Clear lakes are unclear!?!

[Domin8or]

I have been bass fishing clear lakes in central florida, and have had no luck. Many times the bass will come charging out from under the pads and stop right at my bait...I have been using a texas rig (with many different color worms), swim baits, and crank baits, it doesn't matter same result...no fish!?! Any suggestions on baits/colors? Thx D

[lunchbox]

Fish IN the pads. Flip the cover, as opposed to fishing around the cover. Drag that Texas Rig along the top of the pads and drop it in to holes. Works quite well up here, no reason to believe it should not work with more aggressive Florida strain bass.

Lunchbox

[Domin8or]

Thanks Lunchbox will give it a shot, what colors are you using?

[dahlberg]

I have no one single suggestion, but I'd go with faster or more erratic or topwater or deadstick, or huge change in size or...
I'd have to see it to really know. Obviously you are attracting them. Now you need to figger the trigger. Suggested reading is Doug Hannon's big bass magic.
best
L

[Questor]

I don't know what lakes you're fishing, but my suggestion is that you try live bait fish. Specifically large shiners, preferably caught from the lake you are fishing. I'd check with a bait shop and other fishermen to find out what the hot live baits are. These bait fish should be about 5 or 6 inches long. 8" would not be too long. Fish them hooked behind the dorsal fin, and suspended from a big float. Depth is key, as always. Fish it near the bottom. Move frequently if you're not catching anything.

Also divide your time with trolling. A big lipped Bomber style plug that dives deep is a good choice. Keep it just above the weeds on the bottom. About 3mph is a good speed.

As for pads, I have a litmus test that's been pretty reliable: If there aren't any bream or other small fish in the pads, there usually isn't a bass there either.

Lakes like this may be spring fed, so you may need to hunt around for temperature changes. Is clear water flowing into it from a river, or not? If not, it's probably fed by a spring.

The basic approach is hunting aggressively to find the fish and make one bite.

[Shawn Kellett]

Get one of Larry's new frog baits and fish that thing in the pads. After seeing his prototype I have to think a bass would be hard pressed not to eat that bait on the pause.

Otherwise pitch some Senko style baits in the pads and let them slowly fall. I wreck the pad bass in the early season in MN doing that. I like to use white as you can see when the fish eats it as the bites are often times extremely difficult to detect.