Tough lakes
I fish lake James in NC, there are some giants in this lake, especially smallmouth. It is fairly clear and highly pressured. I fished at a lake about 40 minutes away and caught 18 fish, most of them were small, around 1.5 to 2 pounds, but it is still fish. The next day I came to lake James and caught nothing. I know fishing can be very different from day to day and especially when fishing different lakes. I tried everything I could think of, I just don’t understand. What are some things to try on days like this. I tried Drop shot, Ned rig, Tokyo rig, buzz baits, frogs, poppers, spooks, and about everything I had in the boat. Thanks so much!
I caught my first smallmouth and walleye at Lake James. I've only fished there a handful of times, but do remember it being rather clear. When I fished shallow water, I stayed way back and made very long casts. I had success fishing the deep rock bluffs crawling a shakey head worm. I noted that, this time of year, the crawfish have orange on them and none of the ones spit up in my livewell were very big. Consequently, I caught some big smallmouth on 3" pumpkin crawfish baits with the tips dyed orange, rigged like a shakey head. I caught a few fish in shallow water and around docks, but I was surprised how deep I caught the better largemouth. I believe I fished there last in June, and caught only small fish on moving baits (jerkbaits and spinnerbaits), but caught the bigger fish on smaller plastics. I never caught a keeper bass, that I remember, after the sun came up that wasn't either: in the shade, deep, or both.
