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[Droolpool69420]

So I went fishing at deer lake yesterday for 2 hours and didn't catch anything. I rotated between the sandbanks and the boat rental dock using a medium rod and 8-pound monofilament line. I used a topwater crankbait, a lunker hunt topwater pocked frog and texas rigged worms for bass and flour garlic dough on a float rig for pumpkinseed. Didn't catch a thing. Any tips for these species or this lake? Is there anything I did wrong? Thanks in advance!

[fic]

Did you talk to the guys fishing at the dock? There's a bunch of retired guys that go there every morning. I rarely see them with fish on the dock, except this one guy targeting tiny sun fish.  Over the years I have seen some people land trout, carp, catch fish and the odd bass. It's not very productive compared to other stocked lakes. Lots of guys go there just to hang out and they rarely catch anything.

[Droolpool69420]

I didnt see them

[Blood_Orange]

Most of the bass in there are too small for crankbaits and frogs. I've heard stories of huge bass in Deer Lake but never caught any big one in many, many trips over many years. Consider downsizing your presentations.

I usually float fish along the edges of the lilypads on the north shore of the lake. Lots of 6-12" bass around. If you get out on a boat you can troll or cast in the west end of the lake, by the floats that mark the nature preserve. I've caught bass, trout, and sunfish like this.

Shore fishing can be tough because there are so few access points.

[Droolpool69420]

My frog is around an inch long. I don’t have too much experience float fishing. Would a grub or jig work? Also, what bait do you use?

[cutthroat22]

I remember the good old days when bass in Deer Lake was considered a hoax    I haven't fished it since trying back then but had lots of hits on small jigs with rubber grubs.

https://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=27962.0

[iblly]

Not sure if this is relevant to deer lake but I tried all the typical bass stuff at Cultus with little success. Switched to my fly rod with various flys, woolly buggers, pumpkin heads, etc and now catching them regularly.

[Blood_Orange]

I almost always go with worms. I'm sure grubs would also work. Casting and retrieving a small jig would probably be fine too, as long as you stay above the weeds. If you can get out on a boat it's much easier to fish the edge of the lily pads because you have more room between the weeds and the surface.

I bought one of those Intex inflatable kayak a couple years back for $125 on Amazon. Works great for Deer Lake but you'll definitely need an anchor because there's often wind blowing around there. I went with a 1.5 lb folding anchor and 50' of rope, it all stores in an ice cream bucket behind the seat.

[Phronesis]

So this is something i have noticed too. I used to catch many sunfish but this year I couldnt get them on worms too. The heat wave killed many trouts - they washed up on the shore with flaky skin.

I think it affected sunfish too, i stopped going because of this. Its sad.

Saw many juvi bass jumping - looks like they were not affected at all by the heat

[Droolpool69420]

What would be a good alternative to worms?

[Blood_Orange]

What would be a good alternative to worms?

Things that move are good... worms, grubs, bugs. Or things that smell good to the fish... krill, dough balls, PowerBait.

[Droolpool69420]

thanks

[Darko]

So I went fishing at deer lake yesterday for 2 hours and didn't catch anything. I rotated between the sandbanks and the boat rental dock using a medium rod and 8-pound monofilament line. I used a topwater crankbait, a lunker hunt topwater pocked frog and texas rigged worms for bass and flour garlic dough on a float rig for pumpkinseed. Didn't catch a thing. Any tips for these species or this lake? Is there anything I did wrong? Thanks in advance!

There's a guy that posts on fishbrain who trolls plugs at deer lake and has A LOT of success catching rainbows and landlocked coho. (The coho are by catch and should be released very carefully if caught.) I have only had luck there fishing worms off the bottom or on a float. For bass any lure or texas rigged worm would be good. You really need a boat for this lake if you want to be successful. Fish near structure. There are some big carp in there to, you can used corn on a hair rig to target them. Again conditions change all the time, and location is most important.