Anybody catching any bass?

[slothman]

Wrench, do you fish around docks in the backs of those coves? Are you hitting that super shallow stuff way in the back?

[fishinwrench]

Yes and yes.   Once you hit a few back ends you'll notice a specific location pattern.  Basically I am treating every backend like an individual pond.  Not fishing anything deeper than 5-6 ft. 

Some have wood cover, some have flooded grass, some have boat ramps, and they almost all have docks.   Fish it all until you can pin them down, then start a milk run. 

[MOsmallies]

On July 31, 2016 at 10:43 PM, fishinwrench said:

Yes and yes.   Once you hit a few back ends you'll notice a specific location pattern.  Basically I am treating every backend like an individual pond.  Not fishing anything deeper than 5-6 ft. 

Some have wood cover, some have flooded grass, some have boat ramps, and they almost all have docks.   Fish it all until you can pin them down, then start a milk run. 

What Wrench said! A buddy of mine caught this 6.3 on a Buzzbait in July. You can see in the pic that his trolling motor prop isn't even in the water because it was so shallow. He had another that he claims was bigger blow up on his bait later that night. This is one of those resident shallow water fish. So many ways to catch them on LOZ and not enough time to try em all out!!!

[Jerry Rapp]

I think that all of the media hype has a lot to do with this.  You read all the time that fish go deep in summer, so just "stupid" people fish shallow anymore in hot weather.  Sometimes it pays to go away from the crowd.  There are so many people fishing out deep now, the shallow fish don't get pounded.  Sure, there are not as many shallow fish as deep fish, but maybe they are easier to catch, and you don't need $5,000 in electronics to catch a few to win the $500 first place prize. 

[fishinwrench]

They are certainly more enjoyable for me to catch shallow.  I burn out pretty quick when trying to locate and catch deep bass.  If things don't start happening pretty quickly then I'll go to the calm quiet shallows and almost immediately get a confidence boost.  

You also don't have to fight big wakes, jet ski's, wind, ect. when you are in the backs of coves.  The fish back there will get real finicky though if someone is back there walking around on a dock or doing yard work.  I will turn around and avoid any backend that has any "human activity" going on, but usually it is pretty quiet in the backs.

[WeekendWarrior]

19 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

 I will turn around and avoid any backend that has any "human activity" going on, but usually it is pretty quiet in the backs.

I have noticed that at my dock as those shallow fish can really see well and spook easily. I have a elevated deck before going down to walkway where I can watch the shallows but as soon as I get to the bottom of those stairs and on walkway a lot of times they are swimming off.

[slothman]

I'm going to give the shallows a try this week and see what happens. I have caught a few, but they just seem hard to come by. Most of mine seem to be coming out of brush piles by docks on plastics. Jigs don't seem to be getting it done for me lately. 

[fishinwrench]

If the deeper brushpiles bite is working and you're catching keepers then stay with it.  

We have had some rain and some cooler days though, so the backend fish will definitely be there, and they will eat if you can get a bait in their face without spooking them.

[Wart 57]

5 hours ago, Jerry Rapp said:

I think that all of the media hype has a lot to do with this.  You read all the time that fish go deep in summer, so just "stupid" people fish shallow anymore in hot weather.  Sometimes it pays to go away from the crowd.  There are so many people fishing out deep now, the shallow fish don't get pounded.  Sure, there are not as many shallow fish as deep fish, but maybe they are easier to catch, and you don't need $5,000 in electronics to catch a few to win the $500 first place prize. 

Jerry,  You are 100% correct on this. LOZ has always been a shallow water lake. You can catch a nice bag any time of the year in the shallows on this lake. You might have to try a different part of the lake but there is a Big Bag to be had somewhere.  Lake has been unreal for years.  Good Fishing !!!

[fishinwrench]

Well the guys that have pinned down the  deeper ledge fish and have planted brush are coming in with bigger bags consistently than I can scrape together in the shallows most days, but I'm not fishing for money I'm just fishing cuz I love to fish.  I shoot for a 5 fish total of 15# when I go out, sometimes I do better but most times I fall a little short.

Usually I can rack up 12-14# in 4-5 hours. I can't even remember the last time I put in a full 8 hour day of it.