How would you fish this? Or would you? 2025

BigAngus752 reply :

This is a very large cove chock full of these old trees. The trouble I had with it is that these trees are 20+ feet tall. The center of the cove is 40 feet deep. When I took the "selfie" pic I was in 28 feet of water. Shoreline is a near straight drop off. Fishing at this lake is very tough right now. It was sunny/sometimes cloudy and very flat today. Water temp is still high (75 out in the middle and 76-78 in the coves). I occasionally saw suspended fish in this cove and it was getting a little bit of surface feeding. I used both lipless (Rat-L-Trap) and lipped (Rapala Deep Runner) with no success. Also had my usual weightless Senko floating along with me as I drifted and at the end I tried a Zara Spook on the surface. I didn't get a bite. This is a new lake to me. Would you expect this area to be productive under these conditions? How would you fish it?

BuzzHudson19c reply :

Get out at daybreak and Buzzbait the bajesus out of it! LOL. That's my first thought.

I was going to say Ratltrap also but you didn't have much luck with it. Did you see any bait fish in the area?

BigAngus752 reply :

On 9/20/2017 at 9:41 AM, BuzzHudson19c said:

Get out at daybreak and Buzzbait the bajesus out of it! LOL. That's my first thought.

I was going to say Ratltrap also but you didn't have much luck with it. Did you see any bait fish in the area?

This cove was full of fish in the 3in to 6in range all hanging just under the surface sticking close to the trees.

MIbassyaker reply :

I am not hugely experienced at this sort of cover, but I fish a little reservoir with a section like that which, while it is not as deep, does hold bass. The ones I have caught there have not been on or near the bottom, but suspending mid-depth near the trees, or near the surface. They are more likely to be near the surface when there has been a warming trend for a few days and there is little or no wind.

I have been successful with a buzzbait early and late in the day. Try to tick the trees on the retrieve. If this doesn't work, or the sun is high, I fish a weighted wacky worm vertically, cast near a tree and let it fall. I think a spinnerbait could be effective here too, either cast and retrieved horizontally to go near and bump the tree trunks subsurface as they go past, or stop the retrieve near the trunk and let it helicopter vertically down alongside.

islandbass reply :

I have no experience in this but as a gut feeling best guess, I'd try some type of countdown minnow or other lure you could get to descend a bit and then retrieve and tryout various depths if the top waters didn't produce.

I'd fish the bottom of the trees if those didn't work.

I must say it sure looks like promising water.

papajoe222 reply :

I'm guessing, based on your location and the shore in the pic, that this lake has been drawn down a bit and normally your choice of presentations should have resulted in some hook-ups if the fish were using the cove. My guess is there wasn't enough of a baitfish presence for the cove to have any significant population of bass holding there.

Are there other areas where there is vegetation along with deep water access? They would be the areas I'd be looking at. If not and you intend to find fish in this cove, look for changes in the bottom contour which may be indicated by the line where the trees end or are totally submerged and then look for where that change in depth makes a turn. Start at the bottom and work your way up the water column with both reaction and finesse presentations. It's a lot of work, but I can't think of another way to eliminate an area.

Catt reply :

Can't see the forest for the trees ?

First ignore the trees!

That's right I said it!

Ya gotta look at the structure first & then add the cover on top of it.

Personally I would goto the bottom, Texas Rigs, Jig-n-Craw, Carolina Rigs, & deep diving crankbaits.

If ya look real close at left side of that picture that's 2 bass boats, we in 20' of water.

scaleface reply :

Looks like Twain . I fish down the bank , fish the edges . Too much cover to fish it all .

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that is indeed Twain and in the shell branch . That second photo , man that looks familiar .

One productive way for me is to navigate through the trees and parallel cast the banks the best I can with crankbaits and Texas rigs next to cover . Cast right next to the bank .The Berkely Dredger 10.5 is a good choice and also shallow divers like the Rapala Crankin Rap in shad patterns . Cover water . Small coves in these areas hold more fish than straight banks . Fish the mouth and inside of them more thoroughly . If they are not biting in the creeks try the main lake .

BigAngus752 reply :

On 9/20/2017 at 11:17 AM, MIbassyaker said:

I am not hugely experienced at this sort of cover, but I fish a little reservoir with a section like that which, while it is not as deep, does hold bass. The ones I have caught there have not been on or near the bottom, but suspending mid-depth near the trees, or near the surface. They are more likely to be near the surface when there has been a warming trend for a few days and there is little or no wind.

I have been successful with a buzzbait early and late in the day. Try to tick the trees on the retrieve. If this doesn't work, or the sun is high, I fish a weighted wacky worm vertically, cast near a tree and let it fall. I think a spinnerbait could be effective here too, either cast and retrieved horizontally to go near and bump the tree trunks subsurface as they go past, or stop the retrieve near the trunk and let it helicopter vertically down alongside.

