Northwest Fishing Reports

I have a question for you more prolific Bassers.I was doing my evening walk last night and while chumming one of the docks I noticed 3 Large Bass sitting under a tree in about 2-3' depth of water. They were awesome to look at.My question is in shallow water what type of Lure or bass gear should I toss for them?It seems to shallow for a spinner bait or spoon type.Any suggestions gents?Or ladies?

6 inches isn't too shallow for a spinnerbait, or crankbait using a Minus 1 Bomber or other brand. For those fish the first thing I'd throw is a gitzit or plastic worm. Both Texas rigged. With 1/8th oz or smaller weight. Maybe even weightless at first, let it sink slowly. Maybe even flip a small floating Rapala and see if they come up to get it while it's setting motionless on top.

My first choice for that situation would be a 5" senko type plastic - Texas Rigged weightless or wacky rigged. Toss it out pass the tree and slowly work it back to the fish. As my second choice would be a jig w/ chunk trailer. Pitch it out past them and make short hops on the retrieve. I am no expert, not even close, but this is how I would try to start enticing a bite with that situation.

I hate sight fishing. They never bite, if only they knew I was gonna release them lol

I'm sure there are a lot of options that would work...if the bass were willing to bite, but I'd start first with natural presentation. If they're under an overhanging tree, then maybe something that might drop off the tree into the water....therefore I'd start with topwater, maybe a large unweighted fly, floating worm, small frog....maybe even a mouse.

6" purple straight tail- fished with a scrounger head [ leadhead with lip ] swim it by, not too close and make them want to get it. Alot of times you can cause them to compete for the prize!
Even with the other methods its best to get them to move and come and look at your offering, dont drag it right up to them. You can't go wrong with a tube bait

TNJ I'm with you on sight fishing.But these were fatties and made my mouth water for action.I walk along Lk Wa. after work .This is the first where I saw fish milling around.Made me get the itch to catch.Thanks guys for your inputs.This was under a tree overhang. It will be hard to give a direct on presentation. I'm gonna go get me a few mice and try it out.Should I just run a 2/0 or 3/0 through the mouse. I hate feeling them wiggle. I might get the Heebie-Jeebies.

racfish wrote:........I'm gonna go get me a few mice and try it out.Should I just run a 2/0 or 3/0 through the mouse. I hate feeling them wiggle. I might get the Heebie-Jeebies.

hook'em through the lips, so they keep squirming. LOL. :shaking2:

You're a funny man rac....have you seen the imitation mouse lures? They're pretty cool looking.

mouse fly
Orvis mouse fly
Cabela's mouse fly

If you are not against it, I would throw a big night crawler out there.

racfish, I am just north of you. Do you need help assessing the situation!? And if the mouse doesn't work, I'll bring it home and feed it to one of my snakes. Two birds and all that you know

If they are under an overhanging tree that makes it difficult to skip a bait up under without spooking them, then I would absolutely throw a small jig with a soft plastic trailer , up on land beside the tree if possible (so you could ease it back into the water as quietly as possible) or as tight to shore as I could, then I would work it with a slack bouncing technique being careful not to move the bait too far! Those are pre-spawn largies fresh up from the deep trying to get in some warmer water, they are looking for an easy meal that's protien rich, crawfish crawfish crawfish! They will have no problem making a short cruise over to grab up a potentially rewarding meal! Also, if you hook into one, get him to the boat quickly, and if you have one, place him in the livewell and you can probably cast back in and catch one of his pals?! If you don't have a livewell, move out to deeper water about 20 yards away and release him there, then head back in to try again... Regardless, post a report and pics when the deed is done!:thumright

Early season Largemouth sunning themselves are some of the hardest fish to catch. They are up they to soak up sunlight and not feed. My best tactic is to use a huskyjerk. It will actually slowly sink. I throw past the fish and let the lure sink to the bottom. I then slowly position the bait to ram it into the fish with a really HARD rip. I am not trying to snag the fish, ( it rarely happens ). I am actually trying to piss the fish off. The first couple of times the bass gets rammed it will swim off a little and in a few minutes return to the sunning spot. Usually about the 3 to 5th cast and retrieve the bass finally gets tired of having it's ass kicked by this minnow and just about the time you go to ram it again, it will turn and CRUSH that hushky jerk before you can even react. Nice easy hookset, ( you are dealing with trebles), steady pressure and fish on.

Mark

I'd toss a Brush Hawg, but as usual...sound advice from Mark

Man, did you open a can of worms! LOL
I might even flip a small jig with a plastic trailer on them, something in a natural color with black. drop it right on top of them and let it fall to the bottom the twitch it a few times.

I like the crawler idea:-$ But seriously the smaller the better if you want them to eat it (and drop it on their head. I used a hula grub on an jig head to do the same thing as Mark stated. Aggression is easy to provoke on predatory fish. But in my experience there is no easier fish to po then a LMB!