Question about a small lake in Upstate SC

[pantera61]

Largemouth Bass; an In-Fisherman handbook of Strategies

I'm looking at impoundment types and wondering what type would Lake John V. Robinson in Greer/Taylors, SC would be considered. 
hill-land or flat-land would be my guess.
Any other ideas?
Thanks

[bigjim5589]

There's definitely a lot of hills up in that area. I'm not familiar with that lake, but have been through there a bunch of times.

What exactly are you trying to figure out?

[coldfront]

near as I can tell, it does not look like a highland reservoir.  more like an impounded river/reservoir with a lot of mid-level flats and of course a main channel with some swings.

and guessing it's slighltly stained/turbid?  what can you tell us about grass beds (milfoil, coontain, etc)?

[pantera61]

There's definitely a lot of hills up in that area. I'm not familiar with that lake, but have been through there a bunch of times.

What exactly are you trying to figure out?

What am I trying to figure out?  Let me share my "tale of woe"!   
I'm going into my 5th year as an angler on the impoundment but it's taking me a bit of time to learn it for a couple of reasons, the first being 95%+ of my 40+ years was spent on small, Central NJ ponds.  Most of my old fishing was done from 3' and up.  Now, I'm actually using my depth finder, which I'm force to learn to use.  I went from a Humminbird Piranha to a HELIX 5.  So that's technology.
Went from visible structure to submerged structure.
All kinds of forage to shad.
Close range casting and tackle to distance casting and tackle, because of water clarity.
Further distances between fishing spots.
That's just a few of the hurdles a learning to overcome.  I've done my initial recon, now I get into Phase II.

Water clarity runs the gamut from slightly turbid where the river enters to pretty clear near the dam.  Past summer was first time at the source, so little knowledge in my short time there.  The only grass I've encountered is on the depth finder and it's pretty deep, between 15'-25' ball park, some stringy, some cabbagy.  I was going to drop a rake down on an anchor line to bring some up to identify.

I have found quite a few huge balls of shad and hooked into one largemouth with a drop shot which was a few firsts for me:
1.  First bass hooked located from electronics.
2.  First bass hooked by drop shot.
3.  First bass lost at gunnel because it opened it's mouth and bait dropped out.

I could go on but I think you're probably starting to get the picture.  It's like relearning how to fish.

[pantera61]

What am I trying to figure out?  Let me share my "tale of woe"!   
I'm going into my 5th year as an angler on the impoundment but it's taking me a bit of time to learn it for a couple of reasons, the first being 95%+ of my 40+ years was spent on small, Central NJ ponds.  Most of my old fishing was done from 3' and up.  Now, I'm actually using my depth finder, which I'm force to learn to use.  I went from a Humminbird Piranha to a HELIX 5.  So that's technology.
Went from visible structure to submerged structure.
All kinds of forage to shad.
Close range casting and tackle to distance casting and tackle, because of water clarity.
Further distances between fishing spots.
That's just a few of the hurdles a learning to overcome.  I've done my initial recon, now I get into Phase II.

Water clarity runs the gamut from slightly turbid where the river enters to pretty clear near the dam.  Past summer was first time at the source, so little knowledge in my short time there.  The only grass I've encountered is on the depth finder and it's pretty deep, between 15'-25' ball park, some stringy, some cabbagy.  I was going to drop a rake down on an anchor line to bring some up to identify.

I have found quite a few huge balls of shad and hooked into one largemouth with a drop shot which was a few firsts for me:
1.  First bass hooked located from electronics.
2.  First bass hooked by drop shot.
3.  First bass lost at gunnel because it opened it's mouth and bait dropped out.

I could go on but I think you're probably starting to get the picture.  It's like relearning how to fish.

Just to add:
I don't want to give the appearance of being a babe in the woods.  I'm learning and I think I've reached a point of critical mass for learning, that's why I want to get into some of more advanced aspects.
I'm learning to identify productive water from unproductive water.  I want to know why that difference exists.
I'm learning productive patterns and baits from the less productive.
I'm learning how to approach areas.
I'm learning how to dissect an area.
Just a few off the top of my head.

[coldfront]

I could go on but I think you're probably starting to get the picture.  It's like relearning how to fish.

feel your pain.  i went from 'lakes like that' to the TN river and it's not been as easy as I'd have liked.

here's some very general thoughts/ideas:
1. start with history.  if I have the right lake, John Robinson was formed in the 1960's.  So my guess is much of the old creek channels and the bottom timber will have 'faded'.  Wood has broken up; channels have silted in.  on 2-d sonar, much of the lake bottom might look like a 'bowl'?
2. see if you can find a decent contour map of your lake.  I looked at Navionics web app and didn't find anything.  do see that it's an 800 acre (approx) lake:  not so small you couldn't take a crack at surveying it?  recording on your sonar?  in a lake like this, even some of t he smallest, least obvious 'fast' depth changes/funnel points might hold the best fish and often most.
3.  one option?  drag (troll) some cranks/minnow baits around to find some localized populations to start with?  expect those major points to be places to start.  c-rig with a tungsten weight.  you can cover water and 'feel' for hard/rough spots.  those are probably going to be key.  look for brush piles.  guessing some guys will ahve planted a few.


run squarebills.  on the riprap.  lakes like that? riprap is a GREAT place to start.

let me share a small lake I used to fish for some illustrations.


some lay-down timber in the lake.  remnants of standing timber on points.  no aquatic vegetation to speak of.  and you can see most of the old creek channels have silted, lost their 'significant' ledge appearance. 

most of the bass, larger (tournament fodder) live/play in the 'right' 2/3 of the lake.  finding tightest contour break in the 8-12 foot zones is typically 'best bet' for those 4-5 pound fish most folks are looking for.

if you can find offshore rock piles?  GOLD!


