the monsters that were 3 feet away from them. All fish for the lunker board, one appeared to be 22"+ and 6-8 lbs easy.

Wdfw is doing us bass lovers a DOUBLE favor w this trout planting thing!!

[Bay wolf]

I just started (I mean like in the last week) actually fishing for bass. I put a drop shot rig together on advice from a young man at SportCo. I went out yesterday (July 21) to American lake and fished around some of the docks near the Lake City Park. I was using 3" Gulp minnows. I lucked into a 10" small mouth and one 12" Large mouth.

I really like Bass fishing, but have a lot of learning...

Where and how is the best way to target fish this time of year.. Didn't seem like a lot of fish by the docks, and there was A LOT of weeds to contend with. Also, there were scores of little rock bass that destroyed my offering so fast, I didn't really feel like the bigger fish had a chance.

Any advice would be appreciated..

Thanks.

P

[meandermeadows]

I'm really new at it too, I have been out half a dozen times maybe. Recently I have been focusing on using senkos, and today finally caught a nice little 1.6 pound smallie, and a couple others that didn't make it to the boat. I used Texas rig and wacky rig, and caught fish on both. Mostly underneath docks and rocky areas near shore. I had a bunch of other gear but wanted to learn how to use the senkos, so I stuck with it, win or lose. 5" senkos. The brown one worked best, my friend used a smoke blue/black color and caught way more than I did.

In the past in Bitter Lake I have used a lot of crank baits and had the same problem with rock bass...if they are near and it swims, they will hit it. It is really a PITA to get two treble hooks out of them as well.

I also bought these very realistic crawdads called "Standin Yabbies" and found them in the mail when I got home. They are supposed to stand up and walk backwards when you tug on them. I am pretty excited to give them a try.

If you have lily pads, maybe try a frog or a mouse and jump across the pads. I haven't had any luck with it; I understand you need to be super patient. I also understand that when they hit a frog, they hit it HARD

[Bay wolf]

***********UPDATE***************

OK, so I have been fish this lake. It's shallow maybe 15 at it's deepest. It also has large patches of lily pads and what I think is called milfoil "salad". The entire lake floor is covered in the "Salad" . Shore line has some wood, but thick weed coverage for the most part. Fishing early morning so far (0730). I been fishing a Senko and have managed to catch two next to submerged logs. I tried some top water stuff along the lily pads but got nothing. What is the most suitable way to fish this type of water this time of year? Should I be working under the lily pads or out in the open water? I know there have go to be nice bass in this water. I can see many, many bass in the 4" to 6" range cruzing above the weeds.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Amx]

7:30 early???


topwater: frog, buzzbait, floating worm, tiny torpedo, devil's horse, and other prop baits, and any others that are noisy.

jigs, weighted worms, sinking unweighted worms---by the wood cover, in holes in the submergent weeds.

Fish anything that sticks up out of the weeds, docks, trees, stumps, rocks, tall weeds, cattails, reeds.

Any open areas in the weeds like rock piles, gravel, or rocky areas, they might be small so you'll have to look. Also look for weeds that are shorter than the surrounding weeds, can mean the bottom type is different, or there is a dip in the bottom.

Look for any 'path ways' in the weeds, could be a ditch.

fish the pads with anything that floats like a worm or frog, throw out onto the pads, let it sit for a bit, then work it back to the boat, when the frog gets close to the edge of the pads slow down, then wiggle it for a bit, then pull it off the pads and let it sit, then wiggle it again, then work it on back to the boat. Then fish the area with a heavy jig, starting with 1/2 oz, then go up to 1oz as needed to get thru the pads and to sink to the bottom. Jig the jig up and down a bit, then slowly pull it up to the pad, then wiggle it there for a bit. Do again and again.

you can use a crankbait if the weeds are deep enough, and the crankbait doesn't dive any more than 1 or 2 feet.


Oh ya, and a weighted swimbait with a hidden hook point. Down IN the weeds.

Use braid for everything, 30 lb test minimum. Use a floro leader on the lures that the fish has more time to see, such as the worm. Use a black magic marker to color the first 15 to 30 feet of the braid.

[Bay wolf]

Tom,

MOST EXCELLENT!!!

Thanks you,

Can't wait to get out and give it another go.

P