On 9/20/2017 at 11:40 AM, islandbass said:

I have no experience in this but as a gut feeling best guess, I'd try some type of countdown minnow or other lure you could get to descend a bit and then retrieve and tryout various depths if the top waters didn't produce.

I'd fish the bottom of the trees if those didn't work.

I must say it sure looks like promising water.

I was using the Rat L Trap to bang on trees at various depths but no luck. As I was packing up I started wishing that I had tried a worm or jig sliding down the sides of some of the trees. One thing I didn't try.

On 9/20/2017 at 6:44 PM, Catt said:

Can't see the forest for the trees ?

First ignore the trees!

That's right I said it!

Ya gotta look at the structure first & then add the cover on top of it.

Personally I would goto the bottom, Texas Rigs, Jig-n-Craw, Carolina Rigs, & deep diving crankbaits.

If ya look real close at left side of that picture that's 2 bass boats, we in 20' of water.

This is not a joke. As I idled deep into this thing I became confounded about how to fish it and I thought to myself, "Catt would tell us to find the structure" so I started looking for contour changes on the bottom. But I still kept focused on the trees. I may go out there again this weekend and I'll hit the bottom hard where it gets to stepping down on the points.

On 9/20/2017 at 6:46 PM, scaleface said:

Looks like Twain . I fish down the bank , fish the edges . Too much cover to fish it all .

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that is indeed Twain and in the shell branch . That second photo , man that looks familiar .

One productive way for me is to fight my way through the trees and parallel cast the banks the best I can with crankbaits and Texas rigs next to cover . Cast right next to the bank .The Berkely Dredger 10.5 is a good choice and also shallow divers like the Rapala Crankin Rap in shad patterns . Cover water . Small coves in these areas hold more fish than straight banks . Fish the mouth and inside of them more thoroughly . If they are not biting in the creeks try the main lake .

Lake Shelbyville. It's a tough one right now.

scaleface reply :

On 9/20/2017 at 8:21 PM, BigAngus752 said:

Lake Shelbyville. It's a tough one right now.

Yep , just a guess ,Even the water color looks like Twain plus its low also .

BigAngus752 reply :

One addendum to this...throughout the rest of the lake I saw fish in the 10-15ft range but recent reports also said you could find a few in 2ft. I started fishing smaller coves and found several fish suspended over two humps in the middle of a small cove at almost exactly 10ft. Every once in awhile a 5+ pound bass would come up and grab something on the surface and then go straight back down to the hump. I started throwing at them. I ended up anchoring and I spent just over one hour hurling almost everything in the boat at them. I dropped a weightless Senko off the side of the boat and let it float around them while I tried to draw them up with a Zara Spook and a then a Whopper Plopper. I threw two different size/color spinners. I tried a lipless crankbait. When those things didn't work I slowed way down and pulled a Texas rig (another Senko) past them over and over and over. I used big pulls and small pulls. I regret not trying a Shaky Head but I've never fished one before. In fact, I just got four packages of shaky head jigs last week. I'm going to learn that.

deep reply :

Are you marking any fish? What depth? I'd find some structure at that depth, and fish that..

scaleface reply :

Did you try a deep diving crank ? 10 foot is the Norman Deep Little N's sweet zone .

Catt reply :

First quite changing lures so dang gum often!

I don't care what you've heard about "search" baits, you search with your electronics!

Second map study, this lake is man-made correct?

If it is someone surveyed it before they flooded it which means detailed maps are out there.

It's a cove so it has 2 points or at least corners, that's starting places.

BigAngus752 reply :

On 9/20/2017 at 9:02 PM, Catt said:

First quite changing lures so dang gum often!

I don't care what you've heard about "search" baits, you search with your electronics!

Second map study, this lake is man-made correct?

If it is someone surveyed it before they flooded it which means detailed maps are out there.

It's a cove so it has 2 points or at least corners, that's starting places.

LOL! I thought I was taking my time with the lures! Shows what I know.

crypt reply :

listen to Catt............................he knows what he's doin......

MIbassyaker reply :

On 9/20/2017 at 8:21 PM, BigAngus752 said:

I was using the Rat L Trap to bang on trees at various depths but no luck. As I was packing up I started wishing that I had tried a worm or jig sliding down the sides of some of the trees. One thing I didn't try.

This is not a joke. As I idled deep into this thing I became confounded about how to fish it and I thought to myself, "Catt would tell us to find the structure" so I started looking for contour changes on the bottom. But I still kept focused on the trees. I may go out there again this weekend and I'll hit the bottom hard where it gets to stepping down on the points.

Lake Shelbyville. It's a tough one right now.

Definitely listen to the structure guys instead of me -- they fish this sort of stuff all the time. I only know from limited experience what has worked for me vs. what hasn't when I've tried fishing an area like this, and I'm usually on waters that don't have anything like it.

fishballer06 reply :

My first question would be "Is there a thermocline?" Being that the lake is 30-40' and water in the mid-upper 70's, there is likely a thermocline at some depth. I've seen it anywhere from 10' down to 25/30' around here in PA. From there, I'd want to know whats under the water. Just because the trees standing out of the water looks good to you doesn't mean jack to a bass. I don't see any tops or branches to those trees, so there's probably a brush pile or two under the water somewhere, or perhaps tree's that aren't tall enough to reach the surface that have branches on them still.

