It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve had a day off to go fishing. It’s been cold but should any of the bass be in pre-spawn areas, especially the Northwest side? Also what’s the chances of some of them moving shallow late afternoon? I’ve got some new Livingston jerkbaits and crankbaits I’ve been wanting to try.
I fished some ponds today. I fished for an hour from land and caught a 1.5# female. She was on a Ned but not in a breeding pair. Like her tailwas sanded down from fanning out a bed, so she was shallow on the bank. Caught on a bullet weighted zman senko in Junebug. Hope that helps
At my age any advice helps. I’ve got a few more years before I can retire. Fished salt for years, still do some, but the bass bug hit me hard last year.
The warmer stable weather over the next week should get them moving to the shallows. Haven’t fished Moultrie this year yet…may be going this weekend. Hopefully the fish (or at least some) will be shallow now…seems to be the only pattern that we have any success with.
I’m off Friday and Monday. Gonna try Friday, Monday looks real windy. Hoping late afternoon sun will help move some in to the 3-6 ft depths.
Yes, wind is not our friend. We fish out of a 14’ jonboat, so it limits what we can do. Think we are going to give Sunday a go. When you nail them on Friday, let us know.
headed there in a couple hours. REALLY need a break from work and home even if it’s windy and/or I don’t catch anything. will give a report, good or bad, this evening when I get back
didn’t lose a single fish today…cause I didn’t get any action at all. talked to four other bass fishermen and none had gotten a single bite all day. one poor guy staying at Angel’s said he’s fished five days in a row without a single fish.
make that 5 without a fish tonight. i paddled around short stay and casted several different lures to no avail. last i caught in moultrie was a small perch and a big mudfish at the kayak meet n fish last weekend.
I don’t know about those Santee lakes, but I caught some nice largemouth on the Berry’s spoons on Murray last Saturday. I didn’t fish shallower than 25’. Another individual and his female companion saw me and asked if they could fish near me. I said sure. They caught some white perch and one largemouth over 5 lbs. Only problem for me was that they kept the bass which, of course, is their right. He was actually laughing at the guys trying to fish shallow. The water temp. where we were was 48.5 degrees.
I’m strictly catch and release for largemouth. I want to find out where they live and go back and catch them again when they’re bigger. My biggest bass so far on the spoons was slightly over 10 lbs. I just love those Berry spoons for deep fishing. Almost hate to see the water getting warm.
I’m a catch and release guy too myself spoonmaster eating fish are cats and panfish. And saltwater fish except for big trout! You gotta show me how to fish those spoons one day! I love freshwater fishing and have never been to the lakes yet. I just fish ponds around Charleston.
There’s really no secret to fishing the spoons I’m fishing. Simply locate “deep” active fish suspending near the bottom and vertically jig the spoons. I don’t think the spoons I’m fishing would be suitable for ponds, unless the ponds were pretty deep and you had access to a boat. Also, they are mostly a cold water bait, atleast the way I’m fishing them. I maintain bottom contact on every fall and experiment with how fast and or hard to jerk the spoons. I typically will fish the spoons as shallow as 13’ and have caught stripers and white perch as deep as 85’. My deepest bass was on Murray in January a few years back. It hit at 55’ and was over 5 lbs. When they come up from that deep there’s not much use to release them because very few will survive, even if fizzed.
When fishing for fun, I normally fish two rods with either different colors or sizes of spoons until I discern which color or size seems to be best at that particular time. I feel very limited in bass tournaments when I can only fish one rod at a time. For a number of reasons, that only the fish seem to know, color and size preferences can change daily or hourly. A lot depends on what size baitfish the big fish are feeding on as well as water color, temp., wind and or cloud cover. I almost always have atleast one 1/2 oz. white/silver reflector Berry’s spoon tied on as that seems to be my best all around fish catcher, and my only bass over ten lbs. swallowed one. I guess it must closely resemble an injured shad to the fish. All I know is that little spoon produces well on the lakes up here, such as Murray, Greenwood, Wateree and Monticello. I have a pretty big spoon collection. I’ve tried pretty much one or two of each vendors offerings. It may just be the way I fish the spoons, but the I’m partial to the Berry’s. All I know is that they work for me. I also like the Mann’s, Cabela’s and Cotton Cordell spoons. I pretty much fell out with Bass Pro since they quit stocking the Berry’s spoons. I try to keep atleast 25 unopened Berry’s spoons at all times.
I have the utmost respect for the guys and gals who have confidence to be able to catch deep water bass. I know I’m no good at it.
I was very fortunate as a youngster to have a high school friend who’s father was a very good largemouth guide on Murray. His dad used to “bump” a bait called a Super Dude from late fall to early spring and catch some monster bass and stripers with it. I was lucky enough to be invited to fish with them from time to time and tried to learn as much as possible about what he called “bumping the bottom”. It’s really an effective way to catch a lot of fish fast. The main drawback to it is muddy water. Clear water is what I prefer if I’m fishing the spoons. My area of Murray looks like chocolate milk right now and it’s cold too, so the fishing will be tough for me for a while. When it clears up maybe the bass will be in prespawn. Try the deep bass occasionally during the winter. If you find them once, you will be hooked on fishing deep from then on out.