Bassin' USA - Bass Fishing Forum Archives

I recently fished a new lake this weekend with my boat. People tend to ski this lake and I fished in he middle of the days and late in the day. I mostly kept near the shore line and boat docks using senkos and plastic worms. I only caught 4 bass in 2 days and I know there is more in there. My question is that should I get out into the open waters and use a crankbait or something else to find the fish or keep to the shoreline just using different baits.

Curado,
When I fish new water I like to use a fast moving bait, like a spinnerbait, to try and locate fish. Once I have found them I will throw a ribbon tail worm where I got the strike. In my opinion it doesnt hurt to move to deeper water when the shoreline bite is off. Its a good idea to cover as much water as possible, but try different baits. Try a little bit of everything until you find what works. Good luck Curado, I hope this jibber jabber made some sense.

Thanks for the reply and I will try that the next time I go out. Do you have any tips on how to locate underwater structure in open water. I know fish hang out at those spots and I don't have a fish finder. any ideas would be appreciated.

The Carolina Rig is excellent for searching out deeper structure and a great fish catcher as well.
With a little practice you'll be able to determine the deference between hard and soft bottoms, wood or rock and grass.
Even with a depthfinder its sometimes hard to distinguish these types of structure.
Hope this helps out.

Curado,
Great advice from Brian and Dennis. Here's my 2 cents worth. I too fish some extremely busy lakes and it works to my advantage. I go to the very backs of coves, the bait fish and gamefish don't care much for heavy boat and Ski Doo traffic so they move away from it. I throw spinnerbaits in the shallowest water I can reach. Ditches, creek channels open pockets and coves will hold some fish.
Another thing I do that works but sounds, insane, is to fish all boat ramps, while boats are loading and unloading. When the outboards props churn the water, it discolors the water, stirs up lots of plancton and algae which attracts minnows and crawfish to the cement apron of the ramp. Bass know this occurs and will come right up to a ramp to feed while all this is going on. I use crankbaits for this type fishing, scraping a crankbait down cement draws a lot of attention. I even caught a bass that was under a trailer sitting on the ramp while the boater was tying up his boat.
As for finding structure without a depthfinder, the Carolina tip was great. Also, look at the land surrounding the water, if a row of stumps on the bank seems to end at the water line, most likely it doesn't. There will most likely be stumps at various depths on out into the lake. If a point has boulders on it, it's a good bet the boulders will continue out into deeper water. Hedge rows, any tre lines or wahtever that seems to go into the water will generally continue underwater, locate these structures with crankbaits (deep divers) or the C-rig. Good luck and good fishin' Johnnie.