priest bass

[Headhunter]

are very catchable. flats and drops. found a nice school yesterday, had 7 over 15" and a couple in 4 to 5 lb range. Still hit anything so long it is on the bottom, these are in 13 to 14 feet of water. caught something over 20 total. IMO, you need an anchor. they are schooled up tight.

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by Headhunter

are very catchable. flats and drops. found a nice school yesterday, had 7 over 15" and a couple in 4 to 5 lb range. Still hit anything so long it is on the bottom, these are in 13 to 14 feet of water. caught something over 20 total. IMO, you need an anchor. they are schooled up tight.

What part of the lake? I went to Jefferson Springs yesterday and fished from my kayak from 5 until dark, didn't find a single bass. Fished water that in the Spring, when the water is low, holds a lot of bass and I know this for a fact because I used to go and fish a certain stretch from bank and caught several bass every single time in 3-4 feet of water tossing weightless flukes. Now the water is high and was muddy. Tried deeper water with deep diving crankbaits and plastic worms, nothing.

As a side note, there were wakeboarders making lots of racket and blasting through the no wake zone area I was fishing. I think that contributed to the fishing not being good. Or maybe I was just nowhere near the bass.

I'd love to take the kayak out again this weekend but I think I definitely need a different area of Priest to go.

[Headhunter]

jet skis, water skiers, and pleasure boaters help the deep water fishing, at least that is what I believe. I am finding them anywhere from 10-21 feet. Very catchable. wish I could go today, the deep water bite would be awesome today. Also, I spend a lot of time looking, either watching my depthfinder (I need a newer one bad) or by looking for fish by throwing a crankbait that will stay on the bottom. That is key, your lure has to be touching the bottom. I can get the largest fat free shad down to 20' and just past that depth on a cast. I use 8' casting rods, 16' magnathin and long cast. I also replace all my hooks with gamakatsu treble hooks. An anchor is probably the most important piece of equipment I have, my anchor weighs 50 lbs. A texas rigged worm is a great way to look for fish also. I spend a ton of time not catching anything but when I find a school it makes all that time of not catching anything worth it.

There are places near Jefferson springs that will hold schools of bass, I have caught them there also, not this year but in years past.

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by Headhunter

jet skis, water skiers, and pleasure boaters help the deep water fishing, at least that is what I believe. I am finding them anywhere from 10-21 feet. Very catchable. wish I could go today, the deep water bite would be awesome today. Also, I spend a lot of time looking, either watching my depthfinder (I need a newer one bad) or by looking for fish by throwing a crankbait that will stay on the bottom. That is key, your lure has to be touching the bottom. I can get the largest fat free shad down to 20' and just past that depth on a cast. I use 8' casting rods, 16' magnathin and long cast. I also replace all my hooks with gamakatsu treble hooks. An anchor is probably the most important piece of equipment I have, my anchor weighs 50 lbs. A texas rigged worm is a great way to look for fish also. I spend a ton of time not catching anything but when I find a school it makes all that time of not catching anything worth it.

There are places near Jefferson springs that will hold schools of bass, I have caught them there also, not this year but in years past.

I have a crankbait that is supposed to dive to 12' but maybe that wasn't deep enough. I don't have a depthfinder on the kayak (yet) so locating them is a challenge. Saturday is the 'free fishing day' so I originally planned to head to Bedford Lake of one of the Williamsport lakes but they will probably be swamped with people. May hit some area of Priest very early in the AM and fish until the sun is fully up. I'll get some deeper diving cranks and see if I find them. Also will try the plastic worm fishing in deeper water. Thanks for the info and nice work on the bass, sounds like you had a heck of a day.

[Headhunter]

Middle of the hottest day is the best time. Early and late is not IMO. I like to fish from 9 am or so til 5 pm. Last year on the 100+ degree days we were catching more than you keep count of at noon with the sun straight up.

I have been chasing fish in deeper water for longer than I care to admit (over 20 years) and I carry an idiot amount of crankbaits in many colors and cover many depths. I have found them schooled up as shallow as 6' on super hot days.

