what are your go to patterns on some of your home lakes? 2025
cjam93 reply :
What are some patterns that you can usually rely on to catch when you go out?Insert other media
CroakHunter reply :
Pitching magnum rage bugs. All white spinnerbaits with white blades.
Bluebasser86 reply :
Bladed jigs along shoreline grass edges, flipping water willows, wacky rigs around piers and grass, Ned rigs on rocks, dragging jigs.
WRB reply :
I always confirm what seasonal period the bass are in by water temps and observing the eccosystem, this helps me knowing where to start looking. Next I check what depth the bait and bass are at using my sonar and looking around the marina launch area, usually takes several minutes. Now I select about 3 outfits depending on what I learned and feel what depth and lures to use. Make a short run to the closest area to check for baitfish and bass, then start fishing to put a plan together. Sometimes it's a pattern or a milk run to spots I have confidence in.
It's process of elimination until I find active bass.
Tom
813basstard reply :
Paper, rock, scissors.
Paper is frog.
Rock is spinnerbait.
Scissors is flipping some sort of plastic.
OCdockskipper reply :
For my Home lake:
Prespawn - BPS 3" speed shad run through staging areas in 5- 7 feet of water. Kill it during the retrieve, a majority of strikes come then.
Postspawn - Zman TRD cast to middle of boat docks that have pontoon boats moored on them (4-5 ft of water). Strikes will come on the fall or a few moments after it hits bottom.
Summer - Under docks. Depending on the fish's mood, the weather and other conditions, skip Senko's, Sluggo's or Ned Rigs as far back as possible.
Other patterns show up week to week, but these three are the ones that last at least a month and are reliable year after year. One fall, I had a pattern with jerkbaits over weedbeds that lasted 3 weeks. The weedbeds were never allowed to grow to the same size in the following years, so the pattern never established itself again.
scaleface reply :
On 5/5/2019 at 11:01 AM, cjam93 said:What are some patterns that you can usually rely on to catch when you go out?Insert other media
Fishing shoreline cover or off-shore structure .
cjam93 reply :
On 5/5/2019 at 11:33 AM, WRB said:I always confirm what seasonal period the bass are in by water temps and observing the eccosystem, this helps me knowing where to start looking. Next I check what depth the bait and bass are at using my sonar and looking around the marina launch area, usually takes several minutes. Now I select about 3 outfits depending on what I learned and feel what depth and lures to use. Make a short run to the closest area to check for baitfish and bass, then start fishing to put a plan together. Sometimes it's a pattern or a milk run to spots I have confidence in.
It's process of elimination until I find active bass.
Tom
when you are looking around for bait and bass around the marina area, do you see what depth bait balls are at even if they are just suspended way above the bottom? For example say you are 40 ft deep and see bait at 10. Do you then go check structure and cover in the 10 ft range?
NittyGrittyBoy reply :
Go to patterns, well I don't have any lakes to fish, but I fish rivers.
Usually squarebill bouncing off structure, topwater something splashing, and flipping a craw looking bait.
Generaly those are my "Big 3" usually can fine tune from there, maybe swap crank for a spinnerbait or chatterbait, topwater could be popper, frog, fluke. Just want to cover the water column and figure out wether to fish the lakes/sloughs or main river.
Pretty simple
Tennessee Boy reply :
It's interesting to me the different ways people answer a question about patterns. Maybe we need to first agree on what a pattern is?
https://www.bassmaster.com/tips/what-pattern-fishing
WRB reply :
Every lake that I have fish develops a "life zone" where bass are active feeding at and it's nearly always the depth the predominate prey source is. My home lakes all have Threadfin Shad, crawdads, blue gill, red ears sunfish, crappie, rainbow trout, channel catfish, carp and both smallmouth and largemouth bass, some also have spotted bass and stripe bass.
Threadfin Shad Shad are usually the primary bait fish and they hide in brush or under docks at night, moving out into deeper water at a specific depth zone then return at dusk.
When I launch my boat my routine is look under the marina docks visually look for Shad, bluegill and any bass. Next I survey the marina using sonar looking for Shad or bass or any other fish to determine thier depth. Shad always travel in schools at specific depths very important what depth.
I also look for bass tight to structure, usually indicates they are hunting crawdads. Lots of structure elements in and around marinas.
I prefer jig fishing so bass tight on structure tells me to use jigs, worms or deep cranks depending depth and seasonal periods. Knowing the depth is critical it tells me when and where to expect strikes. Bass suspended off structure tells me they are not active and come back later unless they are around Shad or trout schools.
Bass eat all types of fish, mostly young of the year of larger fish species, it's important to know what your lake fish species are. You may not think of carp as a food source but bass feed on young of the year carp during early summer transition from post spawn, same with baby catfish during early summer, that is why it's important to knowwhat the seasonal period is, helps in lure selection, colors and location.
