Guess the Pattern

I've gotta follow up on my last post regarding a recent fishing
trip I took that is a good example of how small things can make a huge
difference in what pattern you can find the fish on and how you should
fish a certain lake.

Personally, it was a pretty frustrating day in many regards.
Generally, I don't lose that many fish...but for some reason this day
I think I lost 6 keepers in about 2-3 hours of fishing...two of which
were 5 pounds or better. Granted, a couple of the fish came off
handing the rod n' rell to my 3 year old boy...but truth be told...the
fish were lost when they were in my control...not his. At the end of
the day, I caught some fish, but I my dad put it on me pretty good and
he taught me a couple of valuable lessons about patterning and
catching fish.

The Situation: I took my 3 year old boy and my dad fishing on
West Boggs a very beautiful lake in Southern Indiana that is a manmade
lowland lake that has a variety of structure. (Map of the lake can be
found at: http://www.fishin.com/articles/westboggsarticle.htm#map )
with a creek running through it. The lake has quite a few points and
coves and it is surrounded by farms and a large golf course and the
runoff is very bad from farms causing silt buildup at the lower ends.
The water clarity was relatively murky (for this lake) from recent
rains and the predominant structure is grass with some wood. The
predominant forage is crawfish with some gizzard shad and bluegill.
It is generally a stable body of water that rarely goes up or down
more than a few inches and on this particular date it was up an inch
or two. It is usually stagnant and is relatively small (622 acres)
that has very heavy fishing pressure..mostly from bass and bluegill
fishermen. Animal activity was excellent as we saw several deer, many
turtles, snakes, birds, etc. We were fishing an immediate post-spawn
situation. (majority of bass had spawned in last 2-3 weeks). It was a
sunny day (mid 80's)...coming off of similar mid 80's days with a
pop-up thunderstorm or two mixed in. Water temperature ran anywhere
from 71 degrees to 77 degrees with the average in most places being
about 75 degrees. The wind was a predominant wind out of the west and
was a healthy 10-15 miles per hour most of the time. In the past,
I've had success fishing shallow or deep in the past in this situation
(and all the below situations have produced very nice limits of fish),
but on this one occassion...only 1 pattern was on: We struggled in
the first few hours (primarily due to my hardheadedness), but after
filling up on a big buffet lunch (at a great Amish restaurant located
on the lake), we (actually, my dad) eventually found 1 pattern that we
were able to get a nice double limit in the last 2-3 hours...

The Question: Can you guess which pattern worked?

A. We slayed em' on junebug/bubblegum and black/blue worms
(texas-rigged and carolina-rigged) off of deep points (8-18' of water)
as they were stacked off of the mainlake points immediately after
spawn.

B. The bass were holding tight on deep wood on the main lake as
long as the wood was at least 8' deep.. Variopus plastic worms and
jigs worked best.

C. Deep wood that was located off of channel bends (12-18")
produced the hungry bass on deep-diving crankbaits (ie. Rapala DD16
and LuckCraft Flat CB D20 in black/silver and white colors).

D. The bass ate up shallow diving crankbaits, spinnerbaits and
buzzbaits when we moved to very shallow water...fishing a shallow hump
in the middle of a back-end creek nearby a silted-in creek channel.
No weeds or wood was present on this hump.

E. The bass were within 4' of the bank in very shallow water
(less than 5') and were holding tight to shallow wood. Small plastic
worms were the order of the day.

--
Dwayne E. Cooper, Atty at Law
Indianapolis, IN
Email:
Web Page: http://www.cooperlegalservices.com
Personal Fishing Web Page: http://www.hoosierwebsites.com/OnTheWater
Dog Fishing: http://www.hoosierwebsites.com/onthe...fishing040.htm
1st Annual ROFB Classic Winner

"Dwayne E. Cooper" wrote in message
...
I've gotta follow up on my last post regarding a recent fishing
trip I took that is a good example of how small things can make a huge
difference in what pattern you can find the fish on and how you should
fish a certain lake.

Personally, it was a pretty frustrating day in many regards.
Generally, I don't lose that many fish...but for some reason this day
I think I lost 6 keepers in about 2-3 hours of fishing...two of which
were 5 pounds or better. Granted, a couple of the fish came off
handing the rod n' rell to my 3 year old boy...but truth be told...the
fish were lost when they were in my control...not his. At the end of
the day, I caught some fish, but I my dad put it on me pretty good and
he taught me a couple of valuable lessons about patterning and
catching fish.

