Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations All you fish biologists....HELP!

I posted this on another site, but maybe you professional fisheries biologists could be of more help to me.....

I had the worst weekend of fishing of my life this weekend. First off, my buddy's Bass Tracker broke down so we could not go to Lake Barkley. Therefore, we ended up going to a private watershed lake (about 43 acres) using my little jon boat.

Normally, the fishing at this lake is pretty darn good in the springtime with us catching lots of quality fish in the 4+ pound range. However, in 5.5 hours of fishing on Saturday and 5 hours yesterday, we only managed to get 22 fish in the boat and NONE of them were over 1.5 pounds. Just aweful!!!!

Saturday was so bad that I decided to take my temperature guage yesterday. The water temps ranged from 58.4 degrees to 60.1 degrees. Were the fish in that "we're about to spawn and ain't gonna bite" mode? I looked for bedding fish and saw none. Where the heck were they and why didn't they bite?????!!!!?????

Here's a list of the baits we used: chartreuse and white spinnerbaits, many different colored rattletraps, deep diving cranks, mid-diving cranks, shallow diving cranks, blue/red/chartruese lizards, many different colors of jerk baits, tubes, flukes and probably some other stuff I can't remember.

I'm so disgusted right now that I'm debating whether or not I want to go again this coming weekend.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

One more thing is that we had one of the worst winters on recored here in Southwest KY this year. Could there have been some kind of fish die-off in some of these smaller lakes (the lake we were fishing is no deeper than 10 feet at it's deepest point.

I'm not a biologist. But based on my experience,
when the water temperature is between 58-60 degrees....you can have bad days. Heck you can have bad days at any temperature. I would suggest that you keep trying and don't make any assumptions based on one weekend of fishing.

Don't worry, I'm sure by Friday I'll be chomping at the bit to get back out there. What can I say....I'm a glutton for punishment. LOL

Professional fisheries biologists fish with nets, seines, traps and electroshoking gear & rarely dynamite. smile. Only the addict biologists use fishing poles. Overall they probably can't help you much. You need to talk to tournament fishermen; they fish under every condition.

WWG, welcome to the world of FISHING and not catching. I've been tournament fishing for 25 years and this is not unusual at all. There are more variables to fishing, it's mind boggling. First of all the barometer plays a huge role in good fishing, ideally 29.8 to 30.2 mb. is the comfort zone to fish. Now, if you have a storm or cold front passing through and that barometer starts to swing way up or down, this can be the best couple of hours of fishing in your life! But once it's stable, again above 30.2 or below 29.8 pack your stuff and head for the nearest bar! Sure the water temp. seemed good but what was it a few days before that. If it was warmer, and then cooled even a few degrees it would also affect the fishing. Before I purchased my lake I would check the weather closely for a week before I picked a day to go fishing because my time is prescious to me, And when I go fishing I want to catch fish. So do some homework a few days prior to your next trip,and experiment with the weather, Fish a day after the barometer has been steady for a few days, then fish a day before a storm or just rain is predicted. This time of year look for the warmest water in the lake.2 deg. will make a difference to a fish since they are cold blooded. Also look for spawnig flats and fish the deepest water near the flat with a carolina rigged lizard. I've caught more big fish this way.(more so when it's sunny) If it's cloudy fish a top water. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice, Brad. I will store it away and try to apply it to my actual fishing trips.

Let me ask you this: when it's sunny, but the water temp is only around the upper 50s, will the fish still be in cover or will they be out in the open "sunnin'" themselves? And, if so, what's the best bait to use? Spinnerbait?

I fished those conditions two weeks ago and caught some big ones in my tree reefs 5'-9'
using 10.5" black w/blue metal flake tail
power worms. shot weight 12" above worm.

My favorite under bright sun conditions is the gold shade of motor oil.

I'm a little surprised, 22 fish in 10.5 hours doesn't seem that bad to me. Sure you can catch alot more, but you can also catch alot less. Bad days are when you don't get to fish at all. :p

You may do ok with a spinnerbait, usually the smaller fish will be in the shallows on sunny days and the majority of larger fish will be a bit deeper just because they feel safer there. It's a fish eat fish world down there and no matter what size the fish, they feel vulnerable out in the open on bright sunny days. Certain lures seem to work on some lakes and not on others. At least this is what I have found over the years. I've been to lakes where the bass would slam buzz baits everywhere you threw it, and at other lakes they wont look at one, but they will sure eat spinnerbaits! We all know fish are funny creatures, and thank God they are, otherwise we would'nt have any. Just keep trying different stuff, and when it works- ask yourself why?

I had the same problem with the little fish over the weekend in S. Illinois. Nothing on spinner baits. After a few hours I figured that the big femals were holding deeper until the right conditions, but couldn't change my tiny husky jerk pattern. I should have worked the breaks nearby with a rattle trap or other crank. I did have a double in the boat of an 18 incher and 16.5 from the same beaver hut, but otherwise no fish over 11 inches. They must have been making a run thru the "drive thru".

Mark and Bob - just got PB issue and great job!! Good info!