What would you do with these conditions?

[StrictlyBiznuss]

Hey Guys...
Well, I always enjoy doing this every once in a while because it gives me an opportunity to kind of see how other anglers would take on a situation compared to how I do. Sometimes there are things that I overlook. Ok guys, I'm going to give you a scenario and I want you to tell me where you would fish and what you would use. It's the 2nd largest natural freshwater lake this side of the Mississippi (I think). Basically, it's an oversized duck pond. Often times people joke about how you can walk across the whole thing without your head ever going under. Let's say, you are trying to target pre-spawn largemouths. Because it's such a large, shallow, mud-bottomed lake, it is muddy year round (1-2" visibility only). Also, the lake is totally void of anything like points, drop-offs, rockpiles, etc. Just an oversized duck pond. Deepest point in the lake is maybe 12ft when the lake is full, but it averages 3-5ft all the way across. The deepest parts of the lake are the various boat harbors around the lake. They are all surrounded in chunk rock and have depths from 5-9ft close to the rocky banks in the harbors. Almost the entire like is lined with reeds, and about 2-3ft at the base of them. Some harbors have lots of brush/reeds growing along the rocky banks. There are also a few rivers/streams that flow clear,cool mountain water into the lake. There is one river that flows out. The river that flows out has a channel flowing into a pumphouse that is about 9-10ft deep. It has a slow-moving current and is lined with chunk rock/tules that drop quickly to 6-8ft deep. There is one large shallow bay with plenty of tules/weedbeds and a rockwall at the back of it. This bay is only 2-3ft deep. Randomly around the lake, you may find a small manmade canal leading out of the lake that is lined with chunk rock and is about 2-3ft deep. Forage for the bass in this lake consists of plenty of crawdads, lots of white bass, bluegill, green sunfish, baby carp & catfish, crappie, and just a few perch. Ok, so where would you go, and what would you use/do?

Just to let you know, in previous years, the majority of my success comes by fishing inside the harbors by the rocks. Also, rarely have I ever caught a bass more than 7ft away from the shoreline because of the extremely muddy water. However, in the last couple of years, the water level has risen almost 5 ft, and has now submerged A LOT more cover in the lake. This last year, I had a very difficult time and didn't catch nearly as many fish as in years past by fishing the rocks in the harbors.

[Bill K]

I would work the tule line and any other structure with a frog at various speeds and action. And a Senko, weedless/tex-posed, in black/blue. Either of these should get a L/M to hit. At least it would be a blast to try. A jig and pig in black with blue or purple trailer should also work. Bill K

[492slayer]

Are you talking about Utah Lake?....

[basstrophy]

This time of the year fish with the sun on your back. This will remove half the lake. The fish will move up on the sunny banks first this time of the year.

Rock and wood can be a key to finding larger groups of fish so with the sun on your back and some rock or wood I would fish those areas checking for bass.

Most lakes that are very shallow still have subtle breaks under water. Just one foot of break will hold fish that are stagging off shore getting ready to spawn. I would spend some time off shore with my depth finder checking for a possible "hot" spot.

The harbors you talked about have channels running into the main lake so check out front of those harbors you just might find a "hot" spot. Points and breaks out front of the harbors.

Along the shore line if there is just a little point that sticks out into the lake some I would check areas like these but out in deeper water where the water goes from 6'-8'.

All else fails beat the bank and cover lots of water with a reaction baits. Chuck and reel.

Good luck
John

[Phil]

I'D THROW A RAPALA DTSS3 AND DTSS7 ALL DAY IN CRAWDAD OR PERCH PATTERNS AND THE ONLY OTHER THING I WOULD HAVE AT HAND IS A SPINNER BAIT CHART/WHITE WITH WHITE BLADES ..

JIGS

THATS JUST ME

[Mike]

Flip the brush/structure with a big jig with a rattle. Throw rattle traps and big spinnerbaits. When the water gets to 60 start using topwater like Lunker Punkers and wakebaits in the shallows.

[Slippy]

I would flip toolie pockets and try to focus on any rock toolie combos with deep water close as possible. If could find toolies that were in say 6ft of water with rocks next to it and possible 10-12 off the bank. I would stay of any mud bank and focus on rocks, try to see if there was a rock area that had different rocks maybe smaller or larger rocks.

