Since I won't be fishing the last two Wed nighters, (boat repairs) and people tend to forget what they read over time, I'll divulge some of what I've been doing since the end of June when I started fishing LA with reasonable success.
1) I stick to spots on the lake that produce keepers not shorts on a regular basis. In theory, year class fish hang together until they no longer feel threatend and begin to disperse seeking their own territory and food paths. I generally use 12 inches as the rule of thumb.
2) Forage of the season, I normally don't start throwing shad immitations until Fall kicks in, just me I'm sure, because I have seen results on swimbaits,cranks and flukes this Summer. I have a very analytical mind so each week as a result of Wed night, I've come to the conclusion that the shad induced bites are fewer than senko, worm or craw bites.
3) Due to the length of time I've had to learn and fish LA, the water flows since June pretty much dictated where I fish on the lake. I know there are benefits to fishing currents, I haven't had enough time to develop where, how and when yet. Consequently I stay down the lake more where the current is less and doesn't affect my presentation.
4) The lights, I have to admit it's infuriating to see 5-7lb fish sit on them and not be able to get them to bite, tried one night for 2 hrs and zeroed. Something I intend to work on before next year rolls around.
5) I fun fish almost as though I'm in a tournement, I'm keying in on "like spots", find one that fishes well and start hitting others with the same conditions. Basic and simple
The one thing about this Summer that kept me from really tearing it up was the fact that the fish weren't where they were suppose to be. I say this yet the fish I caught were but not in the way we generally expect in a Summer pattern. Deepest fish I caught was in 22-24ft, not one top water fish (which baffles me), very few fish in cattails, some weed lines that were dead zones unbelievably.
Bear in mind I have no idea where any brushpiles are on the lake, I caught two fish since June on Wed nights on docks, not that I don't like to fish them just not enough time to invest unless I'm fun fishing. Probably the last thing of note, is variations of the same bait. I didn't get tunnel vision or lock myself into one color of a bait. Caught fish on 4 different colors of senkos, 8 different trailer colors, 3 different DS colors. I let the fish dictate, several nights it wasn't unusual to go through a bag and a half of a bait but their were nights when trial and error paid dividends. Throughout the Summer I maintained the philosophy that five fish was the goal, I don't swing for the fence in other words, LA isn't Amistad, Falcon or Choke. Consistency was my goal weekly, maybe the lake itself made that a viable one and next year that may not be the mind set or goal I have, how the lake fishes and yields will determine that and I will have had more time to learn LA.
Hope this helps, good luck
