How would you fish this lake?

[USA-RET]

Situation: Small lake (20 acres) located in a residential area. This lake is fished to death by lots of people....lots of pressure where fish have not only seen every bait sold at the local Walmart..but probably every color....including nightcrawlers, cast nets, minnows and shinners and live goldfish. I see lots of ripped Senkos and t-rig worms and lizards...so I am assuming those baits are fished the most. Have also seen guys with spinnerbaits and buzz baits occasionally. Also noticed some small crankbaits hanging like garland in some of the trees.

Lake has a shallow side with small bait fish and the yearly hatch hanging on that end..while on the deep side...the water drops off pretty rapidly from the bank into the deepest part of the lake (I estimate that deepest part of lake to be 10-12 feet..towards the middle on the deep side). There is a bridge that splits the lake and is heavily fished (the "pigs leave their used mono and bait wrappers around there with the occasional torn and discarded cast net)...riprap around the bridge and the causeway...very shallow (2 feet) at the mouths of the bridge (I always see bluegill near the bridge mouths) . Some bullrushes at the shore line in places....some grasses growing on lake bottom in spots around the shore and out into the lake...looks like coontail and grows about 8-10 inches off the bottom.

There is still a good population of fish in the lake as spawns show tremendous amounts small fish in the shallow areas. There are fish in the 10 lb and larger range in this Florida lake (I have caught and released bass up to 6 1/2 lbs....most others keep everything they catch). Healthy population of Bluegill, some alligator gar, Bowfin, Carp, and one 5-6' alligator and of course Bass.

Fishing is so slow now..lucky to get one or two bites in a 3 hours evening walking the banks.

Senkos draw almost zero attention now...pretty much everyone I see uses them..also see spinnerbaits and lizards being thrown. I've had some success with small swimbaits and also plastic frogs in the evenings. Had some hits on hard plastic topwater (Sammy) and poppers. Nothing to write home about.

Drop shotting with 4" floating worms gets a bite or two in a three hour outing when fished about 12-14 inches off the bottom ...all small bass or an occasional big Mudfish (Bowfin).

Need some suggestions from you guys.... if you were showing up for the evening to fish this pond..given what I've described..what you bring and how would you fish?

Dynamite and hand grenades are not permitted.

[iangler]

I'd just throw a carolina rig with something like a paca craw or chigger craw into the deeper areas. I'm sure the big ones are over there anyways. Just drag it on the bottom. You'll probably have to clean the grass off the bait each cast, but it should catch some bigger fish.

[Thor]

Tough time of year in Florida for freshwater fishing.

I would try a wacky worm, 4 inch, no weight, light tackle, especially in the deeper section. Those fish are going to move to the shallow end to feed but you will most likely see the activity in the early mornings or late afternoons.

[Johnny A]

If possible, try fishing it at night with bigger baits, musky jitterbug, sammy 110, big senkos and other surface baits.
Look out for the snakes and gators!

[jholton]

USA-Ret, I'm having the same bad luck with a lake that's similar to yours. It's a small lake that has a canal that leads to the bigger lake. I probably fish at night 90% of the time, and right now with this FREAKIN' HEAT, fishing is rough! I throw senkos most of the time, but lately, hardly anything is working I think you should downsize. I seem to get a little more strikes with 4" senkos and 1/8 Stanely wedge sb's than the bigger lures.

[Bantam1]

I would throw a Buzz Bait and look for the better fish in the later hours. Maybe a swimbait might do really well too, something like a Slammer or 3:16 Wake Bait Jr.

You could alwsys D-shot a tiny brush hog too. Don't shake it much, just slowly drag it along. I would go with some light line too unless the water is really dirty.

Have you tried wacky rigging a Senko with a nail weight in one end? Maybe a hard jerk bait?

[SouthFLAngler]

I would use a yo zuri pins minnow with light line.

[USA-RET]

I've tried the heavy rigs and also been fishing my Pixy with #4 and light Fantasista Rod.....1/32 oz t-rigs w/ 4 " Senko, weightless 4" Senko, 3" Baby Otter, .....d-shotting with 4" giggly sticks, etc. I was thinking the same thing...go small and light ...but bites are as slow or slower than buzzing frogs or pitching 3" swimbaits. The amazing thing is..the exceptionally small bass (this years spawn..maybe 6-8 inches now)...and the only things aggressively attacking my baits....probably because they haven't seen this stuff before (won't be long before they become educated).

I need to try something new...I know..the Banjo Minnow....LOL

I refuse to use live bait..and I know guys are using live shrimp (a saltwater bait) to catch some of these fish in the evenings. I have seen one guy in particular with a cooler full of bass between 1 1/2-3 lbs taken from this lake..on more than one occasion. It makes me want to scream to see those fish get hauled out and eaten. He says he has over 100 lbs of bass in his freezer.

[GAMEOVER]

Backward rigged Ikas, propbaits, walking baits id also target them in late evening or early morning for topwater.

[secretweapon]

How's the water clarity? If its not too clear I'd recommend a chatter jig. These lures are still new enough that every bass in the lake hasn't seen em' like ur spinnerbaits, cranks, and buzzers. With the thick vegetation along the bottumn I'd reccomend using the 9/16th version. My favorite trailer is the yamomoto hula grub, pinch the flared end off leaving the split tail end remaining. The salt in these things adds significant weight (allowing you to LAUNCH the lure) without affecting the action. I've experimented with 5 or 6 brands, and the original chatterbait by rad lures works best for me. If you really wanna go all out the adhesive 3D eyes sold at tackle shops really create a more realistic look. Let the fish tell you how they want it, but usually a slight rise/fall technuiqe allowing the tails to flare and shimmy on the drop work best for me.



Josh

[USA-RET]

Will try a Chatter bait..just for fun. It's getting so I'm not wanting to go there anymore as getting skunked is no fun at all. :evil:

[mps19913]

I've tried the heavy rigs and also been fishing my Pixy with #4 and light Fantasista Rod.....1/32 oz t-rigs w/ 4 " Senko, weightless 4" Senko, 3" Baby Otter, .....d-shotting with 4" giggly sticks, etc. I was thinking the same thing...go small and light ...but bites are as slow or slower than buzzing frogs or pitching 3" swimbaits. The amazing thing is..the exceptionally small bass (this years spawn..maybe 6-8 inches now)...and the only things aggressively attacking my baits....probably because they haven't seen this stuff before (won't be long before they become educated).

I need to try something new...I know..the Banjo Minnow....LOL

I refuse to use live bait..and I know guys are using live shrimp (a saltwater bait) to catch some of these fish in the evenings. I have seen one guy in particular with a cooler full of bass between 1 1/2-3 lbs taken from this lake..on more than one occasion. It makes me want to scream to see those fish get hauled out and eaten. He says he has over 100 lbs of bass in his freezer.

please tell me how someone could eat our fish

[basspatrol]

Try this rig: This guy named shinjin and Raymond from LA/ California came out with this.

I had lots of success with this rig in a city lake in CA (heavly fished too), The action on this is insane... and besides it hardly hangs on weed or rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmYTf-HFkqU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut36FNcCvgU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOObBTRz_PU

Tight Lines

[Oolie]

maybe a ito vision 110, or a shakey head rig, as well as fat ikas rigged backwards.

i'd slow down though and fish the ika around deeper structure, stitch it in and feel the different cover on the bottom