20 Sept 25, 2020 VOL.39 • ISS. 20
Bass In The Most
Obvious Places
By Jim Ware, Jackson Kayak
Spotlight On Kayak Fishing...
Sponsered by Kayak City
in Citrus Heights, CA
Kayak City.Com 916.565.1400
I drive by a lake almost every day. It is surrounded by suburbia and I never
see a boat on it. Always very popular with joggers because the trail around
it, bank fisherman and families out for a picnic serious fisherman seem to
overlook it.
This lake was created in the 1950’s as the focal point of this huge neighborhood
and to keep it family friendly the banks were cleaned of most of it’s trees
and absolutely no structure was placed to enhance fishing and what natural
wooden structure is long gone due to decay.
I’m sure there are lakes just like this in every suburban area of the country.
One thing that is sometimes forgotten is with a lake that old there is a real
possibility of a lunker just waiting to be caught.
For the past eight years I have been hooked on kayak fishing and I’ve loved
the level of adventure that can be attained by floating new water. I am always
looking for that special place that may hold huge trout, rare species and extra
large bass.
This local lake never once crossed my mind until the other day. I had some
plans get
cancelled that
gave me a few
spare hours
to fish. So,
I loaded my
Jackson Big
Rig and drove
the two miles
over to this
local lake. To
be honest, this
was the first
time in my 45
years that I
have cast a lure
into it. Since
there isn’t any
boat ramps
I picked a
level spot
to drag my
boat, parked,
attached my
depth finder and hit the water.
As I mentioned earlier this lake is barren of any visual structure so I headed to
the only spot that looked fishy, a section of bank on the dam where some rocks
and a few trees were.
I started out throwing a football jig with a crawfish trailer and after a half
hour finally landed a small half pound fish. As I was paddling around the dam
area I noticed some shad flipping further towards the middle of the lake, I had
no idea there were shad in it but I immediately knew that with shad came the
possibility of some large bass.
I paddled the one hundred yards or so to this area while looking at my sonar
the whole time. The bottom was absent of anything until I reached the seven
foot mark, then it appeared…grass!
At six feet deep the grass rose off the bottom two feet so I tied on a red
crawfish Rapala DT4 and on the third cast I caught an almost 20” largemouth
that would push five pounds.
There I sat, in the middle of a fifty acre lake, surrounded by suburbia with
only one fishy looking spot above water with an above average lunker.
I believe lakes like this are laying dormant to kayak fisherman nationwide.
They probably don’t have epic mountain views, pristine water and some of the
more exotic freshwater species like smallmouth, trout or walleye. What they do
have is largemouth bass and some real bruisers at that.
The way to catch these fish is relatively more simple than you would expect.
They aren’t going anywhere so with a kayak and a depth finder you can find
structure. You will be looking for grass as I mentioned in spring, fall and early
summer or deep water in winter or dead of summer.
I like to work the bottoms with a jig and craw or a crankbait that will work the
mid range or deeper in the water column. The hardest part will be deciding to
fish this type of lake over some of the more scenic areas close to your home…
that was the case for me.
Since fishing that lake I have no doubt that there is a real trophy over ten
pounds lurking in that grass and I am committed to fish it more all while studying
the bottom for any more hidden structure.
So, grab your kayak along with your fishing tackle head on over to that lake
that you’ve looked at but never gave a serious thought to fish it and go give it
a shot. There is a good chance a fish of a lifetime is waiting to be caught-www.
jacksonkayak.com.