Wheeler branch

Going tomorrow. I don't ever bass fish but would like to try. What should I pick up to throw out there?

Also, will the channel cats hit punch bait there?

Thanks for any tips

Drop shot the weed lines for bass with finesse worms, yes punch bait will work on the cats there.

Cool place. Had a great time swimming. Not being much of a bass fisherman, I had trouble catching fish. Managed one on drop shot. Crazy thing is that google says drop shot should be fished straight down but the wind pushing us wouldn't allow that. So I tried casting it and got the one fish.

Nothing on punch bait.

[img]http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/pics...8_5898710147841[/img]

wh2004,

The American version of a drop shot, or a "down" shot usually implies straight down, more or less, but it is more broadly defined as "weight below the hook." And, there is one well known drop shot expert who wrote an article about casting a drop shot rig out, then slowly playing it back to the boat(or kayak) with good success and it won him and his partner a tournament.

Out at Wheeler Branch, one of the best places to drop shot vertically is to the left side of the island, toward the dam side where the depth falls off at one point fairly quickly. You can make short casts to the shallower side toward the island, let it sit, then sort of hop it back into deeper water where you will stage up your kayak. I never actually reel mine in.

We also used to sort of make concentric circles around the whole island to see where the fish were at any time.

Wheeler Branch fishes easy in the pre-spawn/spawn/post-spawn period, loosely defined, then gets tough in the heat of the summer. Drop shot was often all that worked for me.

It is one of those lakes where the fish school up very tightly at times. I have seen boils of them out by the dam that were 100 feet in diameter or more with a bass breaking out of the water in every square foot of space. Really impressive.

Brad

Try using light tackle.

I've gone out with a friend a few times that uses only ultralight equipment.
I was hesitant to try it but after he caught 10 to my 1 fish, I switched over.

Last Saturday I caught a 3-3.5 lb largemouth on a fin-S on a 1/16th oz jig head using a cheapo Mr. Crappie Pole. I ended up with 6 total and he ended up with 18-22 total. I think we're going to give tomorrow morning another shot.

Go off shore this time of year there don't be sucked into all that good looking shoreline cover, I know I've been a victim of that in the past. I've had several good days in the past couple of weeks and never fished shallower than 20'. Yesterday I was hammering them on a heavy c-rig and a 3/4 ounce football jig in 30-40' of water. I used to subscribe to the light tackle school of thought out there as well due to the insanely clear water. Then after many failed trips I picked up my regular tackle 20# line and all and smoked them. I rarely take light stuff with me any more unless I want to catch them on a NED jig then I'll take one spinning rod with light line on it.