Where did the fish go?

[MSUFisherBear]

Did a little fishing and a lot more paddling on Saturday morning/afternoon. I was targeting bass the whole way, so I'm not sure how the trout fishing was at all.

Started off at the landing and dunked a couple of the creeks; No fish... Loaded up and headed down to Rockaway and paddled up Bull past the island. Again, no fish... The weird thing was what I did notice (or a lack there of). The last few weeks I had noticed bass and bluegill cruising some of the shorelines in the creeks. Anywhere that there was enough cover to provide some shade and reasonably warmer water from the main lake I was finding them. Last weekend I actually targeted them for a bit and caught some nicer bass. This weekend, nary a minnow.

What changed? Again, I'm new(ish) to Taney so I haven't figured out a lot of the patterns. I know they could probably be VERY different from other lakes due to its very nature, but from a standpoint of what I have learned over time fishing I wouldn't have expected that radical of a difference in a week. Possibly a few more or a few less, but not the complete absence there of. I just can't believe how big of a difference that one week made.

[b.howell]

The up and down weather could have forced them back deep. That shallow water will change drastically with temperature fluctuation like we are having. If we could get a consistent two weeks of weather, I bet they would be back up there.

[MSUFisherBear]

I wondered about the fronts that moved through. I know that strong fronts have a tendency to really change patterns. I guess just the lack of seeing them after seeing so many (or what I thought was so many) was pretty interesting and not something I had seen before. It seems like (in my experiences) that it's a bit of a sliding effect with fronts (there's a noticeable difference but not a complete lack thereof). In other lakes, some of the fish (or most of the fish are gone) after a front but a few still remain (albeit they can be extremely inactive) But again, different type of lake than what I'm used to fishing or have fished before.

If they did drive off the banks, on a lake like Taneycomo, where do they go? I've surfed the boards to see and it seems like patterns for bass tend to be a little more scattered until either the dead of summer or the dead of winter (small fluctuations in normal seasonal patterns, I assume). Do they drive off in to the main lake?  I tried slowing the presentation WAY down with some finesse presentations (i.e. the Ned Rig and 4" finesse worms) without any luck. I'd be interested to see what others have found success with.

I will say this much... The challenge of figuring out how to catch these fish on new bodies of water is about as fun as it gets and Taney has already got me hooked trying to learn this trout fishing thing while figuring out the bass fishing as well. I appreciate all the sage advice that everyone has offered and continues to offer on it. I've learned a lot and still have a lot to go.