Advice, Springfield Area: Struggles of a Bad Angler

[rps]

1 hour ago, jimithyashford said:

So I went back out to Stockton last night after work, equipped with all I have learned in the last week or so and the confidence of success on the Piney over the weekend.

And I got skunked.

Let me tell you all what I did, and if you could tell me if I did anything wrong, or did everything by the book but they just weren't biting?

So attached is a picture of the route I took, it is just south east of the Ruark campground. I headed strait for the closest point and fished all over the point and slightly down both sides. At first a used a Ned Rig with the zman plastic that mimics a shad. I cast near the shore and retrieved out to where the water gets to be about 15 feet deep. No bites.

I moved to the next point, did the same. Eventually I got snagged on the bottom and swapped out for a ned rig with the hula plastic that kinda mimics a crawfish. Same tactic on the next point. No bites.

I moved out to where my fishing map shows a submerged attractor and used the Ned all around that. 

At this point I started to notice a surface bite picking up, it was maybe 7:15pm or so, so I switched to rooster tails and shallow diving crank baits just to try and get in on some of that action near the surface, but nothing bit. I worked my way back to where I launched, casting into bait balls as I saw them.

Now with the ned, I am still a little unclear on how to properly retrieve the Ned. Some folks are saying to basically not move it, or move it very little, others are saying that just letting it sit there and soak is a waste of time, cause if there is a fish near it'll get it within about 30 seconds or its not going to.

 

search this forum for posts by dtrs5kprs. He is the man about Neds.

[jimithyashford]

2 hours ago, ColdWaterFshr said:

In your kayak??  I'd save the kayak for the creeks, small rivers and ponds.

And #%^&@!, what did I tell you about the rooster tails?  Go back and read STEP 1 of my 12-step program.

I like Cedar Ridge or State Park better than Ruark.  But rent a boat.  Get some minnows and nightcrawlers.  Work those big points out in about 30 feet of water.  Either super early in the morning, or late in the evening after its dark.

 

A kayak is my only boat, its gotta be better than bank fishing right? 

 

And yeah yeah, i knew as soon as i tied it on i was gonna get crap for the rooster tail, but i only had rooster tails and crankbaits to fish near the top. What would you recomend tossing at schools of baitfish when you start to see surface strikes? Or is that not worth casting at?

[rps]

1 hour ago, jimithyashford said:

A kayak is my only boat, its gotta be better than bank fishing right? 

 

And yeah yeah, i knew as soon as i tied it on i was gonna get crap for the rooster tail, but i only had rooster tails and crankbaits to fish near the top. What would you recomend tossing at schools of baitfish when you start to see surface strikes? Or is that not worth casting at?

Just a suggestion -> carry a walk the dog lure and learn how to fish it, have a buzz bait as well, a compact spinner bait of modest size (3/8 ounce), senkos plus rigging, C rig or T rig plastic worms, tubes, and Neds. One wiggle wart or Rock Crawler allowed.

[Old plug]

On 7/26/2019 at 3:37 PM, dan hufferd said:

HAHA,

Bass are still stupid. 

[Haris122]

Ouch why the hate for roostertail on here. I love those things. I also admittedly don’t catch much but that’s not the roostertails fault. I fished Joachim creek at Herculaneum a few days ago, and the little bass were active. Throwing the same type roostertail, at the same place as me, some older dude had 50+ times that he brought little bass in in the same time frame that I brought in 3. Regardless of how I tried doing it. Made no sense. 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

@Haris122 I like them.  How was the creek level?

[Haris122]

Still a bit high but people were putting in their boats regardless. Even though it was still above the top of the boat ramp by a bit. Lots of activity though. Lots of fish chasing other fish from the looks of it. Of course that was a few days back. Not sure how much the water dropped or activity changed. 

[Mitch f]

On 8/3/2019 at 12:34 PM, Haris122 said:

Throwing the same type roostertail, at the same place as me, some older dude had 50+ times that he brought little bass in in the same time frame that I brought in 3. Regardless of how I tried doing it. Made no sense. 

I don’t know what to say. He caught 17 to 1 what you did. At some point you just need to stop casting and stand back and watch. Surely he was doing something significantly different. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

On ‎8‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 12:34 PM, Haris122 said:

Ouch why the hate for roostertail on here

I put a whackin on some whites and spots Saturday with a white one.  Started with a black one and they hit it "ok".  Switched to White and they hammered it.

[Flysmallie]

12 hours ago, Mitch f said:

Surely he was doing something significantly different. 

Maybe, maybe not. 

I spent a lot of days standing side by side in bassboat with the same person. It wasn't unusual to be using the same baits, doing the same thing, and one of us catch many more than the other. Yeah there had to be some differences but they weren't significant. In most cases they weren't even detectable by us. 

But Mitch is right. If you are struggling and others aren't you at least need to make an attempt to find out why.