The sonar we had allowed us to see the actual fish's outline very clearly
and see what type of fish. Small northerns and walleye were in 10 ft.,
bigger catfish were in 15 ft., and the really big bass were in 25 ft. All
suspended in 40 ft. of water. Only a $159 sonar, too. Can't find it in
the stores anymore. Best little sonar we had then.

BG

Patrick013




"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
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"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
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"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
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"John B" wrote in message
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Suspended Fish

Certain lake I fish always has bass suspended 25 ft. down in 40 ft. of
water. Problem is they will not bite.
Any presentation that works for these fish. They are rather big fish
too.
thanks,
Patrick013

=======

I'm not an expert, and you will probably get some better advice, but a
simple approach.....down size your tackle and bait, and "slow" down you
presentations!

Small jigs, and finesse worms worked slow. Suspended bass usually won't
waste a lot of energy chasing fast moving lures! Also the strikes will
probably be suttle, so lighter line, and watching your line action is
the key to hook ups.

If that doesn't work, do what I do, go find a point or channel that's
about the same depth as the suspended fish were at, and drop shot
some....no luck there, head for the marina and have a cold beer!
Don't get too frustrated, suspended bass are tough....just ask the
pros.

John B


I don't usually get into that situation around here where 10' is
considered deep water and the few holes that hit 20 are the dark abyss,
but I did use to fish the western basin a bit on Lake Erie. One of the
first things we were always curious about when we graphed suspended fish
was what species are they. We didn't have underwater cameras back then
(1980s) but often we would decide arbitrarily that they must not be what
we were fishing for when we couldn't get them to bite. LOL.

Often a slow falling tiny swim bait did work regardless of species
though. A sassy shad on a 1/4 ball jig counted down to depth and then
very slowly worked across the strata where the fish were holding.
Another thing we found. If the fish were holding at or close to the
thermal inversion layer they would often bite more aggressively than if
they were holding in a temperature constant section of the water column.
We had paper graphs, but if you cranked up the gain the thermal
inversion layer would often show up as a layer of clutter on the graph
early in the day. Later in the day it was harder to spot, but you could
find it was pretty constant over most of the lake throughout the day by
dropping a thermometer over board on a marked line and checking various
depths.



Another thing that seemed to help was to find places where the depth at
which fish were suspended intersected structure like a hump (reef) or
island.



One more thing yet... LOL. If you have fish ID turned on, turn it off.
Often suspended garbage and suspended bait fish will show up as larger
fish on a graph if ID is on. If its off the show up as clutter, and
larger fish show up as an arc. Also, the arc will be bigger if the boat
is going slower.



Bob La Londe

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