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8/25 Frustrating day bank fishing.

4K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  mkg076 
#1 ·
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.
 
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#4 ·
That is an intriguing lake.

Have taken my kids to that beach a couple of times, and rented a boat for all of maybe a half an hour.

Would love to be able to put a serious rig with quality electronics on that lake. I know you can't, but wow...guessing the night bite would be great.
 
#6 ·
Rich D said:
Would love to be able to put a serious rig with quality electronics on that lake. I know you can't, but wow...guessing the night bite would be great.
No personal watercraft, but I think you can bring a fish finder? I'm wondering if they'll let me bring my own trolling motor so I don't have to worry about them scalping me with extra fee's... I dunno, they probably don't want you bringing in some outside seeds or something on your propeller. Same might go for a fish finder.

I don't know if they do a night fishing event or something, I just messaged them, but I don't expect them to say yes.

matt_ski said:
As for the rats, I love spro bbz-1 rat in the smallest size. Catches both smallies and largies and I love the action of that thing.
I'm looking at this rat and I can't help but wonder what the action is like? Does it fish like a squarebill crank? or segmented floating Rapala floating jerkbait? Floats at the top and the bill pulls it under?

I don't think that would work for this application, those treble hooks would catch all the weeds. I'm talking more about a hollow body rat with the two upturned hooks. Jump it over the lilies
 
#9 ·
Ya that rat would not work for lillies and weeds and I am not sure if there is any rat on the market without trebles. As for the action, kind of like crank, kind of like walk the dog, barely below surface. It is best to just look up the video on youtube.
LiveTarget Field Mouse is a weedless hollow-bodied frog type lure that mimics mice/rats. I've had really good success with them this year.

I actually think you can, or at least used to be able to bring in your own motor and fish finder to Independence Grove. I remember a few years back I was there and saw someone with their own motor at the rental dock. I would call first before trying it out though. Also, it is a pretty long hull from the parking lot with a heavy motor and batter, I would be sure to use a cart or wagon of some sort.
 
#10 ·
IG has extremely clear water and is under heavy fishing pressure. Fluorocarbon and light tackle is mandatory here if you're not using live bait. Largemouth are always accessible within 15ft from shore. Plastics are always productive here but plan on walking a lot. Dpr is right there too...there
 
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