Author Topic: Help With New Water.... (Read 920 times)

Lawdog · « **on:** April 08, 2003, 12:00:27 PM »

Got permission to fish a ranchers pond that is DEEP. I'm no great deep water fisherman but there are some BIG bass in this pond. I have only caught one so far slow rolling a 1 oz. spinnerbait in water that the rancher says is close to 50+ feet in places. She weighted 9 lbs. 13 oz. and the owner said his father stocked the pond 12 years ago with largemouth bass. It's also loaded with big bluegills, silversides and a type of catfish I've never seen before. Coal black with a pale yellow belly. Not many structures except some brush, weeds and tules at the tail end. Oh, this pond covers almost 20 sq. acre. What I'm wanting to know is what's your best technique for deep water bass? Lawdog

Skipper · « **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2003, 07:11:42 PM »

A silver buddy on a drop off might be a good tactic. However, this time of year, I would be looking for the fish up shallow.

Skipper

Lawdog · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2003, 01:38:18 PM »

Skipper,

Would you mind going into the "silver buddy on a drop off might be a good tactic" a little more for this old spinnerbait fisherman? Reason is this pond IS drop off's. The only real shallows are at the tail end where the creek flows into the pond. The rest is the steep hillsides of the ravine the creek flowed through before they dammed up the creek to make the pond. Lawdog

Skipper · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2003, 04:28:35 PM »

Silver Buddies are an old Dale Hollow trick on deep cold smallies. They are a blade with a weighted nose and are fished somewhat like a jiggin spoon. They can be cast, allowed to sink and burned along the bottom or bounced either one. If the water temp was in the 60's though, I'd be more prone to camp out in that shallow end.

Is this a cold water lake (Mountain fed) or relatively warm water?

Skipper

Lawdog · « **Reply #4 on:** April 10, 2003, 08:39:39 AM »

Skipper,

Thank you for the tip. The water is cold, mountain fed. I stopped by there last night to check out the shallow end and found some fish raising to minnows on the surface. Got my equipment out of the truck and started to throw a 1/4 oz. Rattle Trap and on the third cast I caught a big 2 lb. 5 oz. Bluegill. Lots of fun but not what I was looking for. I'll go by tonight and check the water temperature and let you know tomorrow.

By the way the Citgo Bassmasters Tour tournament down in Clear Lake, Ca. starts today and runs through Sunday. Roland Martin, Peter Thilveros, Warren Wyman and a bunch of other top anglers are there. Clear Lake is a great bass lake with lots of big bass(my personnel biggest came out of Clear Lake) so it will be good to see how the big boys do there. I'm going to go down there this weekend and see if I can pick up a few pointers. Plus I want to see who walks off with that $100,000 first prize check and that fully equipped Ranger Bass boat. Lawdog

Skipper · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2003, 03:03:44 AM »

The guys that win that boat hate it in April, big time. Show me the Money they say, or rather the IRS Say. :lol:

Good luck on that pond. Sounds like a great fishin hole.

Skipper

Lawdog · « **Reply #6 on:** April 11, 2003, 12:58:48 PM »

Skipper,

As I said I would the water temperature readings were 48 degrees at the dam to 51 degrees in the shallows at the tail end. Just the type of water that makes you want to get the bathing suit and go in for a dip.

Just an update on that tournament, after day one the leader is;

Jay Yelas(TX) 26 lbs. 5 oz.

Big Bass

Mark Davis(AR) 9 lbs. 5 oz.

Swim baits have accounted for 70% of the bass caught BUT Jay Yelas used Berkley Powerbaits to take the early lead. Lawdog

shb · « **Reply #7 on:** April 11, 2003, 01:52:40 PM »

Here in Nebraska we have what are refered to as, Sand Pits. Baisicaly the holes left over after the removal of gravel for road construction. Some are steep sided and can go from 20 to 40ft deep. A lot have very clear water. I get so frustrated because a person can clearly see huge (for NE )
Bass swimming around, but you can't get them hit anything if they can see you. They will tolerate a couple of casts and then slide off into the depths. I started having good luck on them by waiting until the last few minutes of light in the evening, then they would usually hit all your baisic bass lures. I'm not obsessed enough anymore to go chase them at night but it seems like that should work too.

Lawdog · « **Reply #8 on:** April 12, 2003, 12:26:37 PM »

Kind of and update on the Clear lake BASSMASTERS Tournament. After day two the firld was cut to 12 with the leader being;

Ishama Monroe(Ca) 41 lbs. 8 oz.

Big Bass

Day One - Mark Davis 9 lbs. 5 oz.
Day Two - Ken Cook 9 lbs. 3 oz.

Man I wish i would have been able to go watch. Lawdog

jerrl · « **Reply #9 on:** April 15, 2003, 09:12:28 AM »

If I were going to fish the situation of the deep clear ranch pond at the temps mentioned, I would be using some combo of jig and pork. I would also try to find the warmest and/or the dingiest (dirty) water available. In the pre spawn period I would probably start with a 3/8 oz black jig preferrably with a twinge of blue tinsel in the skirt and a split tail eel or frog. Over 10 feet depth I would switch to a 1/2 oz jig and a correspondingly larger pork trailer. As you mentioned slow rolling spinnerbaits is also good. I would choose a dark color, probably black, with either painted or copper blades. The tandem blades should be large probably a #6 ahead of a #8. I would also add a large (6") trailer. Remember nothing has spawned yet and all the available forage will be rather large plus you are fishing for BIG fish. Good luck.