 

[pantera61]

feel your pain.  i went from 'lakes like that' to the TN river and it's not been as easy as I'd have liked.

here's some very general thoughts/ideas:
1. start with history.  if I have the right lake, John Robinson was formed in the 1960's.  So my guess is much of the old creek channels and the bottom timber will have 'faded'.  Wood has broken up; channels have silted in.  on 2-d sonar, much of the lake bottom might look like a 'bowl'?
2. see if you can find a decent contour map of your lake.  I looked at Navionics web app and didn't find anything.  do see that it's an 800 acre (approx) lake:  not so small you couldn't take a crack at surveying it?  recording on your sonar?  in a lake like this, even some of t he smallest, least obvious 'fast' depth changes/funnel points might hold the best fish and often most.
3.  one option?  drag (troll) some cranks/minnow baits around to find some localized populations to start with?  expect those major points to be places to start.  c-rig with a tungsten weight.  you can cover water and 'feel' for hard/rough spots.  those are probably going to be key.  look for brush piles.  guessing some guys will ahve planted a few.


run squarebills.  on the riprap.  lakes like that? riprap is a GREAT place to start.

let me share a small lake I used to fish for some illustrations.


some lay-down timber in the lake.  remnants of standing timber on points.  no aquatic vegetation to speak of.  and you can see most of the old creek channels have silted, lost their 'significant' ledge appearance. 

most of the bass, larger (tournament fodder) live/play in the 'right' 2/3 of the lake.  finding tightest contour break in the 8-12 foot zones is typically 'best bet' for those 4-5 pound fish most folks are looking for.

if you can find offshore rock piles?  GOLD!

Thanks for the reply and looks like some gold AND some confirmation of my thinking.

One problem is lack of rip-rap.  There's some on private waterfront and some mini cooper sized boulders near the dam but otherwise it's clay.
Another feature is the distance between the shoreline and the depth changes.  It's a 1' / 1 1/2' at the shoreline and it can go 20' before there's significant depth change.  So, I'm starting 50' off the shore and working my bait toward the boat and working my way in to 30' and dropping my bait at the edge of the shoreline and working back to the boat, if you get what I mean.

[coldfront]

follow you.
good news?  stained water allows fish to be shallower.  still, they may be tough to find.

on one little lake I used to fish, I swear the bass used the YOY/bait balls as cover/orientation.  they'd just hang out/suspend near or under the schools of food.

at times (early, late) could sometimes get them to go on PopRs tight to shore.  whopper ploppers (90) for moving baits.  those square bills.  rapala DT6's.

one spot, off shore the depth just sublty rolled off from 6 to 15.  it had/has the tightest contour lines on that lake.  running a norman DLN in early summer accounted for some LARGE fish. 


here's that lake.  have circled the two spots in there that have best concentration of fish (larger).  on the East (right) end is the dam.  riprapped.  good for numbers and an occasional larger fish.  all the over on the West end (left) is a riprap bank alongside an old cemetary.  another good numbers spot.  this lake has a reputation with local anglers.  they call it the 'dead sea'.  for a few tight-lipped anglers, it's where they go for some GREAT fish.  but you have to work for them.


fascinating thing is:  on that lake, black is a great color.  and I loved to throw the 1/4 ounce PopR (sliver, blue back with a chartreuse feathered rear hook).  tough lake.  only 135 acres.  but once I figured it out, it was typically the lake I'd go to over a bunch of others.

spend enough time.  hit it just right.  you might find one of these


those smaller bodies of water that get a lot of pressure can really cough up some great fish.  just have to spend time on them.  as you do, see who the anglers are that are regulars.  don't ask for tips, but if you can wrangle a day in the boat with them?  or in yours?  you can learn a lot.  plus, make friends.

[bigjim5589]

pantera61, OK, well I can relate too!

I went from fishing mostly small, shallow tidal creeks and rivers in MD, where the water depth was 10' or less, to fishing Santee Cooper, which is a big lake. I live right next to Lake Marion. I have a lot of learning to do here too.

The only advantage I have with this change is I had spent a lot of time fishing for Stripers in the Chesapeake Bay, and there's similarities between targeting them, and targeting bass as far as dealing with structure and water depth. In the bay, most fishing I did was in the upper 20' of the water column, unless we were trolling, which is not something I do for bass.

[pantera61]

I was trying to post a Lake Robinson fish.  It wasn't working!

[bigjim5589]

I was trying to post a Lake Robinson fish.  It wasn't working!

Make sure the photo file size is not too big. I often have to resize photo's so that I can post them.

I usually set the size using the pixel count and somewhere in the 650 to 800 pixel width range works well. The program I use sizes them proportionately. 

[pantera61]

Make sure the photo file size is not too big. I often have to resize photo's so that I can post them.

I usually set the size using the pixel count and somewhere in the 650 to 800 pixel width range works well. The program I use sizes them proportionately.

Thanks!
I'll try it ...