scooba gear

[noobie]

OK, So some buddies and I found an old abandoned corrie to fish at.
the first time we went there we saw some large bass pass by.
the water is crystal clear, rock bottom, and after about five feet of the shore line it drops sraight down into abyss. during the we couldnt get the fish to hit anything, cranks, topwater frogs, inline spinners, rattle trap, yums..ect (we did catch two small bass off a four inch yum) we decided the water was to clear and came back at night. The night proved to be a little more productive, however, the that were pulled were, at the most, 2.5 lbs. Now we have seen some giant bass swimming by. so we tried live bait later on in the week. the results were about the same. we used large shinners, catching more pan fish than bass. I tried using one of the pan fish as bait but I think it might have been to big.

The problem is that there are huge bass in this water and i have no idea how to make them bite. The water is so deep that I cant figure out where they are, and during the day when i can see them, they are not interested in what I got. I'm running out of ideas to catch these elusive big bass and am ready to rent some scooba gear and a harpoon gun to get-em.

[Dan]

I can almost assure you if they are big bass that the panfish you were using for bass are not too big. Don't have much quarry experience to offer up. Persistence will pay off in the end.

[djkimmel]

Quarry bass are challenging but can be caught. Since every fish can see every other fish, you have to stalk them and best is to find out when they turn on and feed. It may be a small window during the day.

If you spend enough time there, you will see a change in the bluegill behavior. They'll get 'nervous' all of a sudden. Probably means a bass nearby has decided it is time to eat something.

Try stealth. Try lure and baits they might not be used to. Don't worry about baits being too large. Big bass can eat big prey. You might also want to try ultralight though you may lose some fish. Try dead-sticking a lure in the same spot a looooooonnnnngggg time. Be patient.

It is normal for the bluegills to be overly aggressive because they don't have a lot to eat all the time while the bass have way more than enough bluegills to eat anytime they feel like it.

I once had a challenging tile pit like that as a teenager. I was trying pre-rigged purple plastic worms. I was not, and never have been, real patient. I snagged to worm on something in a patch of moss just out of reach. Though I'm not patient, I am stubborn, so I was standing there in plain sight in the middle of the day shaking the heck out of that worm trying to get it loose. I also didn't have a lot of money since I was a teenager and didn't want to lose my lure.

I think I shook that worm on that snag for 5 minutes, getting more and more frustrated. I happened to glance up and one of the really big bass in the pit was nose down on my worm looking very aggressive.

Middle of the day. Shallow water. Bright and sunny. Crystal clear water full of bait fish. But I had got this bass' attention by leaving something out of the norm in its territory for a long time while it acted like something in trouble... an easy target. As soon as I noticed the bass, I stopped shaking that worm. The bass hesitated a moment longer, and then went back into his normal aimless swimming.

I was a teenager. I was like, 'aw c'mon!! So close, but nothing!' Still, I learned a valuable lesson about bass that day.

[noobie]

Hey, Thanks for the encouragement. Maybe just a little patientence and some persaverance is all I need. I promise that I wont give up on this place till I figure it out. any other tips you guyz can think of will be much appreciated. I will keep you guyz posted. However, if a year goes by and no big bass eats my hook, Im breaking out a harpoon gun, if I cant catch em no one will...lol

[djkimmel]

Too easy... Try sneaking up early or late in the day too and fish real real real fast with something like a topwater or burning a natural spinnerbait.