The Situation: I took my 3 year old boy and my dad fishing on
West Boggs a very beautiful lake in Southern Indiana that is a manmade
lowland lake that has a variety of structure. (Map of the lake can be
found at: http://www.fishin.com/articles/westboggsarticle.htm#map )
with a creek running through it. The lake has quite a few points and
coves and it is surrounded by farms and a large golf course and the
runoff is very bad from farms causing silt buildup at the lower ends.
The water clarity was relatively murky (for this lake) from recent
rains and the predominant structure is grass with some wood. The
predominant forage is crawfish with some gizzard shad and bluegill.
It is generally a stable body of water that rarely goes up or down
more than a few inches and on this particular date it was up an inch
or two. It is usually stagnant and is relatively small (622 acres)
that has very heavy fishing pressure..mostly from bass and bluegill
fishermen. Animal activity was excellent as we saw several deer, many
turtles, snakes, birds, etc. We were fishing an immediate post-spawn
situation. (majority of bass had spawned in last 2-3 weeks). It was a
sunny day (mid 80's)...coming off of similar mid 80's days with a
pop-up thunderstorm or two mixed in. Water temperature ran anywhere
from 71 degrees to 77 degrees with the average in most places being
about 75 degrees. The wind was a predominant wind out of the west and
was a healthy 10-15 miles per hour most of the time. In the past,
I've had success fishing shallow or deep in the past in this situation
(and all the below situations have produced very nice limits of fish),
but on this one occassion...only 1 pattern was on: We struggled in
the first few hours (primarily due to my hardheadedness), but after
filling up on a big buffet lunch (at a great Amish restaurant located
on the lake), we (actually, my dad) eventually found 1 pattern that we
were able to get a nice double limit in the last 2-3 hours...

The Question: Can you guess which pattern worked?

A. We slayed em' on junebug/bubblegum and black/blue worms
(texas-rigged and carolina-rigged) off of deep points (8-18' of water)
as they were stacked off of the mainlake points immediately after
spawn.

B. The bass were holding tight on deep wood on the main lake as
long as the wood was at least 8' deep.. Variopus plastic worms and
jigs worked best.

C. Deep wood that was located off of channel bends (12-18")
produced the hungry bass on deep-diving crankbaits (ie. Rapala DD16
and LuckCraft Flat CB D20 in black/silver and white colors).

D. The bass ate up shallow diving crankbaits, spinnerbaits and
buzzbaits when we moved to very shallow water...fishing a shallow hump
in the middle of a back-end creek nearby a silted-in creek channel.
No weeds or wood was present on this hump.

E. The bass were within 4' of the bank in very shallow water
(less than 5') and were holding tight to shallow wood. Small plastic
worms were the order of the day.

I would guess E. At least that's where I would have started personally.
That's my style of fishing.
--
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com

On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:29:43 -0500, "Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers"
wrote:

The Question: Can you guess which pattern worked?

A. We slayed em' on junebug/bubblegum and black/blue worms
(texas-rigged and carolina-rigged) off of deep points (8-18' of water)
as they were stacked off of the mainlake points immediately after
spawn.

B. The bass were holding tight on deep wood on the main lake as
long as the wood was at least 8' deep.. Variopus plastic worms and
jigs worked best.

C. Deep wood that was located off of channel bends (12-18")
produced the hungry bass on deep-diving crankbaits (ie. Rapala DD16
and LuckCraft Flat CB D20 in black/silver and white colors).

D. The bass ate up shallow diving crankbaits, spinnerbaits and
buzzbaits when we moved to very shallow water...fishing a shallow hump
in the middle of a back-end creek nearby a silted-in creek channel.
No weeds or wood was present on this hump.

E. The bass were within 4' of the bank in very shallow water
(less than 5') and were holding tight to shallow wood. Small plastic
worms were the order of the day.

I would guess E. At least that's where I would have started personally.
That's my style of fishing.

You're right Steve! And it was the very last pattern we tried!

The rain from just a few days earlier that brought the lake up an
inch or two put almost all the bass in the shallow banks along wood.

--
Dwayne E. Cooper, Atty at Law
Indianapolis, IN
Email:
Web Page: http://www.cooperlegalservices.com
Personal Fishing Web Page: http://www.hoosierwebsites.com/OnTheWater
Dog Fishing: http://www.hoosierwebsites.com/onthe...fishing040.htm
1st Annual ROFB Classic Winner

"Dwayne E. Cooper" wrote in message SNIP

You're right Steve! And it was the very last pattern we tried!

The rain from just a few days earlier that brought the lake up an
inch or two put almost all the bass in the shallow banks along wood.

Fishing up close and tight to cover in shallow water is the first thing I
usually try. To me it appears that the fish positioning themselves in such
a manner are more active, aggressive and likely to bite. It's after the
shallow bite doesn't work that I go deeper or look elsewhere. I know, I'm
missing out on some great fishing in deeper water, but it's easy and fun.
--
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com