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Slow at St. Mary's Lake, 7/14

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  • Slow at St. Mary's Lake, 7/14

    I did some cipherin’ based on the photos of the bass I caught on the snakehead hunt (forgot to measure them), fingertip widths, etc. and realized that they were probably my personal best from a kayak. This information, the fact that a 7lb bass was caught at St. Mary’s Lake, and the fact that I was feeling too lazy to do any saltwater fishing made me want to apply my newly-found bass mojo (what little I have) to see if I could improve upon the usual 10-12” bass I catch there.

    I launched at 6:45 and was planning on fishing until after sunset. I brought my assortment of frogs, the Pop’R I caught the Mattawoman bass on, and an ultralight with a spinner to ward off a skunk. I actually picked up a nice 8” bluegill on the spinner:



    I didn’t choose my bass spots wisely. Most of the places I fished early were too sunny, even close to sunset, and the places I fished near dark were probably too shallow for decent bass. I had two small blow ups on a buzz frog that were probably tiny bass. Both fish missed the lure. I also scared the hell out of something big that was right up on shore, but it didn’t hit my lure. I put my Pop’R on my ultralight to see if I could get any good topwater action. I heard a fish jump and cast at it. It slammed the popper right away, and I set the hook bass tournament style to make sure I could drive the hook home with my little ultralight. A ~7”, very surprised, little bass came flying out of the water and ended up getting so tangled in my line that it looked like a mummy. It also had the biggest mouth-to-body length ratio of any fish I’ve ever seen. It looked like a monkfish minus the teeth. That was it for the night on fish, but I got some decent sunset pics:





    The other folks fishing that I spoke with seemed to be having a slow evening, too. Fishing immediately after a cold front came through wasn’t a great choice, either, but I think I know where to try for some bigger bass now. Anyway, I called it a night a little after 8:45 so I could get out before the ranger locked the gate.
    Yellow Hobie Revo Rube Goldberg
    Yellow Tarpon 120

  • #2
    Thanks for the report. That Bluegill has some shoulders on it. I hate when you set the hook Roland Martin style and a 6" bass or sunfish comes flying out of the water at you.

    I had one hit me square in the chest while fishing the bank of the C&O canal. It was in front of a group of tourists that got a good chuckle from the whole scene.

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    • #3
      looks like a nice place to fish, thanks for the report with pics
      sigpic

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      • #4
        Nice report Bill
        '12 Ocean Kayak Prowler trident 13 Orange
        '09 Wilderness Systems Ride 135 Red
        Kayak Fishing Mafia

        -Both fish and men are often caught with artificial's-

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        • #5
          Nice report! I'd be careful about saying to shallow. It just can't be open shallow water but if there is any type of cover (weeds, docks, wood etc) they will belly right up into the shallows especially early and late. I've caught plenty of bass up to 4 lbs from a foot of water or less. They were mostly buried in heavy weeds or under docks but they can be there. Skipping soft plastics under docks is one of my favorite ways to bass fish and some of my most productive spots on my home lake are docks in less than 3 feet of water. Good fishin

          Chimo

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          • #6
            Thanks for the info, Wayne. The lake is in a park, so there aren't any docks along the shore. There's lots of woody debris, though. I'll have to give it another shot. I wish the park didn't close at sunset. That makes it harder to get the timing right.
            Yellow Hobie Revo Rube Goldberg
            Yellow Tarpon 120

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            • #7
              That's a heckuva bluegill! Very nice. Pretty looking place. Great pics, Bill.

              +1 what Wayne said. I like to fish "targets", a clump of weeds, downed trees, gaps in the spatterdock, etc. Fish late or early in the day (best when the sun is behind the trees) in just a couple feet of water. My go-to LM bass lure is an unweighted Berkley Powerworm in any dark color rigged weedless. Toss it right into the weeds, next to the logs, etc. If there are no targets then work 2' or 3' depths a couple feet off the shoreline. Keep moving along. They'll be there.

              Usually the take is on the drop within a couple secs of it hitting the water. Watch the line go, 1, 2, 3 hit him hard! If no pick up, let it settle, twitch, wait a sec, twitch again, wait a sec or 2. If nothing reel it in, toss to the next target and repeat.

              Took me a while to get confident in this method but stick with it. It is very effective.

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              • #8
                Couple fish from shallow cover. First one is one of my cousins kids with a 4.5-5 lber that I caught off the dock the boat is moared to. Second one was is about 4 and was caught from the dock beside the one the 1st fish came from. I actually caught the second one as a guy was standing on the dock advising me to fish out deeper But having said that, if the shallow bite just isn't happening for me I usually start working pockets and the deep edge of weed beds paying special attention to any gaps, holes, ragged edges ect. Texas rigged soft plastics or jigs worked slow. Good Fishin

                Chimo




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                • #9
                  Originally posted by chimo View Post
                  Couple fish from shallow cover. First one is one of my cousins kids with a 4.5-5 lber that I caught off the dock the boat is moared to. Second one was is about 4 and was caught from the dock beside the one the 1st fish came from. I actually caught the second one as a guy was standing on the dock advising me to fish out deeper But having said that, if the shallow bite just isn't happening for me I usually start working pockets and the deep edge of weed beds paying special attention to any gaps, holes, ragged edges ect. Texas rigged soft plastics or jigs worked slow. Good Fishin

                  Chimo





                  Those are some pretty bass. I love fishing docks.

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                  • #10
                    Lots of good info here. Thanks, gents. I guess I'll have to give plastic worms a shot again. That's what I fished when Dad and I fished for bass growing up, but the slow presentation is so boring.

                    Nice fish, Wayne. That second pic cracked me up. It looks like a pic from Batman's vacation.
                    Yellow Hobie Revo Rube Goldberg
                    Yellow Tarpon 120

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