At first light I'd be throwing a buzzbait or spook, or perhaps a swim jig or Fluke if they won't commit to topwater. After that first light, go with your deeper baits. Texas rigs, shakey heads, crankbaits, swimbaits, etc.

tcbass reply :

Would like to see if you caught any fish.

Catt reply :

OK! There's a lot of guys on this site that are just as proficient at deep water structure as I am!

@A-Jay @WRB @Team9nine @J Francho @deep @WIGuide @scaleface & a ton of others guys!

As for the trees themselves, the tops above the waterline has rotted, fell into the lake, & are still there.

Deep water structure aint about lure selection... it's about location selection!

I listed 7 guys & I would be willing to bet we would probably end up on the same structure.

tcbass reply :

On 9/21/2017 at 12:50 AM, Catt said:

OK! There's a lot of guys on this site that are just as proficient at deep water structure as I am!

@A-Jay @WRB @Team9nine @J Francho @deep @WIGuide @scaleface & a ton of others guys!

As for the trees themselves, the tops above the waterline has rotted, fell into the lake, & are still there.

Deep water structure aint about lure selection... it's about location selection!

I listed 7 guys & I would be willing to bet we would probably end up on the same structure.

Spinnerbaits wouldn't work well here? That's what I'd have tried but I've never even encountered anything like you have. lol.

Team9nine reply :

Buck would simply tell you to "Get the heck out of the trees!" But Catt and fishballer have the other two pieces to the puzzle. That is first, forget the trees exist and look at the bottom of the lake bed for an answer. Somebody likely has a fairly high def map of the area.

Next, determine if a thermocline exists, because if it does, you have a breakline. Combine that breakline with the ones formed by the edge of the forest and the likely creek channel running through the cove, and you have narrowed your search area tremendously.

Now look for structures on the map that mingle with the breaklines, as well as individual breaks, and you should have some solid areas of where to focus all your efforts.

J Francho reply :

^^^That pretty much puts together my plan. There has to be some oddball structural element - spot on the spot - in that mess. You have put a mental image together in your head using the graph. I mean, think about it, how many times have you walked through a stand of trees, and the terrain is completely flat, with with no grade change, creek channels, or whatever.

BigAngus752 reply :

I understand now. Fish it like I would if the trees weren't there. That makes sense, thanks to all!

scaleface reply :

Not much in the way if zigzag lines there . The mouth of the cove , as Catt stated , has those two areas that act like mini points . I've ran patterns fishing mouths of coves .

bh91 reply :

What if it was than 5 feet at most

A-Jay reply :

All kinds of interesting information is this one.

I'm going to take a somewhat different approach ~

Very often the way I 'search' for bass is not to look for the fish themselves - at least not directly.

What works for me is to try to determine what the bass are eating at that time and where they go to do it. Find the bait and the bass may not be too far away (except for smb which can & will travel a long way for a meal).

Suspended bass (especially motionless suspended bass) may not be eating and at the very least may not be very active - so I usually do not fish for them. Unless they are schooling on bait - I'll just wave and go own my way.

If I had no idea what the fish were eating - I'd really be looking for a needle in a hay stack, especially on big water. However, knowing which baits they prefer and when, I can seriously narrow down where to start looking. So how can you know, that's part of the learning process as well. Helps when your live well is full of half-digested 'whatever' at the end of the day. Sort of narrows it down.

So unless those bass are dining on tree bark - and you have a Strike King Treebark Squarebill - I'd be looking for whatever you believe they the bass are looking for and start fishing there.

Sometimes that means fishing a little deeper, but often times (like in the fall) the bait and the bass might not be very deep at all.

A-Jay

J Francho reply :

On 9/21/2017 at 1:28 AM, BigAngus752 said:

I understand now. Fish it like I would if the trees weren't there. That makes sense, thanks to all!

The stuff I'm referring to is not going to be on the map. You're going to have to graph it, marking anything unusual with way points, as well as any fish you catch. Once you get a bunch of way points and fish points, you may be able to see the larger picture.

BigAngus752 reply :

On 9/21/2017 at 2:04 AM, A-Jay said:

Suspended bass (especially motionless suspended bass) may not be eating and at the very least may not be very active - so I usually do not fish for them.

And this is what I spent a 1/3 of my day doing. Thanks for the tips!

On 9/21/2017 at 2:04 AM, A-Jay said:

Strike King Treebark Squarebill

Oh, and I ordered one of these.

A-Jay reply :

On 9/21/2017 at 4:09 AM, BigAngus752 said:

And this is what I spent a 1/3 of my day doing. Thanks for the tips!

Don't feel bad - That's how I learned it.

Doing stuff that doesn't work is another way of 'gaining experience'.

A-Jay

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