The guy that taught most of what I know about this type fishing back around 1988 or so fished only plastic worms. We were sitting at a boat dock one day, getting something to eat and a person walked by and said "y'all must hate plastic worms". I looked and we had 20+ rods in the boat, all of them but 2 had a plastic bait and rig of some sort and I still throw a bunch of plastics. Mostly texas rig, a little carolina rig. Sad thing about it, is as much as I enjoy catching these bass, almost my favorite way, when this pattern ends I cannot hardly catch a bass and it usually happens overnight. I believe I could carry dynamite and not even find anything. Depends on a lot of factors, but I have seen them go into this pattern a week before memorial day and I have seen where they did not show up (at least for me) until early august. Spending time on the water means more than being some kind of great fishermen. I could (and have) catch these fish from a canoe. So many do not realize it is not the boat that catches fish. I will put a pic of me and my dad with 2 limits we caught a few years ago (he wanted to keep them, I don't usually kill any bass, I have nothing against eating bass and love to, but a 15" bass is to big to eat IMO) and we caught them in a 12' jon boat with a 1962 18hp evinrude motor I had. It was a great day, 90+ degrees, we caught 30 plus bass, and my dad had a couple over 4 lbs.

[jad2t]

Well I've never been a deep-water bass fisherman, just never got into it but I think its about time I learned this method. I'm consistent at catching them in the shallower water against the shore but on really hot days, when they're deep, I will catch very few against the shore for the obvious reasons and they're usually not of much size.

I'll head to BPS and pick up some deeper diving cranks for the weekend, what about weighted flukes? Ever use those to get those deeper fish?

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by jad2t

I'll head to BPS and pick up some deeper diving cranks for the weekend, what about weighted flukes? Ever use those to get those deeper fish?

If you're fishing deep divers from a kayak better ask some of the more experienced yak guys about them before investing a bunch. They wear me out in a bass boat which is why I sold them all. The DD-22's will fight you all day at least on my gear.

I am sure some use them but it would seem to me given where you'd be sitting and leverage that there would be some not so enjoyable to fish as well.

[commdd]

headhunter, great tips...i like your positive thinking about the jet skis and the hottest of days, i infer you mean the more boat traffic and the hotter it is the more likely the bass are to be deep. i have a hard time with the not catching and searching for schools but am going to keep at it. regards.

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by Travis C.

If you're fishing deep divers from a kayak better ask some of the more experienced yak guys about them before investing a bunch. They wear me out in a bass boat which is why I sold them all. The DD-22's will fight you all day at least on my gear.

I am sure some use them but it would seem to me given where you'd be sitting and leverage that there would be some not so enjoyable to fish as well.

Yea that 12' diving crankbait pulls on the kayak and if it's a long cast, it will actually start to turn the direction of the kayak. That can get annoying which is why I was asking about weighted flukes to find those deep fish. I could get deep, stay deep, and not be tugging against the kayak... at least not until I hook a nice bass!

[MNfisher]

Originally Posted by jad2t

Yea that 12' diving crankbait pulls on the kayak and if it's a long cast, it will actually start to turn the direction of the kayak. That can get annoying which is why I was asking about weighted flukes to find those deep fish. I could get deep, stay deep, and not be tugging against the kayak... at least not until I hook a nice bass!

You could put out a couple rods in holders and troll those deep cranks to search for schools.

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by MNfisher

You could put out a couple rods in holders and troll those deep cranks to search for schools.

I'm not sure I can get up to speed to get the crankbait that deep and keep it there. I think weighted flukes might be a better method from a kayak

[Alphahawk]

I know MidTNKayakAngler uses cranks and can give you better info......but I can tell you from my experience it can be frustrating trying to present it properly. Chad Hoover has a couple of videos that talk about this.


Regards

[txnative]

Trolling cranks doesn't work...


Chris

PS: mike, quit giving away my secret techniques

[txnative]

Jad2t,

You can use a drift sock while casting a crankbait to give your yak more resistance. To troll, you can use snap-on weights, a Carolina rig set-up, or even a 3-way swivel and a 1 oz weight to help keep your crankbait down (you can use shallow-running cranks, which offer less resistance or may match bait size better).


Chris

[MNfisher]

Originally Posted by txnative

Trolling cranks doesn't work...


Chris

PS: mike, quit giving away my secret techniques

That's right! I forgot you invented trolling! Lol! JK!