Bassin' USA - Bass Fishing Forum Archives

I have a tournament coming up in April. A deep heavily timbered lake. Later I'll post the size,ect. For now I'd like to hear from the "herd" on seasonal patterns, both where the fish are and patterns. Late winter, prespawn, spawn, and post spawn. I really want to win this one. The best anglers in the tristate area will be fishing. thanks Carl

Carl, in Southern Illinois in April your best bets are going to be creek channels or the lakes headwaters. Look for shallow banks with pea gravel or flats where bass can lie in the sun and warm them eggs. Even after the spawn which comes in late Ap[ril down there, the fish will remain close to those areas. When in doubt, fish seconadry points inside coves where direct sunlight can warm the banks. Think shallow!! Jigs and trailers, creature baits and tubes work great for fishing nesting or guarding fish.
Most fish will be in four feet or less of water. Buzzbaits can aggravate bass into striking. Look for war, stained water close to good creeks or chunk rock banks with gravel. You'll find them. Good luck and keep us posted on how you do. Johnnie

The lake I'm talking about is a small reservior (800 acres.) It's narrow and long, somewhere in the 8 mile range. At the north end the water is about 25' with a hole in front of the damn 90' deep. In that area there are shore lines with gravel and riprap.An old map says to work jigs deep around old stumps. You would think that this upper third would be the payoff area,but the big bass are apparently in the southern portions of the lake. At least it has been for the past five years; an old timer told me that the northern area used to produce big time. The whole lake has lots of steep drop offs and small coves. The creek channel runs 70' deep until it gets to the Southern portion, the last third of the lake, where it shallows to about 30' deep. Now comes the nightmare. The lower two thirds of the lake is heavily timbered with thousands of stumps. There are a few runways, the old timers know most of them I know where two of them are. When you get off the runway you immediately start hitting stumps. Last year we literly spent half our time, one day, geting off stumps. Annother consideration is water clarity, very clear, an infertile lake. The predominate lure, for the winners, have been spinnerbaits,in the southern portions of the lake. You said last year, Johnnie, that bass will definitly nest on top of stumps. Would you still use deep divers? The only stategies I can think of is fishing that northern shoreline down to 25', but we may zero on that. Or work our way south and fish the timber, and coves by forcing are way in and then just sit tight until we hope the fish settle down. Traditionaly this is a lake where the fish hold deeper than normal because of the water clarity. Do you think that may hold true even if they're in pre/post spawn? A couple of years ago, I can knock myself in the head for not keeping notes, we were fishing in the spring and all they were hitting were these cazy, bright colors, orange, white, chartruse stick worms. Does that sound like prespawn? Well, I think I've laid it out, any advice? thanks, carl

Carl look at your map and see were the creeks run into the lake. If there are no major creek look for areas that the run off comes into the lake. These little ditches will be a Hyway for the bass to use to get into shallow water. These little ditches will also be a way for you to work you boat through the stumps to get to them.

The fish will spawn on the stumps and old trees in the lake. When John Hope did his tracking studies on Bass here in Texas he found alot of fish that spawned on laydowns and stumps far away from the shoreline. The problem you are going to have is finding the right stumps. Thats were the ditches, or creeks come in. Those fish will be along those ditches and creeks along the drop offs. Another little tip to help you find these ditches and creeks, on your way to the lake look and see what type trees grow along the creeks and drainages in you area. Look at the bark pattern on the trees. Now when you get on the water look at the bark on the standing timber and stumps, when you find the bark patterns that match, you are not far from the creek or ditches. I hope that makes sense?

As far as baits those wacky worms are hard to beat just a slow way to fish. I like a jerk bait in the prespawn period and top water spook in the post spawn.

Hope that will help you a little.

Thanks guys. I'll be prefishing that lake a 100 times before April 2&3. I'm sure I'll have many more questions later. Thanks again. Carl

Carl, what's the name of the lake? Maybe someone has fished it.

The name of the lake is Devil's Kitchen Lake, it's part of Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, run by US Fish and Wildlife. C