There is more to patterns then catching a few bass.
Tom
Munkin reply :
Junk fishing has been my only consistent pattern so far this year.
Allen
FishinBuck07 reply :
Right the only pattern I have found is zero fish! I think they all went to another lake! Lol
scaleface reply :
When I first read WRB's writing about the Life Zone , a depth where most of the bait fish seem to be , I immediately went out and applied that info . It works .
When fishing the bank , junk fishing ,I try to pattern bass by paying attention to whether the bass are coming from cuts or juts . Some days they are in pockets [ cuts] whether it is weeds , the bank, tight in trees , back of coves ... Other days they are on juts , points , the end of trees , mouths of coves ... Pretty simple , just go fishing and pay attention . That might change during the day .
IgotWood reply :
My most frequent lake is pretty easy. There are cypress trees everywhere. Basically, bounce a senko off the trees until you figure out what depth they’re at and which side of the trees they’re on (sun side/shade side). Fish the trees at the appropriate depth, and catch fish.
There are other patterns that develop here, but this one is pretty typical year round.
Munkin reply :
On 5/6/2019 at 4:30 AM, scaleface said:When I first read WRB's writing about the Life Zone , a depth where most of the bait fish seem to be , I immediately went out and applied that info . It works .
When fishing the bank , junk fishing ,I try to pattern bass by paying attention to whether the bass are coming from cuts or juts . Some days they are in pockets [ cuts] whether it is weeds , the bank, tight in trees , back of coves ... Other days they are on juts , points , the end of trees , mouths of coves ... Pretty simple , just go fishing and pay attention . That might change during the day .
What is a Jut? I have never heard that term before.
Allen
scaleface reply :
On 5/6/2019 at 8:53 AM, Munkin said:What is a Jut?
Sticks out . The opposite of a cut .
- 1.extend out, over, or beyond the main body or line of something."a rock jutted out from the side of the bank"
Troy85 reply :
Most of the tidal waters I fish I change it up depending on tide and weather.
But there a local navigational canal, that isn't tidally influenced and is pretty heavily fished. The only thing in this canal that seems to work consistently for me is a drop shot.
redmexican5081 reply :
Wind and current in the same direction, fish the upwind side of the points, depth varies depending on bait like WRB says. Wind and current in opposite directions, I pick the sheltered coves and fish the shoreline cover.
cjam93 reply :
If you are just fishing a reservoir, how do you know which way the current is going? I would think if it has not rained recently then it is mainly just the wind creating current is that right?
Tennessee Boy reply :
On 5/6/2019 at 11:13 PM, cjam93 said:If you are just fishing a reservoir, how do you know which way the current is going? I would think if it has not rained recently then it is mainly just the wind creating current is that right?
On the large reservoirs on the Tennessee River, the current is determined by the power generation schedules at the dams. The exception of course is when the gates are opened to control flooding. For fishermen, current = good fishing.
cjam93 reply :
My lakes unfortunately do not have power generators on them.
Tizi reply :
this time of year, it is skipping whacky rigged senkos under docks.
the reel ess reply :
Shallow weeds-Frog all day
Shallow wood-black/blue jig and craw
Shallow open water-topwaters if they'll bite it, War Eagle gold spinnerbait, gold CC Spot (they like gold here), bubble gum or limetreuse Trick Worm.
Deeper water-the aforementioned gold Spot. It's weedy on my favorite lake and difficult to fish deep diving cranks.
These are the things I keep tied on and usually try every time out for these patterns that cover most of the year.
Maybe a C rig, split shot rig or Ned if i just can't buy a bite.
Boomstick reply :
It depends on the lake, current weather, time of day and time of season. A typical day on the water will consist of throwing a slower, vertical presentation which is often a drop shot or neg rig in open water where if there's cover I'll often throw a T-Rig and if there's more cover I'll throw a jig. On a second rod, I'll have a moving bait such as a spinnerbait especially on windy days, choppy water or sunny days, chatterbait if there's grass or a crankbait.
The exception to this is topwater. If I'm fishing a frog or a popper, that may be the only thing I fish all day. Say it's a hot or rainy day, I may be determined to get myself a topwater bass.
BassThumb reply :
Largemouth:
Frogs, swimjigs, and swimbaits near shallow grass and pads.
Jigs and Ned Rigs along weedines or deep rocks.
Spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, or bladed jigs over flats and weedlines.
Various pitching baits and skipped wacky-rig Senkos near docks and emergent grass.
Lake Smallmouth:
Ned rigs, dropshots, hair jigs, and tube jigs everywhere
Jerkbaits and spybaits over flats
Heavy football jigs or plastics on swinging football heads around deep boulder piles.
River Smallmouth:
Plastics on swinging football heads to cover deep water
Spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and Ned Rigs to cover shallow water
Wacky-rig Senkos or soft jerkbaits near shoreline cover
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