Bad fishing day report. You ever have one of those days where nothing goes right?
Went out around 10am to bank fish, never been to Independence Grove to fish, figured i'd try it out.
Do not fish this lake without a boat fyi.
I spent more time walking then I did casting. I wanted to see the whole lake first hand, so I went in knowing i'd be moving alot, but something about this lake just made me super impatient and I couldn't sit and cast in one spot.
The weeds are just lure and line grabbers. either I was catching weeds, or my line was getting snagged under lily pads and ruining my retrieves. I'd get fed up and try to find a "better spot"
Found two spots I liked, One south of the fishing dock casting north, and another by the drainage pipe on the north east end of the lake casting west. Both spots had nice weed clear areas going out perpendicular to the bank and some structure, kinda of like a boat ramp would be. Caught fish on the south one, saw fish on the north one, but they weren't biting. Fled the moment I arrived. Tried fishing there for a while after, no bites.
Forgot to bring my frog poppers too. Figured they would have helped fish over the weed cover. All plastics all day. Tried drop shotting to avoid retrieving through the weeds, but aforementioned lack of patience and kept getting absolutely hung up on everything regardless. Tried weedless jigs, got hung up. Tried slider weights to punch through, hung up. Tried fishing flukes to stay off the bottom, hung up.
Even Weightless Texas Rigs set up weedless would snag. My Senkos kept getting ruined and I had a new one fly off my hook on my last cast of the day.
I think I was just a little put a back from the size of the lake. Since I started fishing again, I've been fishing ponds and small lakes. There was just too many choices, too much area, and I had no idea where to fish.
I feel like the best spots were the raised underwater islands in the south west part of the lake, and I couldn't cast out far enough to get to them. I tried casting on the outer edge of the weed bank parallel to shore, but I'd get hung up on weeds I couldn't see. Next time I'm renting a boat for sure. It would be nice to try fishing that deep water in the north east end of the lake, and to be able to fish the weed cover from the middle casting out, rather than the edge casting in. Could have set up some nice long bank parallel casts along the outside edge of the weed cover, and near the drop into deeper waters.
Pretty much resigned to fishing holes in the weed cover, sight fishing fish I could see, and trying to find whatever clear water I could.
Ended up pulling in 3 bass, all 1-2 pounders, nothing special. The fish I saw (LMB) seemed to be groups of 3-4, with one "big" (1-3 pound) fish with a few smaller stragglers.
Lots of tiny bluegill everywhere, little minnows, some huge carp feeding and jumping (but not that many tbh). Saw plenty of voles/mice running around, might be a nice area to try a floating mouse/rat lure. Same goes for frogs.
Any tips for fishing this kinda stuff? I've fished Hydrilla, but this was some nasty combo of lilies, hydrilla, and something with a thick stem and bigger leaves. The area's I really wanted to fish, the little inlets, and connected mini ponds, completely overgrown with lilies. Also it was hard to find a spot from shore you could fish from without having to cut through 10 feet of erosion control plants.
I feel like my only choices were to fish topwater, which I didn't bring, rent a boat, which I didn't do, or muscle through with some bigger gear and heavy braided line, which I don't have.
All in all a disappointing day. On the upside didn't get skunked, and I got to spend the day outside but that really doesn't make me feel any better.
Went out around 10am to bank fish, never been to Independence Grove to fish, figured i'd try it out.
Do not fish this lake without a boat fyi.
I spent more time walking then I did casting. I wanted to see the whole lake first hand, so I went in knowing i'd be moving alot, but something about this lake just made me super impatient and I couldn't sit and cast in one spot.
The weeds are just lure and line grabbers. either I was catching weeds, or my line was getting snagged under lily pads and ruining my retrieves. I'd get fed up and try to find a "better spot"
Found two spots I liked, One south of the fishing dock casting north, and another by the drainage pipe on the north east end of the lake casting west. Both spots had nice weed clear areas going out perpendicular to the bank and some structure, kinda of like a boat ramp would be. Caught fish on the south one, saw fish on the north one, but they weren't biting. Fled the moment I arrived. Tried fishing there for a while after, no bites.
Forgot to bring my frog poppers too. Figured they would have helped fish over the weed cover. All plastics all day. Tried drop shotting to avoid retrieving through the weeds, but aforementioned lack of patience and kept getting absolutely hung up on everything regardless. Tried weedless jigs, got hung up. Tried slider weights to punch through, hung up. Tried fishing flukes to stay off the bottom, hung up.
Even Weightless Texas Rigs set up weedless would snag. My Senkos kept getting ruined and I had a new one fly off my hook on my last cast of the day.
I think I was just a little put a back from the size of the lake. Since I started fishing again, I've been fishing ponds and small lakes. There was just too many choices, too much area, and I had no idea where to fish.
I feel like the best spots were the raised underwater islands in the south west part of the lake, and I couldn't cast out far enough to get to them. I tried casting on the outer edge of the weed bank parallel to shore, but I'd get hung up on weeds I couldn't see. Next time I'm renting a boat for sure. It would be nice to try fishing that deep water in the north east end of the lake, and to be able to fish the weed cover from the middle casting out, rather than the edge casting in. Could have set up some nice long bank parallel casts along the outside edge of the weed cover, and near the drop into deeper waters.
Pretty much resigned to fishing holes in the weed cover, sight fishing fish I could see, and trying to find whatever clear water I could.
Ended up pulling in 3 bass, all 1-2 pounders, nothing special. The fish I saw (LMB) seemed to be groups of 3-4, with one "big" (1-3 pound) fish with a few smaller stragglers.
Lots of tiny bluegill everywhere, little minnows, some huge carp feeding and jumping (but not that many tbh). Saw plenty of voles/mice running around, might be a nice area to try a floating mouse/rat lure. Same goes for frogs.
Any tips for fishing this kinda stuff? I've fished Hydrilla, but this was some nasty combo of lilies, hydrilla, and something with a thick stem and bigger leaves. The area's I really wanted to fish, the little inlets, and connected mini ponds, completely overgrown with lilies. Also it was hard to find a spot from shore you could fish from without having to cut through 10 feet of erosion control plants.
I feel like my only choices were to fish topwater, which I didn't bring, rent a boat, which I didn't do, or muscle through with some bigger gear and heavy braided line, which I don't have.
All in all a disappointing day. On the upside didn't get skunked, and I got to spend the day outside but that really doesn't make me feel any better.