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Lately, i've been fishing off the bank at a lake near my house. it is a little opening about 40ft wide, a break in the cover that surronds the whole lake. on my right side, ther is a tall row of high saw grass, that goes out into the water about 100 feet. to my left, there is grass emerging from the water and going out about 50 feet. It starts out at about 2 feet deep right near where i cast, but i dont know how deep it runs out farther from the bank. I fish at about 5:30pm to 8:00pm. It is usually about 90 degrees at 5:30, and cools off to about 85-86 Degrees by the time i leave, the water is near 80. I have seen baitfish such as shiners around, i even cauhgt 1 on bread which i did not use, but my MAIN QUESTION is what would be the best thing to use given the above conditions? I have tried a lot of different things, mabye im not presenting it right?? I've started out using a 7in red shad on a texas rig with no success, then i used a 8 in creme scoundrel in bubble gum, no success, i put a pink zulu jerkbait on top and used it as a topwater bait, no luck, ive used a skitter walk, no luck, ive used a jig, no luck, ive used a chart. spinnerbait with a 4in white twin trailer grub on it, no luck. BASICALLY, I HAVE HAD NO LUCK GUYS!!! Only thing i havent tried is a rat-l-trap, i dont know how deep it is and i dont want to get snagged up every time. WELL, ANY HELP AT ALL WILL BE TRIED BECAUSE IM OUTTA IDEAS!!!LOL, thanks guys, Cole Thompson

Cole you seemed to try some great baits for that area already.I would add a buzz bait or try down sizing your soft plastics.Another thing you can try if possible is to try early in the morning you might just be in the right place wrong time.Give those ideas a try and let us know how you did.

Cole, from your description of the area, it simply may not hold bass. Sounds like a lot of flat area with no changes in structure. Not all areas hold fish. However; I suggest trying to catch another small to medium shiner on bread and fishing it about six inches below a parcially inflated balloon. I don't like live bait, but it's a sre way to find out if bass are present. If you catch a bass then we'll talk more about lures and presenations, if not, there just aren't any active fish using that area for any number of easons. Good luck. Johnnie

I agree with Johnnie. Try the shiner, you may catch ( or hook ) the biggest largemouth you ever have.

As for lures. Try dead sticking a 5" Yamamoto Senko. Try it both texas rigged and wacky rigged. After the cast just let it settle to the bottom and let it lay for 20 + seconds before moving it very slowly, then let it sit again. Senko's catch bass under almost any condition.

well i'm not a pro-staffer but i would like to help you out anyway. like said before try to down size your plastic. i would say t-rig a 4in worm with a 1/16 or a 1/32 weight. a senko was a good idea or a tube bait.you may want to down size your line to. also how big is the lake/pond you are fishing. does this area you are fishing from see a lot of pressure during the day? you said you didn't know how deep the water was. if it's to shallow were you are, with the temp of the water you said it may not have right H2O levels to hold fish. or you may want to find another spot to fish from. hope this helps. good luck.

Cole, this may help to determine how deep the water is, it's not an exact science, but will give you an idea of the depth. Cast out a 1/4 ounce jig, when it hits the water count by 1000-1, 1002, 1003 etc until the bait stops falling. Each count will closely represent one foot in depth. When only a foot of depth change can make a difference it's good to know the depth changes. The actual depth may not matter, but changes in depth can be a key ingredient to success. Good luck, keep at it. Johnnie

Cole,

I thought about your post some more and asked myself why it is you are fishing the open water when you have vegetation all over the lake? Try fishing over or flipping into the matted veg. You said you are fishing in the heat of the day right? Those bass will be tucked in under the weeds where the water is cooler and more oxygenated. The next best thing would be to fish the edges of the vegetation near where you believe is the deepest water in the lake, ( most likely the open water is the deepest and thats why there is no vegetation growing here, the sunlight cant penetrate far enough to promote good growth. ) Look for where two different types of weeds are growing and fish that edge or where there may be a ditch or isolated stump, log or tree in the weeds. Irregularities within the weedbed are your best bet. Once you catch a bass from one type of weed or irregularity try and find other places on the lake with the same features.

Cole,
Eric has some good suggestions on both of his posts. In fact, they are what I was going to suggest before reading his.

As for the Senko, there are other such baits now, including the new Gulp Minnow that is a non-plastic formal, which is said to release scent 400 times more than scented plastic. There is also the Gambler Ace and Creme Whacky Stick. Whatever type used you may consider rigging them on a Daiichi Bleeding Bait Copperhead hook. Allow them to sink to the bottom, and work them slowly. Just a plain do-nothing method could work.

On the same line of fishing, try rigging some soft plastic jerk baits, with the same hook. I like Gambler's Stud and Super Stud, but there are other good lures on the market with which I've had good success, such as the Shadow, and the one that started it all -the Slug-Go. Again, allow these to sink, and give the some short twitches. Vary the length of pauses to see what the fish want. Often they will just hit on the fall.

Best of fishing,
Dan

Cole these are some excellent ideas & I would try all of hem. My one suggestion would be hip or chest waders. There are thousands of small marsh ponds here in Southwest Louisiana. This time of the year we duck hunt in the morning & bass or red fish in the afternoon. Some ponds are deep enough to use boats rigged with a Go-Devil motors & of course pirouges!

Cole, just a note of thanks for your many questions that keep all of us on our toes. Makes us dig deep sometimes and like Eric said, rethink things a little. Johnnie