robdar

Fished Lake Freeman, Indiana Saturday (6/4) and a tournament on Sunday (6/5). The wife caught one short Bass and that was it, for both days. I know post spawn can be difficult, but we have not had this rough of a time in a long time.
Conditions:
Lake freeman is a dammed up river and does have some current. It fishes like somewhere half way between a lake and a river. Main river/lake has, for the most part, shallow shore 1-3 feet for approx 15 feet out with a moderately steep drop/shelf down to an averge depth of 15-20 feet and is choppy most of the time due to a quantity of pleasure boaters. There are a limitless choice of bays, small to large, and some really nice waterways and channels, all with good structure-both natural and docks etc.
First warm, 80+ degree, days, strong storm front to the north on saturday had no effect on weather on lake freeman, sunday a secondary front brought moderate winds and some clouds mid afternoon, water was stained both days and 70-73 degrees, locals said the bass moved off the beds two-three weeks ago...
How would you have fished these conditions?

HighDesertWolf

I would have use a 1/2 oz rattle trap along some rip raps or jigs around docks

Chuck7

There was a similiar situation here in Florida last year. My friends father done excellent fishing in a tournament in Lake Toho.He let the wind drift him as he jigged up and down slowly off the bottom with a 'Little George." When the fishing is off you have to fineses them.I presume you have a depth finder. In new water I look for slopes/ rock bars and points. use small baits. My friend and I had a day like that once.NOTHING WORKED. I pulled out my last card. Good ole 'Little George' First cast a 4 pounder .I ended up catching another one about 2lbs. I lost my lure on the next cast which was good.I didn't have a depth finder and the snagged lure revealed structure. Ended up being a great bass hole.
Chuck

Deerslayer_37

fish fast, go for the reaction bite. Throw spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps to cover lots of water and get the reaction bite from the fish. maybe have one rod rigged witha buzzbait and make sure you have a rod with a tube or senko as a throwback lure. The fish should have been in 5-10 feet of water, look for types of structure. Points of weedbeds, stumpfields, rock points with a little depth nearby. I'd have just fished fast and tried to get a bite. once you get a bite, slow down and fish that area top to bottom. Basically just junk fish.

Chuck7

Reel Good Question

This is the kind of stuff that separates the pros from the amateurs.
I probably would do what Desert Wolf said.Use small lures ,look for a reaction bite and fish the daylights out of that spot.
Chuck

James B

Sounds like quite a bit of good advise. I might add that sometimes in stained water or dark sky conditions, a baiy with a lot of color difference top to bottom will out perform othere colors. (Very dark back and very light botttom color.) Last week when we were fishing for White Bass and Walleyes, every time the sun would go under the clouds the bite would slow way down. However if I switched to the Long Cast Minnow which had a black back and white bottom, It would pick up again. Just something else to try.

robdar

I suppose we should have done more with the fast reaction strike. We spent a good amount of time fishing plastics, real slow, in tight around structure in the channels (followed locals into the waterways hoping they knew something we didn't) as well as spent some time fishing fast lures along deep drops and ledges...I guess we should have spent more time doing both in both places.

Chuck7

Always hard to know what to do. Worming is also good like you did but takes alot of time. Shoot...if they had cat-tails around 5 ' of water I would have flipped all day. Another thing my reaction lure would have been a 3/8 ounce Rooster -tail fished just fast enough to turn the blade and just off the bottom.

Chuck
PS The picture in my signature was caught just like that. 3 pounder

redsox3624

i would have used a rooster-tail and if that didn't work a small tube 3 inches or less( the opinion of a 15 year old newbie)

JoshKeller

Should have at least been able to pick of a few buck bass gaurding the fry shallow. After u get a few bucks, go to the main lake points and fish the daylights out of them. Fish tend to move on and off points every hour or so.