Humps on the main lake?

[Triton4Bass]

Lately when I have been out, there has been tons of boats stacked on humps. I haven't really seen too many of them catching fish, but I assumed when they pulled one in, it would be a good one. I have a chart about water temps and different places to fish when the water temps are at a certain degree. But have never been very successful at fishing open water that is fairly deep. Whats the average size fish when fishing these deeper humps and whats the most common baits. What kind of presentation, etc? What makes a certain hump so productive and addictive to sit on for a few hours?

 

[Buoy-Master]

Yea...what he said. </p>

How important are the depth finders in those areas. I mean, are we looking for bait fish?</p>

 

[beetlespin]

The depthfinders are extremely important. There are fish of all sizes on the humps. I think we use the word hump to much here. Off shore structure can be a ledge, creek channel intersection, ditch, or just a feature that holds fish like a stump field, brush pile, rocks, etc. You can catch lots of fish but its still hard to catch good ones. You can catch numbers on a carolina rig but it seems damned near impossible to catch good fish on it. You can catch bigger fish in big spinnerbaits, swimbaits, deep cranks, etc but you have to be patient. I am going to swear off the c rig and make some heavier jigs to try. I'm still looking for a spinnerbait I can get confident in but I haven't found it since bumper stumper went out of business. The fish on friday were hugging the bottom in 35-45 feet of water but under cloudy slies yesterday they were harder to find plus every good spot had three or four boats on it. There is no courtesy on the lake anymore.

Lance

 

[SPOON]

As for Guntersville, fish the deep side of the humps using deep diving crank baits (dd22s etc.) and carolina rigs while there is lots of current.
and keep in mind that there are certian times of the year that fish will relate to grass but WILL NOT BE IN THE GRASS and this is one of those times .
The easiest way to tell you how to fish a hump is to pull up to a hump as you would fish it in April and cast behind you. Look for bait on the depth finder and chunk and wind.

 

[churly]

Once you begin fishing humps you will see that different humps have different personalities. I guess I mean that one hump may have them stacked on top and others may have them off the sides. BS said he found fish hugging the bottom in super deep water. The same day I found fish on the top of a ledge in 6-7ft, there may have been fish behind me in deeper water. Fishing deep structures can be just as complex as anything else but it seems to be a very effective way to go after the fish on a lake as pressured as the Chick is. You need to learn and feel confident with the electronics you use in order to fish these places effectively. Baits include, c-rigs ( which dont work well if the fish are suspended), crankbaits, big spinnerbaits, swimbaits, and heavy jigs.

P.S. you didn't see any of those guys catching fish on those humps because they didn't want you to.

 

[Buoy-Master]

But seeing those guys there and sticking to them are reason enough to take note of that spot. </p>

I plan on getting out a few hours each night and tossing out buoy markers so I can stay right on top of the breaks or humps. Hopefully, I''ll find some fish!</p>

 

[jason]

churly - 6/4/2007 7:45 AM   P.S. you didn't see any of those guys catching fish on those humps because they didn't want you to.

</p>

You got that right! The offshore structure gang is definitely a hush-hush crowd. From post-spawn to Fall, you'll only find them fishing the big water. Why? Because it pays to. The weekly dog-fights and Saturday Txs are usually won by someone fishing in what appears to be the middle of nowhere and who appears to be hauling water. Fishing with 2jigs has really opened my eyes as to what is out there. If you put your time in on the water, you can have a very successful day out on the humps and ledges while those beating the bank are struggling.</p>

 

[Daniel Tn]

I would really like to get with someone who is more experienced in the areas of the off shore lake features. I'm one of those who can find the humps and catch fish via numbers of small fish and very rarely do I ever get a decent fish on them. I've mostly just fished C-Rigs though...see I learned something in this thread about the C-Rigs and consistency for smaller fish that I didn't know.

Some of my bigger hump fish have actually came off fishing crankbaits. I'd throw them up shallow and run them down to dig into the bottom and would either catch fish while it was digging bottom or right when it went off the edge of the hump. But it has always been hit or miss with the cranks for me. I have never thrown a spinnerbait at much of anything...let alone on a hump. I have some special ones made up for that to try though...got some 1 oz spinnerbaits with a big willow leaf blade just for that deep stuff.

 

[FishinMagician]

Fishing pressure is a very big part of the size of fish caught off of these humps. Quality fish and tournament winning stringers are alot easier to catch untill a hump with a school of fish becomes public knowledge. When you see several boats fishing the same hump it is usually time to find another school of fish.

 

[2jigs]

I'd also like to add, if you go out & find a school of fish on a hump & start catching them & go in. You've wasted your day. I've seen some of ( what I consider the better anglers ) just ride around for hours marking fish & taking notes.

