Summer Bass Patterns on Clear Highland Reservoir

[bperdue21]

Have been fishing twice a week for the last month or so and have been having some pretty mixed results. I have fished points, flats, rocky shorelines, standing timber, docks, laydowns, submerged brush, river channel, creek channel, rock piles, humps, weedbeds. I have tried all the standard stuff and the only pattern that held out for one day was on the laydowns. Come back for the tournament the next evening and lake traffic practically destroyed that pattern. I am out of my element fishing in the evening and into the night as I am usually the 5 am kind of guy. The lake level is dropping slowly and is probably 3 ft low at this point. Have been fishing drop shot and t-rig plastics during the day on points and ledges from 0-25 ft of water. Have been using black and blue jigs at night on rocky banks. 12.5 lbs has been winning these 8 fish tourneys the last few weeks and it seems that there are not many people even weighing in, so i think everyone must be struggling. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to try or what to do differently? Should I just go look for suspenders and try my luck? At this point any help is appreciated.

[cmclairday2]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said everyone must be struggling. Clear, highland resivoirs are what we have most of in this area, and summertime is tough. Not knowing what the average and maximum depths of this body of water are, I'm going to assume that 0-25' is what your comfort level is at. If there is deeper water, I would try graphing some of the water in the 20'-40' range, and finding some structure to fish vertically with the drop shot. If you are fishing night and evening tournaments, try putting on a black and blue jig once it gets dark and working those points and ledges you've been fishing. Those are feeding areas. The fish may not neccesarily move shallow to feed. They are probably suspending out off those areas during the day and feeding when it gets closer to dark.

[bperdue21]

Lake is up to 150 ft deep and averages 80 ft. Water temp was 76 as of last Friday, it has probably gone up a little bit this week. the 20-40 ft range is generally straight drop offs. i will try to come back out some, as i have been kind of pounding the bank at night with black and blue jigs, which have netted few results so far.

[cmclairday2]

I wouldnt be afraid to throw a shakey head at night either. A junebug finesse worm has netted me a lot of good fish in clear lakes at night.

[bperdue21]

I had thought about continuing to drop shot after dark but did not know if it would be effective or not. I have some midnight colored as well as junebug roboworms.

[cmclairday2]

Finesse tactics will work at night, especially in clear water. Just make the color adjustments and you'll catch fish.

[20_lb_sack]

If the lake is that deep it should have a pretty good thermocline, locate it. I'd start looking around 35 feet, you should see some bait fish hanging around that depth. Summer time around here fishing close to the depth of the thermocline is the key, whether the fish are suspended or on the bottom.

[bperdue21]

I turned the sensitivity all the way up on my X135 to try and find it but it does not show up. Is there another setting i need to turn up to get it to find the thermocline?

[cmclairday2]

That's probably where the majority of the baitfish will be, so if you see schools of fish at the 35-40' level, you are looking at the thermocline.

[bperdue21]

i thought the thermocline would show up as a line at that depth. my old (Cheap) bottomline unit would pick it up, i figure this lowrance should. i thought i might have to find the settings to change to get it to work.

[bperdue21]

Wood pattern was on. Caught 9 fish yesterday evening, but only 3 keepers. Had 2 11 3/4, a 11 1/2, and an 11. I may have won had those all been a little longer. Had what normally would have been the big fish at 4.51, but one dude had a TOAD at 6.63 which is one of the biggest fish I have ever seen come out of the lake. Another guy had a 4.88 also, so I was screwed either way. Last weeks big fish was 2.88, week before was 3.01, so I definitely thought I had a money fish when I caught it. There is always next week. Caught them on DS on deep wood, senko on shallow wood, and t-rig. Overall it was a pretty good day, just wish those 4 would have been just a bit longer.