Another tough day at the rock

[Cajunangler]

Even though recent reports gave some info on different locations in the lake, being somewhat new to TR I decided to stick with my usual launch location near the bridge at Cape Fair. I launched at 10am and fished until 4pm. Not very much to report. I did land to short bass, one KY and one LM, both on 4" finese worms. Had another better fish on briefly and had one follow a spinner bait back to the boat. I fished north of the bridge at Cape Fair and water temps ranged from 53 at the bridge to 49 farther up the river arm. I had hoped to find a few smallies migrating south for the winter willing to cooperate, but no such luck. The couple I did catch came on rocky banks and were sitting in 5-6 feet of water. I tried an assortment of baits that included: deep bandit crankbaits, single and double bladed spinner baits, spyder jigs, and 4 inch finese worms. Spent a good deal of time on deeper bluff banks with the boat sitting in 15-20' but couldn't get any to cooperate there. Coming from LA I have a hard time making myself fish in 30-60' of water but I guess I will have to adapt if I plan to catch fish at TR more consistently. Wish I had a better report to offer.

[SKMO]

Cajun - Welcome to one of the hardest bass lakes in the country to fish. Sounds like you gave it the old college try but anyone who fishes this lake at all has had a lot worse days than you just reported. It can be tough with a steep learning curve but once you get some confidence in some techniques and spots you will be over the hump. Certified bass fishermen from out of the area have been known to trade their bass rig for a good set of golf clubs golf after one season... so be careful.

One suggestion is not to pin your hopes on smallies in the upper James. There are no doubt some up there. But SM country is generally aropund the deep, clear, main lake channel. From the Dam area and up the main stem of the White to the Campell Point area is more traditional SM water. Seems like you got to have some deep clear water in the proximity. They like gravel and chunk rock banks. Not so much bluffs or very far back in the larger coves, in my experience.

If you learn to fish 30-60' deep you will have made great strides toward having something to fall back on when the shallow fish won't cooperate. Anyone including myself probably prefers to play with the 20' and shallower fish, but when the shallow guys won't bite you can fall back on the fact that there is SOME kind of a deep pattern going on 24/7/365.