9/19/12 Lake conditions/ Fishing report

     Since my last report the fishing, "catching" has gotten a lot tougher.  This is somewhat of a normal condition for this time of the year.  We have a lot of silver side minnows for the fish to feed on combined with the fact that the lake is literally loaded with small bass in the three to five inch range.   The bigger fish have plenty to feed on and it makes the bite a lot tougher.   The small bass are literally everywhere and using baits such as a drop shot  or senko will be very frustrating trying to keep them off of the hook.   The tournament teams and pro's will be using some techniques and bigger baits to target the bigger fish and get the bigger weights.  One of the more popular  techniques is to us a 1/2 ounce Lucky Craft LV 500 lipless crankbait and to yo yo, or pump it up off of the bottom and let if flutter back down.   Other techniques such as using a top water frog, spook, or buzz bait in the shallows and around the weed mats will also draw a bigger strike.  Baits and techniques such as using a jig in the deeper water breaks and ledges and around the rock piles, swim baits fished deep and also around and through the weeds will also put bigger fish in the boat.  All of these techniques require a ""stick to it"" type of attitude and require patience and fortitude and you must cover a lot of water.   The casual fisherman can catch fish using the normal drop shot and senko but you wiil have to deal with lot's of bites and hook ups with this years baby bass.   My trips these past few weeks have been with mostly novice fisherman and we have been forced to use the drop shot and senko for most of our bass.   Most of these bass have been in the 13 to 15 inch range, we did catch a 6 1/2 lber on a drop shot wacky rigged worm in 25 feet of water.  I am using 12lb test Seaguar line tied to 20 lb braid by power pro for my drop shot rigs.    
      October will be a very busy month on the lake with several major tournament circuits having their year end champion ships.  These pro's and teams will be targeting the bigger fish with some of the above techniques and will expect to have between 45 and 50 plus pounds for ten fish for the two days to win a tournament.   The lake is very low and we are over a foot lower than this same time last year.  Be careful and swing wide around the points and motor out a ways before getting the boat up on plane.  That's it for now, feel free to email me a fishing report and how you did and also for any information you may  need.  "God Bless"