Need Advice: Bass fishing on Cloudy Day

[Bergen Angler]

Thanks Almighty. I was using 1 oz buzz bait to catch the big one - just caught a few little quite Ambitious yellow perch. I tried different colors, different size, etc. I figured that rain would add oxygen level and the bass would be more active - water temp has gone down to around 75 degrees also. I tried slow fast slow etc. As always, I just blame myself for not catching bass - Mea Culpa. Water level definitely rose at least 5-6 inches over the last few days. I was also chasing after bait fish - they were very active last few days. And tried to fish over the "pond scum"/plankton.

[ChaosStarter]

Immediately before a warm/cold front rolls through is always best. A cold front, no matter how hot or cold outside, can throw things off, especially if it causes a significant drop in water temp.

[kcritch]

I agree with both post below....before a change or on the incoming I've had good success. During the change and just after it gets tougher. The deeper water suggestion definitley works if you can get to it. If not, say if you are fishing from shore, I have also had success targeting as far up into a feeder creek as I can get the day or two after a rain storm. If the water is not too muddied up that new water can pull some fish up into it. Moving water, more oxygen, and I think a good supply of new food getting washed into the flow. Larger "run off" feeds can also have the same result in the smaller ponds. Especially if there is a little depression or "mini channel" that is formed by them. Again these are usually easy to reach from shore.

Good luck.

[ChaosStarter]

Originally Posted by kcritch

I agree with both post below....before a change or on the incoming I've had good success. During the change and just after it gets tougher. The deeper water suggestion definitley works if you can get to it. If not, say if you are fishing from shore, I have also had success targeting as far up into a feeder creek as I can get the day or two after a rain storm. If the water is not too muddied up that new water can pull some fish up into it. Moving water, more oxygen, and I think a good supply of new food getting washed into the flow. Larger "run off" feeds can also have the same result in the smaller ponds. Especially if there is a little depression or "mini channel" that is formed by them. Again these are usually easy to reach from shore.

Good luck.

Definately agree with that.

[jimmythegreek]

agree w above as well. Alot depends on if you are fishing via boat or from shore. U can almost always target fish via boat using ur sonar and literally drop to them via a dropshot or plastics to their level in the water column. Usually on really tough days live bait will be best, seems nightcrawlers/shiners/herring will always break the skunk especially if you kno the fish are there and they just wont feed

[Bergen Angler]

Thank you for all your great advice. I fish at the Oradell Reservoir and they don't allow boat so I can only fish from the shore. They used to have a lot of weeds but they sprayed the pesticide and got rid of all the weeds and hardly any "structure" at all. Hardly any wind today and water wasn't really moving and muddy. Spinner bait caught me a few yellow perch but no bass. Donde Esta BASS????? I tried chatter bait, top water chugging bait, spinner bait with black feather, soft plastic live kickin' shad, etc. I guess I have a long way to go to entice the bucket mouth. I challenge myself by not using live worms.

[Ol Pedro]

This is all good advice . Overcast is good when the Barometric Pressure doesn't move too much . Fish stay out more because the sun isn't driving them to cover/deeper water . I have caught more large Bass on overcast day's than sunny . After a low front moves through I slow down my presentation and concentrate on deeper structure/channel edges looking for reaction strikes . I prefer plastic worms/jigs . You have to keep it in their faces until they can't stand it . I also like Carolina rigs pulled across deeper points . I like Flipping deeper weed edges/brush piles/cattail reeds right after the front on bigger lakes as the Bass just hunker down .

[Jigman13]

Did you try a wacky rigged senko? If all of those weeds are no mas, it seems like a wacky rigged senko would make for an ideal lure option.