[Guest]

I'm going to assume that the water temp is 60 degrees or less as I'm not really seeing too many places over this temp yet (even in AZ). Tells me that the fish are still pre-spawn/winter and will either be on main lake structure or have begun their move to the shallows in and around wood (or anything that holds heat during the day). Others have already posted on the shallow water bite so I'll stick to my approach with the non-obvious stuff a little deeper. If all you catch is short males in the wood/cover I would take my search towards deeper water/structure looking for the big females.

I would start by keying in on rock/mud or sand/mud transition areas and use 2 search baits to eliminate water. Some lakes at first glance appear to be just mud, however the hard structure can be a relative term based on the specific lake (small sand/rock pebble areas). A carolina rig will help you find the areas to figure out the key spots for structure within a given area and can be worked fairly fast. If the fish are line shy I would use a 12lb main line and 8lb test leader for the carolina rig along with a bait that you think will work given the conditions/water clarity. This will also help you eliminate soft mud areas where fish aren't holding to any sort of ground structure. Just be sure to use a heavy enough sinker so that you can feel the bottom transition areas. This time of year junebug for whatever reason really seems to get a violent strike for me in the prespawn/winter fish so I tend to start with that color and move from there to just locate some fish.

The next approach would be with a 1/2 Rat-L-Trap, LV-500, etc in crawdad colors trying to find an active fish in the general area that has a harder bottom. Once you use 1+2 and find a few suicide fish I would then follow up with a shakey head worm, jig, senko or a drop shot to catch the neutral to inactive fish in/around that locations you've found depending on your fishing style.

[StrictlyBiznuss]

Hey guys...I really appreciate all the feedback. See, I've actually been fishing this lake (yes, it's Utah Lake) for about 10 years now. The first 2 years I fished it, I had a very difficult time figuring it out. I didn't even catch any largies out of it for my first year and a half of fishing it. Finally, I figured it out pretty well after two years. Then from years 2-5 I felt like I really had it figured out, and I was slayin' 'em. Well, then years 6-9, I moved away to CA, went on a mission for my church, etc. Now, this last year, I have ended up back here, and I did OK this last year fishing this lake, but I just didn't have near the success that I had in years 2-5. The main thing that I've contributed that to is the fact that it is a much different lake now than it was in those years. Like I said, the water level has risen quite a bit and it's changed things. My downfall was the fact that even though the lake is now much different, I continued to fish it the same way I did years ago. My vision was narrowed as of to what will work because of past years experience on the lake.
This year, I want to try and approach it as if I've never fished it before. So the reason I posted this was so that I could try and widen my views of what's doable on this lake. It's funny, because, on any other lake, I would've thought about doing almost all of the things that have been mentioned, but like I said, I've kind of got tunnel vision now when it comes to fishing this lake. I am definitely going to try all of the suggestions given here in the upcoming months. I really like some of your ideas in particular (channels running out of the harbors, c-rig to find mud/rock transitions, flipping tulle pockets around rock) Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the ice to come off, so I can't give you guys immediate results just yet. It'll probably be another month or more before the water temps get anywhere in the 50s and they go into prespawn. Until then though, I can just fish some of the hot springs around the lake.

[Josh St.John]

It sounds like this place should fish a lot like the delta on high tide right now or clear lake in early spring when every thing is flooded.
I would flip the livin heck out of this lake with big bulky noisy jigs in red and black or black and blue.I would also use big shallow diving crank baits and weedless swimbaits like the obvious choice for utah the mission fish or the a bass trix style bait with a rattle added
I would start around the creek and bay entrances on the sunny side of things the east sides are going to be geting the most sun right now and water will stay warmer longer in the day. This should make these fish slightly more active. I would focus on spawing migration paths.The fish are going to be moving a lot this time up and down through out the day.
I would guess a lot of fish live in the reeds through out the wither here to stay warmer.
Josh
http://www.thewiredangler.com/

[Greg_Cornish]

Reading about the lake I find no mention of LMB on wikipedia. I says its populated mostly by white bass and 97% carp population.

[StrictlyBiznuss]

On wikipedia...if you read the last paragraph in the "ecosystem" section you will find where it talks about largemouths.

[Greg_Cornish]

Oh man how'd I miss that - sorry