Wacky Weather, Finding A Pattern 2024
bigbasshunter reply :
With all this crazy weather these past few weeks its been quite a bit of work to find a pattern. Seems like the fish are lost and not in their normal staging areas. Last week they were moving in to bed up, this week few and far between. Water temps dropped almost 10f in less than 48hrs at the beggining of the week, and winds have been crazy until today. Went out at 7am and stayed till 2pm, one fish caught. Tried everything, cranking 2-15ft, spinner, jig, t-rigged flukes and numerous other plastics and the only fish was caught on a shakey head. I don't understand is going on
Sam reply :
Big, have the dogwoods bloomed in NOVA?
If so, the bass are on their beds. Remember this rule for the future.
The smaller buck bass will be roaming around while the ladies guard their bed or are resting.
You need to either wait one or two weeks or try sight fishing now, looking for the beds.
If the water temperature dropped 10* they may have pulled back from bedding.
If so, the buck bass will be along the shoreline with the males staging off shore on flats and the big females staging further out waiting to move on their beds.
Feast or famine this time of year.
As for a pattern, you better throw the book at them. Lipless cranks; spinnerbaits if wind; C-rig; and wacky and drop shot plastics.
Fish the docks and piers, too.
Good luck.
deep reply :
Sam, have you seen any bedding bass yet? As the OP says; I could find a few males making beds a fortnight back; and a few cruising females. Now I can't find them. Even the bluegills seem to be 15-20 feet offshore..
bigbasshunter reply :
Thanks Sam yeah the dogwoods are blooming. Talked to a couple locals that fish the tourney here (occ rez) they said they were catching bedding bass last weekend. Looked all over for beds, only found 2 empty. I will have to search the flats, do you think the cold would send them to structure/cover in 30ft of water?
Wayne P. reply :
Last week was the new moon, next week is the full moon. 3 days on either side of those days is when they are on beds.
Bigbarge50 reply :
Yeah as a fellow nova guy, the sutuation here has been a bit strange. The dogwoods bloomed (was eagerly waiting based on your advice last year on that Sam) but everything seemed to come out early (dogwoods and cherry blossums). I have not seen fish on beds and the fish seem to be moving a lot, and not necessarily in the typical staging areas between deep and shallow areas. I think a major factor that has come with the wind and temp changes has been massive pressure changes...... that barometer has been up and down nearly every day. I know this has confused me and think it has done the same thing to the fish.
Hopefully the weather gets a little more consistent and I love Wayne's advice about the full moon...... everyone I know is saying those should be some great days.
quanjig reply :
A very minuscule number of fish on beds at the res. Fish caught in the tx on the res, people were catching staging fish, not bedders. Maybe next week you can find a better concentration of fish bedding but as of now, the fish out there are confused and not willing to do much unless you cover a lot of water and keep your bait in the water!
basscrusher reply :
Dogwoods = bedding bass is NOT an absolute rule. It will probably hold true 8 out of 10 years in VA, but not always. case in point -- last spring dogwoods bloomed right after an inordinate amount of rainfall. That rainfall seriously muddied up most small lakes. Which, in turn, delayed the spawn by about a week and a half. I first heard the dogwood rule as an early teen, and have actually been "testing" the theory since college. It is not 100% accurate, but provides a good starting point and frame of reference.
shimmy reply :
On 3/31/2012 at 10:44 PM, quanjig said:A very minuscule number of fish on beds at the res. Fish caught in the tx on the res, people were catching staging fish, not bedders. Maybe next week you can find a better concentration of fish bedding but as of now, the fish out there are confused and not willing to do much unless you cover a lot of water and keep your bait in the water!
Dead on. I also went out first time yesterday this year and hit my beaverdam and the dogwoods are wrong this year. They are off by about 2 weeks. A bunch of males on shore. Only caught 5 but all were under 2.5 pounds. No sign of females. I'm sure some will come up next week like Wayne is saying but again, not every fish loves that silly moon so the next couple weeks seem to be good for the pickins.
bigbasshunter reply :
Caught 4 today, biggest went 4lbs 4oz all caught dragging plastics in 8-20ft of water on PW side. Water temp was pretty steady at 60.2f with about 3ft visibility. Chatted with a few tourney guys who are feeling the same way. Last tx 26lb bags, this weekend lucky to get 20lbs. Now I just need to find someone who knows the rez well enough to fish tourneys and that throws something besides crankbaits. Thanks guys for all help.
VolFan reply :
The bass seem to be in all stages right now; some spawning, some staging, some have already spawned in the creeks. That could be the problem. We need some stable weather to put them all (or at least a significant amount) in the same stage.
bigbasshunter reply :
Today was decent, got a few 2lbers in the boat. Stayed to watch the tourney weight in, only a couple of boats had limits and quite a few teams gave up and left early. One tram killed them with 27.?? Lbs and big fish which I wanna say went 6.45. Only 2 or 3 teams with 17+lbs, overall decent day for such crazy weather.
quanjig reply :
Yep, guys that won had their second 27lb bag! They found a trick that happens out there from time to time and took full advantage of it!! My partner and I struggled and only weighed in 1 fish, at least it was 4lbs!
shimmy reply :
On 4/2/2012 at 9:11 PM, quanjig said:Yep, guys that won had their second 27lb bag! They found a trick that happens out there from time to time and took full advantage of it!! My partner and I struggled and only weighed in 1 fish, at least it was 4lbs!