 

[foodsaver]

oh yall better listen I think this 2jigs character might be one of those hush hush main lake structure folks emoPoke

 

[Jmax]

All good stuff there gang. The hush/hush gang has good reason to be hush/hush if you just listen to what is being said here. I see both sides of this coin. Find you a good place that is out of the main flow of anglers and win a couple. Next thing you know you are spotted and your place is hit by others and that place becomes public knowledge after a while. Once public, it looses the ability to consistently produce due to pressure of too many anglers. Sink trees and bush tops and if someone sees you then I will almost guarantee they will fish it for you. Then the flip side of that is it is a public lake so all water, holes, humps, ex... are up for who finds them no matter who already knows about it. Folks that say someone stole their hole is not being realalistic. In order to steal something one must own it to start with. No one owns a location in the lake so it is an "Angler beware" program. Those that know don't want to say because of fear of overfishing and those that do not know want to know in order to catch more fish.emoRolleyes I connot blame someone for not wanting to tell where they fish...I would do the same if in their shoes. However I have always said to tell someone the depth, the bait, the type of place..(ex,hump, ledge, flat) I see no harm in that. To me that is where someone has taken this sport to the extreme and are only in it for the money. Any piece of info a person is willing to give up is great by me no matter how small it may be.emoWorthy These guys that we seem to knock a bunch about being hush hush, my hat is off to them for finding those fish in the first place. So if any of you Hush/Hush guys want to give up any gps locations just P.M. me.emoBigsmile Jmax

 

[foodsaver]

Jmax - 6/5/2007 5:06 AM

All good stuff there gang. The hush/hush gang has good reason to be hush/hush if you just listen to what is being said here. I see both sides of this coin. Find you a good place that is out of the main flow of anglers and win a couple. Next thing you know you are spotted and your place is hit by others and that place becomes public knowledge after a while. Once public, it looses the ability to consistently produce due to pressure of too many anglers. Sink trees and bush tops and if someone sees you then I will almost guarantee they will fish it for you. Then the flip side of that is it is a public lake so all water, holes, humps, ex... are up for who finds them no matter who already knows about it. Folks that say someone stole their hole is not being realalistic. In order to steal something one must own it to start with. No one owns a location in the lake so it is an "Angler beware" program. Those that know don't want to say because of fear of overfishing and those that do not know want to know in order to catch more fish.emoRolleyes I connot blame someone for not wanting to tell where they fish...I would do the same if in their shoes. However I have always said to tell someone the depth, the bait, the type of place..(ex,hump, ledge, flat) I see no harm in that. To me that is where someone has taken this sport to the extreme and are only in it for the money. Any piece of info a person is willing to give up is great by me no matter how small it may be.emoWorthy These guys that we seem to knock a bunch about being hush hush, my hat is off to them for finding those fish in the first place. So if any of you Hush/Hush guys want to give up any gps locations just P.M. me.emoBigsmile Jmax

I was just giving 2jigs a hard time he seems willing to take anybody fishing and you can't be too hush hush and do that.

 

[Jmax]

foodsaver - 6/5/2007 8:11 AM

I was just giving 2jigs a hard time he seems willing to take anybody fishing and you can't be too hush hush and do that.

FS, I was not directing that towards you or anyone in particular just to clarify. I meant that as a general observation from someone who has only lived here about three years and has been on the water as much as me and saw this happening.emoAngel Jmax

 

[beetlespin]

Finding good fish this time of year is a tough deal. I fished three days last week before I found a single place I thought we could catch some fish. Then on saturday we pretty much had to share the hole with several others. Its not really enjoyable to me to have three or four boats within 50 yards of each other trying to catch the same few fish. A few years ago there were not too many people fishing deep structure. Now it seems like everybody does.

 

[FishinMagician]

There was just as many people fishing offshore structure then. Its just back then everyone had more ethics about it. Today everyone thinks it is alright to just pullup and start fishing right beside you. In the shriners tournament I was beaten to my first stop but instead of stopping I just went somewhere else. An hour later when I came back to check this place the same boat was still there plus four more. It was almost comical you could just about walk from boat to boat.

 

[DHaun]

What's the minimum distance that anglers should observe when they pull in to fish near another boat?

 

[Triton4Bass]

100 yards seems fair enough to me Dhaun, thanks for the comments guys, and my hat is off to the hush-hush guys as well. After all, they are the ones whipping butt right now. Maybe some of this info will help me out b/c I do plan on trying to fish more open water. Thanks guys! emoFish

 

[dec1]

With everybody fishing this deep water stuff, it sounds like people are overlooking the shallow bite. If it were me, thats what I would do. Leave that open water stuff to the hush hush boys. Heck I heard they are tearing them up on Nickajack in the grass 6-10ft. Much easier to catch them that way.

 

[beetlespin]

Its a little different when you have grass. You can fish that 6-10 ft deep stuff if you want it. I would much prefer to fish it but they just aren't there. 100 yards isn't enough either. If someone is there you should take your ass somewhere else but nobody does that. There are those in the cba that rely on others to find there fish for them. I have zero respect for those types.