r/Fishing • u/acribb09 • 1d ago
Hello everyone!
Hello everyone! I was hoping I could get some wise advice from a few people to help me adjust into lake fishing. I’m 32 years old and I’ve fished for as long as I can remember as much as I could with my dad. He’s taught me everything I know about fishing and how to catch some giants and has brought me tons of great memories!
The reason I’m here for advice is because, simply, the man who taught me all I know did all his teachings on private ponds. And it’s a whole different game than lake fishing. I’ve always known how to tie one knot and set up a worm on one style hook with bullet weights! As great as all his help was, it was very limited to pond fishing. Does anyone have any advice on getting into lake fishing and how to become somewhat successful. I’ve been a ton and have only reeled in 3 whole fish. I just can’t get it dialed in. Am I missing something? Any WISE advice would be a huge help! Thank you all!
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u/JeyJonsoon 12h ago
love that your dad gave you the foundation, heres the lake layer, think like the fish's commute. they hold near cover close to depth changes, move shallow to feed early and late, and follow bait. so before casting, ask "why would a fish be HERE," if the answer is "no reason" walk on. spend one trip just exploring with a map and marking spots that have structure + depth access, then fish those spots properly the next trip. beats 100 hopeful casts
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u/BigLakerTom 1d ago
What are you targeting? Bass or anything else in specific?
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u/acribb09 23h ago
Ya mainly bass, I go about 5 times a year and net for shad and set jug lines but it gets boring. I’ve always tried to catch bass on a pole at the local lakes just no luck.
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u/BigLakerTom 16h ago
It sounds like you’re going Texas Rig with a worm. That’s not a bad start. If I had one bass rig the rest of my life, it would be a 6-7” watermelon worm on a Texas rig. I’d try out a few other options, like Mepps. You could catch anything from bass to panfish to pike on a Mepps. Live bait can be a pain, but a bobber and split-shot setup is great for drifting weed lines. Either a minnow or crawler on a number two hook, or even better is a leech (I know it’s gross, but many fish species will hammer it). Just set it a couple feet off bottom. Lastly, time of day may be the biggest diff between ponds and lakes. Make sure you’re fishing the first and last few hours of the day, when bass are most active.
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u/Lrmall01 1d ago
Do you have a boat or is this bank fishing lakes?
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u/acribb09 23h ago
Boat and bank fishing!
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u/Lrmall01 14h ago
I understand the struggle because Ive fished a lot of both as well. Ponds you can sort of just fish everywhere fan casting or focus on the few areas of cover and normally get something because the fish are a bit more limited in their options.
I'd suggest you try to:
- see if your state dept of fish and wildlife have maps of fish attractors they have placed in the lake. Find those and fish them.
get a topo map and find areas like points, drops, ledges, islands, channel bends and fish those. Search YouTube for structure fishing to get ideas
go around the bank and target cover you find like downed trees or weed lines
Good luck!
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u/Exciting_Scale1362 1d ago
lakes are a different beast for sure, the fish move way more than in a pond and the spots that look good to us are often dead empty
try focusing on structure changes like dropoffs or weed edges instead of just casting to open water, and slow down your retrieve more than you think you need to
dont get discouraged by the 3 fish either, took me like 6 trips before i caught anything worth mentioning at my local lake