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After fishing Charleston Lake for the last 3 summers I seem to only hook up with small smallmouth bass; my targeted species . I have not caught anything in the 3 lb range or larger. With all the forage, rock, weed, many islands and various depths I would hope to catch larger fish. Why are the fish so small ? What am I missing. Thank you in advance.

I suggest you fish the two Big Water rocks,that is Babcock's and Englishman's rock. Both are high rising rocks coming out of deep water close to the surface and sometimes breaking the surface. Fish there will more associated with the pelagic baitfish species in big water and therefore are more likely to be much larger than in most of the shallower structure along shorelines and around islands. If you're not sure where they are I have an old quite accurate hand drawn map I can send you. Cheers

Smitty; that would be very generous of you, as I have no idea where these are.

Still Chasing wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 9:16 am Smitty; that would be very generous of you, as I have no idea where these are.

Check pm

My friend is renting a cottage on Charleston Lake he has been there since Labour Day weekend, so far biggest fish only around 2 pounds.

I went out with him after work the other day for a couple hours, we focussed on offshore humps, including the 2 Big Waters rock structures smitty mentioned we caught a bunch of bass, most small like 11-11 inches, biggest was one 2 pounder.

JimW wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 2:24 pm My friend is renting a cottage on Charleston Lake he has been there since Labour Day weekend, so far biggest fish only around 2 pounds.

I went out with him after work the other day for a couple hours, we focussed on offshore humps, including the 2 Big Waters rock structures smitty mentioned we caught a bunch of bass, most small like 11-11 inches, biggest was one 2 pounder.

Weird, I know we're in a strange transition period before they move in shallower but they have to be feeding on something somewhere. That lake has a good smallie population.

On my lake, Smallies are moving deeper with the cooler weather. Big ones are keying on Cisco 30 to 35 ft down....relating to "elevator" structure that provides quick access to deep water, and sometimes even suspending out over the the deep basins. As temps in shallow water yo yo up down this time of year...Bass like being able to retreat quickly to the stability of deep water.

Try Gussy's "Moping" presentation...Jerk Shadz in Smelt colour on a guppy jighead...aka...Damiki Rig