I fish in a very clear mossy, sandy bottom lake. I caught approx. 60 bass in the 10-12" range in 3-4 hrs. & some smaller ones. The lake also has bluegill & some very large bullheads in it. Can you tell from the amount of this size fish that I released if this lake has been fished out or if possibly these fish will be keepers next year? Also, the owner stated that he stocked it with 200 channel cats last year, but we have yet to catch a channel in this lake. I also did not catch any bass larger than this 10-12" size. This not catching any channels concerns me as that is what I am primarily after.
it could be that you are not in the right spot, not using the right bait, or just not fishing it right. what kind of set-up are you using. what are you using for bait. what location are you fishing (flats, shallow, deep, drop offs, brush). i think a little more info would help us determine what could be going on. how big is the lake? if it is small it could be over stocked. there was a small lake that i used to fish (about 2 acres) and we constantly caught small bass and large gills. it was way overstocked and the bass were not getting any bigger because there was jsut to much competition. could be wahts going on in your case, but i would think that if there were cats there that you would at least catch a couple.
The lake is about 10-15 acres & I was using ordinary garden worms. I did try some catfich chicken liver paste in a tube worm with no results either. Usually I fish with nightcrawlers with my sinker on the bottom of the line & a 1/0 baitholder hook up the line about 18". I don't know how deep the lake is. It drops off sharply from the bank, but I can't tell if it's manmade or dug out by the coal mines.
i would look for some rock piles or brush piles and fish around those. you can also try using chicken livers or cut bluegill annd see if that works out better for you. if there is a feeder creek going into it, also try around the mouth of the feeder creek. good luck and i hope you catch some.
Try a slip float rig. The channel cats may be suspended well off of the bottom. also when using this rig, try a size 4 hook instead of a 1/0. This way you will be able to catch the bass and cats at the same time. If you are not getting any results at a certain depht, raise the stop knot a little more. Keep trying untill you have some good results. Good fishing to you.
I have a 1 acre lake and use floating fish food to check the size of the cats, just toss some out and wait. Stocking a new lake it's about a 100 cats per acre and older lake needs restocking by the number of fish being kept for the dinner plate, so somebody needs to be keeping at least a rough count on the fish being removed from the lake. 200 fish for 10 to 15 acres doesn't seem like enough fish for a new lake or a restocking, but I'm sure if you contact your conservation office they'll have a survey system to help find out your fish population.
you can tell a lot about the lake by looking at the fish. are they healthy as far as the chunkyness of the fish. are they bigheaded and skinny? if they look healthy as far big guts on them i wouldn't worry about it. if the bass and whatever else your catching is reall skinny then it needs as many of the smaller fish as you can taken out. the smaller the body of water the more fragile the ecosystem is. probably the worst thing one can do is keep the bigger fish. we have a 3 acre pond on our lease and it took us about 4 years where you could start catching healthy fish. we just started keeping everything we caught. they were all the same size. small and poor. all the big fish had been caught out. i'm not a biologist but this has been my expierances.
if there is a feeder creek in the ponds and small lakes what i do is get some creek chubs fresh not frozen cut them up while still alive in the spot im fishing i have most luck with the heads i will also take a 2-3 inch bluegill and just cut the tail off just enough to make it bleed alittle and hook it threw the back and cast it toward the middle of the lake/pond someplace.....but i also look for a deep hole nearest the feeder creek
If he stocked it with the cheapest "hatchlings" they may well have been eaten by the Bass.The very fact of it being clear shows a lack of proper management.A well maintained pond or lake is fertilized and you should not be able to see very far in it.Clear water has little for fresh hatched and small fish to feed on.Think FOOD CHAIN.I would think that the odds are that you are waisting your time there.I have owned a pond and fished many for over 50 years. I once lived near a place in the woods that had nothing but Bass in 2 small clear ponds or water holes about 3 miles apart.The largest bass was about 3 inches and they bedded and reproduced in both.These were "clay ponds first dug in the 1700s for the perfect chimney and chinking clay for southern log cabins and pole tobacco barns" I was told by the old folk.They also said that the "Trout" as they call them had "always been there".The fish were sent off to see if they were a different species of bass.The results were that they were just stunted.I never saw any other fish and figured that they lived on each other and bugs.You could kill one of them and the rest would attack it like a bunch of piranna,They would also try to eat everything thrown into the pond.The ponds had fallen trees,limbs,Willow trees with their root masses and a Brier thicket around them.Also a weed in the water along with green moss.All of this cover probably kept them from being exterminated by birds Otters and such. For those Who have crossed the Santee on I-95 you have ridden over one small forgotten pond or "Clay hole",now filled in and a very busy highway.Even in the 50's it was known to very few.It was no more important than the nest of our national and protected bird,whose nest and tree supporting it was was cut down with in the same mile for this highway.It was one of the few nest of a young Eagle pair in our nation at the time due to DDT.The other is now a paved parking lot.They went the way of the Official bucket of Pup Fish and the nations and worlds oldest living tree that was cut down to adorn the office wall of one of our forestry service executives.All of these things were done under the direct supervision of highly ranked and highly EDUCATED government employs. For you that have heard the term "Clay Hole" to describe a small hole in clay that usually fills with water,this is where the term originated. As the good Chimney and Chinking clay is a fine sealing clay,these old pits hold rainwater. I love you Brothers and Sisters.peewee
There are many things that could be causing this: wrong bait, wrong bait presentation, wrong location. Try some cut bait (bass or bluegill should work) and fish near where the pond feeds or drains so that you could have some moving water.
do you know what size the channels were when they got put in? if they were anywhere around 4-6" they might have been gobbled up by the bass. bass love to eat baby cats, bullheads too. we have caught some healthy bass while fishing with live bullheads for flats. i would try some chicken livers instead of the prepared baits. if the channels are there, they might be hesitant to hit prepared baits. chicken liver would knock down the bass count too. you would catch more mud cats, but their feeding activity will draw in the channels if they are still there.
