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[karol]

 hey guys, me again, was on wawasee sat with my -don't laugh- amish neighbor in his 18 ft deep vee starcraft. we were looking for anything to bite and i was thinking that the smallies would be deep,right?
 what and where would you look for smallies this time of year and what presentation would work best? p.s.s nobody was out there, on wawasee wow!!

[Duke]

This is definetly the time of year to beat the crowd at Wawasee or anywhere for that matter. I haven't been out on Wawasee since July, but I would suggest targeting green weedbeds if you can find any. Not sure if you'll find the smallies active there, but should at least find some largemouth. I was out on Koontz last night and found a real slow bite, but had few greenies on the outside edge of small weedbeds. If you can find the rock piles on Wawasee, I would really hammer home on those with tubes and jerkbaits. I would have thought with the weather Saturday, that would have been the best day the past 9 days to fish. Sorry I'm not much more help.

Duke

[djkimmel]

My favorite lure to find smallies that have moved a little deeper in ~50 F water is the blade bait. Can work really good on largemouths too, ripping out of deeper green weed clumps. You can cover some water fishing a little faster and still catch less than active bass.

That's what I've been told some of the Wawasee experts do to find the bass out there. I haven't fished Wawasee a lot, but it works for me well on similar lakes and I have caught a few that way in cold water on Wawasee too.

Weed clumps on the deeper flats and near dropoffs would be a good place to start. I don't have the rock piles GPS'd out there but if I ever go back, I'll beg Duke for them (maybe force myself to say something nice about the 'irish' to lull him ).

[rufus]

It sounds a little crazy, but one of the most effective ways to catch smallies on the 'see and many other lakes with clear water and large weedy flats is twitching a floating jerkbait. On wawasee I have done very well in the early spring and late fall on this tactic. I like to throw a rattliln' rogue. Just throw it up on the flats in 4-10 feet of water (let the fish tell you the depth) and give it two or three jerks and let it float to the top, then wait 3 or 4 seconds before doing it again. I like to throw sinking rebels and Pointer 100's also, but if the fish are just following them and not hitting them at all, this is how I always catch them. The area in front of the cemenary is very good for this and around Morrison island. If you are throwing a sinking or suspending jerkbait, a slow and steady cadence is best. I have done well with these techniques till the ice comes on. As Dan said, you can't beat a blade bait this time of year if you can't get anything else going. I like a 1/2 or 3/4 gold silver buddy on Wawasee. I like to sit on the shallow side of the break and throw out into deep water. If you can find them with the silver buddy you can have a day to remember. They are usually stacked and will hit these when absolutely nothing else will work. A few years back in 39 degree water on Wawasee I caught a 6' 7" and a 6' 1" less than 5 minutes apart. These fish were both caught in one of the "holes" on the flat just to the left as you come out of the Syracuse channel. Both were caught on a gold 3/4 ounce silver buddy in 16 feet of water. I caught over 30 that day out of just a short stretch. Most of them were around 2 pounds. I have many days with blades in very cold water with 30 or more fish so it is definitely something to learn that is not utilized by very many people. God Bless and Good Fishin'

[canvsbk]

DON'T GIVE IT UP, DUKE!!
 
The man nearly lives in East Lansing!

(and don't bite on that Irish ancestor story either.)
                         

[karol]

 thanks guys, would the ZIP lure work on wawasee? had to ask do you fish these- buddies- on heavier tackle? like a medium heavy 7-ft? and what 17 lb test mono?..karol

[djkimmel]

I fish my blade baits (homemade by a friend) on an All Star casting rod - 6' 6" - designed for wacky-rigging. Seems to have a pretty good action. Decent backbone and sensitivity with a little softer fast tip because you tend to lose and miss a lot of bass at first, and sometimes the hard hookset makes it worse. I normally like 7 foot rods, but I was afraid I'd set the hook too hard with a 7-footer.

I started out missing and losing way more than half the bites I got. In fact, I usually thought I had just snagged a leaf. Actually, I still think that a lot of the time, but I hook and land the majority of my bites now after several seasons of practice although I am far from a wiz at it. I have a friend that usually kicks my butt on them.

I like small, sharp hooks and tightening up on them without too hard a hookset. The bass are often hooked around the lips or just inside the mouth. They also sometimes pick the lure up off the bottom, or will 'pin' it against the bottom. Believe me, I've had them pick a blade up off the bottom after it just lay there for 8 or 10 seconds.

I used 14 pound test most of the time. I may play with heavier this fall and next spring, most likely to affect the drop rate and see how that works..

I'm definitely not an authority on Wawasee either. The few tournaments I have fished there in the spring have not led to enriching experiences...