Day on the Lake

Everyone loves the "Day on the Lake" segment in the Bassmaster magazine and I think it's the most helpful information that you can get when trying to figure out how to catch fish on a new lake or any lake for that matter. I had the opportunity to explore a new lake this past week and thought it would be cool to do my own mini day on the lake journal. My lake was LeAnne which is a private lake in the Somerset area. It is man made and is about 350 acres. Here's how my day went.

I arrived at LeAnne at about 9am and noticed that the water temps were about 45 degrees and the water was fairly clear. Being so cold I decided to focus on the sunny (west) bank and seek out quick dropping breaks which are key this time of year. I found such and area and started working a rip-rap bank that dropped quickly into 12 fow. I started with a medium diving crankbait and then backed off a little with a suspending jerkbait. The weather had been cold and just started warming up so the fish may be a little sluggish to start.

9:30 After no bites I continued north and found a steep dropping bank next to the dam. I threw the jerkbait along with a white Zoom Super Fluke but had no takers. There is a narrow channel at the north east end of the lake that opens up into a large bay and I continued into the bay alternating between a Fluke and Jerkbait.

Fishing back into the bay I had hoped the water would be a little warmer and looked for signs of baitfish but found neither. These areas usually stay warmer longer and the bait migrate to them, as do the bass. This lake does not have a lot of vegetation and is fairly featureless so I figured I'd just cover water until I found something.

10:00 I worked out of the bay with a shallow running crankbait and finally had a bite from a small fish and then another. I missed both but noticed some shallow eel grass which held lots of baitfish and probably the bass. I needed to find some more of that.

10:30 Having no luck in the first major bay I decided to head out to the main lake and fish some points. These are great fall locations that allow fish to move up and down in the water column easily and this lake had several decent ones. I headed to the biggest point on the lake which had sun on it and also had a very quick drop. I threw a deeper diving crankbait in a crawfish pattern and hauled water but noticed that it transitioned into a small flat and then to another point. I fished the flat and on my second cast had a big fish bite. After a good fight I lipped my first bass of the day, 4 pounds even. But that was the only bite on the flat and adjacent point, so much for my point pattern.

11:00 The sun was out now and the water was warming slightly to 45.5 degrees so I decided to fish the main lake a little longer before hitting some more bays. There is a big island on LeAnne with a few small humps surrounding it and it looking intriguing. There was a little vegetation around the humps (something that I was finding quite rare on LeAnne) and lots of bait so I pulled out a Strike King Red Eye Shad and started slow rolling it. The baitfish looked like shad or very small bluegill and the rattle bait resembled it perfectly. But after 15 minutes all I caught was a small pike.

11:30 It was starting to get warm and I decided to spend the rest of my day in the bays and cuts. This lake has lots of these and the biggest was located in the south east section of the lake. I again started working my way in, throwing the suspending jerkbait off the breaks that contained gravel and looked perfect, to me anyway. I came to a big Y in the bay and headed to the smaller section that dead-ended. I didn't catch anything but saw lots of weeds and more fish, a good sign.

As I worked back toward the center of the Y, I noticed a small pad field that butted up to deep water. Perfect I thought and threw my jerkbait to the outer edge of the pads. Two jerks later I had a vicious strike and shortly was sliding the net under a fish that looked bigger than the first. 4.3 pounds officially, I was starting to like LeAnne.

The other section of the Y went back quite a way and as I proceeded I noticed more bait and weeds and started seeing a few big bass cruising. The water was calm which didn't help but as I came to the back end of the cut I saw tons of bait cruising and more and more skittish bass. I caught one just short of being a keeper on a Super Fluke but most of the fish could see me coming from a mile away and even with long casts, couldn't muster a bite.

12:00 I finally found what I was looking for, lots of bait jammed into a small backwater area and lots of bass. I actually saw several fish feeding along with lots of pike slashing through the bait schools. It was an awesome sight, especially in 46 degree water and I had a front row seat. Baitfish were jumping, pike and bass were eating and I couldn't get a bite for nothing. I threw the rattle bait, the Fluke and a small crankbait to no avail. I even tried a senko but nada. Time was getting short and I found the honey hole but had to be to work soon.

12:30 Reluctantly I left my bay and wanted to scout out a few other areas. One more try with a Super Fluke on the gravel banks leading into the cut resulted in a bite from a 2 pounder which I promptly broke off but the fish were starting to get active, just in time for me to leave. I idled into a few small bays and saw big fish set up way in the back of each, just like I figured I would but it was time to go.

12:45 I ended my day with six bites, caught three and two big ones equalling 8.3 pounds. Not bad for November 10th but I knew the bite would improve. If I were to come back tomorrow I would focus my efforts on the big Y-shaped bay and find a way to get those fish to bite. I was proud of myself for finding these fish on an unfamiliar lake but disappointed I couldn't figure out how to catch them. I'm sure a few other smaller bays would hold fish as well and this is a pattern I could run and hopefully catch a few more. Maybe a little cloud cover or wind would help but everything is a crap-shoot this time of year.

Fortunately for me, I will be able to return in a few days and I'll post on whether I was able to catch these fish or not. Finding them is half the battle and I'm looking forward to the test.