What is the deal? What are those guys doing? I mean do you have an idea how someone can consistently do this out there? Do they share any of their secrets with you or are you guys just left guessing tournament after tournament? Just amazing
quanjig reply :
I've known these guys for a long time and I know exactly what and where! Good sticks and they did it last year as well! Big fish was chasing shad and they caught it right at the boat on a blade, right at the rod tip! 6+ pounder! Spring on the res is a magical time if you know the bite and are at the right place at the right time!
bigbasshunter reply :
Quanjig care to be a guide for a day??
quanjig reply :
Here is what I can do, buy the map at the marina and I will be happy to show you places to try and lures and techniques. It's difficult for me to take someone out during the tx season because I really am looking for new things that might work or might not. I'm all about trying to help someone new to the res enjoy the abundance of quality fish, but at the same time, I gotta have some secrets!! The way I learned was time on the water! Not to sound like a douch, but people see you put time in and they are more likely to clue you in on the little subtleties that go on at certain times of the year. Let me know if that works for you and thanks, but after fishing out there for 20+ years, I still at times fail miserably!
mudkart reply :
I love the rez, especially on weekdays. Hearing about the Sunday results made me feel better Jon! Fished three hours yesterday afternoon with only three fish to show for it, of which only one would have kept. They would not even sniff any moving baits, so finally slowed down and caught them on a shaky rig. All from the same little spot near, but not in, Sandy. Water clarity there was great, not too clear, not too muddy. Started up by Ryans trying to get a full SI image of that place, but got blown off by the wind.
****** Edit. Did not see any fish on beds. **********
NCbassmaster4Life reply :
Yeah I had this prob in NC too at Falls lake all that dern rain came in and now the water is in the bushes and I was so happy but didn't know that the bass were already spawning before the water came up 2ft and had to pull out of the water I was sitting in and fished that....so the beds were in 3ft instead of a foot.
bigbasshunter reply :
Quan that would be awesome. I got a map a couple years back and it just sits in my tackle bag. Just let me know when and where we could meet and I will make it happen. I did get out today, launched from bull run. Caught 3 males about 1.5 each in 6-8ft drop off by kinchloe fields on spinner slow rolled. Water is alot more muddy up above the splits and quite warm at 64-66.
Bigbarge50 reply :
Yeah been tough sledding out there. It is great to see so many guys talking about such a great body of water...... SPinners on the ledges and jigs in the trees have always caught me fish in my "rookie" years ( I have nothing on quan). I keep trying flukes, carolina rigs, and other things...... but those two are the only things that seem to work for me.
Anyone been doing some cranking?
bigbasshunter reply :
Got my best of the year cranking laydowns. The new KVD 1.5 and 2.5 have been shining for me, they are my new search bait.
quanjig reply :
Well, Mike, that place will humble even the best anglers out there! Grass has been the deal so far this spring. Pitch creature baits and the like into and around isolated patches close to the flats and deeper banks. That area around kinchlo is going to be hot shortly. Don't be afraid to get incredibly shallow and hit all the stumps way in the back and have a buzzbait on as well! Second place first tx with 27lbs only weighed in 1 fish for a little over 2.5 so yea, that place will jump up and bite you!!
MikeW reply :
im going to try and leave work early tmrw to get hit up occoquan for the first time this year. I'm renting out of fountainhead, any suggestions on where to try?
Since I'll only have 2-3hrs to fish, I'm thinking i'll focus on the area upstream by the dam and cove across from it.
thanks for the tips!
bigbasshunter reply :
grass, are we talking visbable or fully submerged. I cant seem to locate any submerged, just got electronics and slowly comprehending what Im looking at. Ive been hitting the visable patches with no luck. Im gonna get out tomorrow and see what I can do. Unfortunatly its spring break for fcps, Bull Run has been swamped with high school crew kids. Quanjig whn are you usually out, Id love to meet you and pick your brain for some knowledge sometime when your not/done fishing. Thanks for all the tips btw
quanjig reply :
Visible grass. Look for isolated beds and if you do fish the bigger beds, concentrate on irregularities and te beginning and ends of the beds. Don't be afraid to put your bait a few inches into the grass. Also look for shad and get a blade into them. Flats and channel breaks will hold the shad with the bass close by. If you bring your blade back to the boat and you have shad trying to mate with it, you are in a good spot!
Bigbarge50 reply :
Hit Lake Frederick Today in out in Front Royal...... And the wackiness continued. I thought I was going to see fish on beds all over the place with the weather, full moon, and time of year...... Instead I saw only one fish on a bed, and it looked like a male (small and skiny) ...... I know Frederick is known for being tough, but today was really rough. The wind was absolutely brutal. My red face is proof. About 8 hours of fishing did not produce a fish, and almost everyone else seemed to be having very similar results.
WIll be sticking closer to DC and trying to get a pattern going before another journey like that...... The lure of big fish, and then big prego fish was too much to resist.
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