Welcome aboard. Wow, ya moved out of Bass Fishin' Heaven!

If I had to suggest just one bait and technique for Fall bass schools breaking on shad it is a Rapala Broke-back Minnow (J-series). It gives you a wide choice of depths from topwater down to about 14 feet. North of I-20 you start getting into deeper water than you are accustomed to, but for now the largemouths are following mostly threadfin shad wherever they go. With the lake plankton beginning to die back some from shortened days they are searching shallow in the sunniest parts of a lake. I have mostly J-9 and J-11 baits in several colors which match up with the maximum shad size they reach this time of year in the South. When I see a boil I cast it beyond the activity then swim it back. If I'm determined to catch numbers of bass I'll let it twitch around on the surface where the action is. The smaller bass work the surface, while the mature bass pick off the wounded prey below. If I want to try for a large bass I'll swim it steadily under the school, pausing it occasionally. Strikes come mostly when the bait stops, on the surface or down below.

Of course there are lots of other bait choices and techniques which I figure will be added as folks join in.

Jim

It could be any number of things that's not triggering a bite. All I can think is, fish slower or burn it fast. Fish different time of the day, like nightime fishing.

Chances are you were dealing with tidal fluctuactions where you lived before. Tide IN or TIDE OUT...this makes the food chain move...and created feeding opportunities at certain spots that you learned.

Now you have to change tactics a little bit and learn about other types of spots...in the sense that current is either flowing or not because of whether or not the dam is releasing water or not. Current flows in one direction in these situations (as you have already probably figured out)...so pitch your baits upcurrent and bring them down-current past likely targets during water releases. It kinda surprises me that you didn't mention fishing cover like laydowns, bruspiles, lilypads and weedclumps of various kinds etc...as there are USUALLY resident fish that take up "homes" in these kinds of areas....in other words..."prime spots".

Fish DO school for SURE in reserviors and lakes ALL around the country...and SOME of them STAY that way. But at the same time...as they get older...many dominant ones of certain species seek out "home territories"...especially around prime spots. Muskies. pike and bigger bass all do this....and you will find the occassional LARGE size of panfish, catfish and other species doing this too...IMHO.

Chances are that you just haven't adjusted to using the right baits for a similar yet different situation as mentioned by Jim above.

At the same time though...you may have to adjust more to fishing various structure in those bodies of water...with a slightly different arsenal / approach. I don't have any maps of the bodies of water you are fishing...so I can't "see" what you are dealing with.

Jim...I'd appreciate YOUR thoughts on my commets. We've had some truly interesting discussions on here in the past about moving water in reservoir discharge, river situations or tidal-type areas too 

So I'm saying...don't pull any punches  still learning HERE too

JMHO

Dave, those were the good ole days, keeping big discussions going. I sure enjoyed it. Much of that period I was in a hotel room, attending schools as part of my job, or staying at my lake place 150 miles from here, while putting in too many hours in 4 days a week to drive home. I'm retired from all that now, but operating a business has me with far less time to get online.

The profile shows former area as Turkey Creek, which if memory serves OK is very flat country with meandering bayous in the upper end of Atchafalaya Basin, classic wetlands, elevation about 100 feet above sea level, quite far removed from tidal influence. The fisheries around there are typically very shallow, but highly productive.

First off, what you advised is good ....for typical bass lakes that are close to normal pool.

North LA above I-20 has low hills and deeper reservoirs, but no highland deep reservoirs that I can compare to what I have here. There are many lowland lakes and nearly stagnant bayous to choose from all over the state. I really would need to know at least generally what part of LA we're talking about besides Turkey Creek. I've fished all over LA, lived in the state twice, and know there's quite a variety of fishing scenarios. Chances are any reservoirs there are at very low pool, dams not flowing most of this year, current practically non-existent. Adding to drought is the growing Giant Salvinia invasion and recent drawdowns to control it. I'd have to run some discharge reports looking at dams and river stations to get more specific, a job much easier knowing which lake(s), to assume any current, even in larger rivers like the Ouachita. Up here Lake Ouachita is very low, very little water going downstream, barely meeting required levels for users below. Otherwise the LA end of the Ouachita River would be it's usual self, a very good fishery. I'll look at the Red River situation tomorrow.

With pools as low as they have been bass are not able to use much of their formerly shallow places, forced into the deep waters weeks and months at a time. The shad are stuck out there too, so about now the great Fall feeding frenzy is on and intensified. While pool levels continue to drop all the fish become more survival-minded with little or no cover to escape to. Heavily fished lakes train them to quickly recognize artificial lures more as Fall comes in, but they also have to feed up for winter even in N. LA. The maniacal feeding of large bass schools feeding on large shad schools presents an opportunity to bypass many of the former problems like ultra clear water and no wind making lures too visible. In the turbulence most any lure will simply become part of the churn, so the new problem is how to make yours stand out from the thousands of little fish a predator fish has to pick from.

Down there in the north half and relatively shallow water everywhere shad would prefer in the summer to be broken up into little schools and overnighting in shallower places like pockets and wide coves, so the predator fish would be much more scattered. Now all are being concentrated in diminishing foot-acreage, schools growing ever larger. But remember down there shallow water is normal. I am emphasizing that. The deal is when a shallow lake drops a foot the receding shoreline might move in 200 feet leaving many extra acres of mud flats. That is not at all a normal situation, a real threat to the entire food chain. It's tough to figure out bass fishing under those conditions.

I used the same bass baits and methods wherever I went around LA bassing. It's mostly a matter of knowing where bass ought to be in any one fishery. That's actually becoming much easier due to the pool levels eliminating shallowest areas. It might be the nearest laydowns and brush piles are high and dry, so typical cover is lacking. It gets down to minute details of structure in many LA lakes, as well as many in our AR River valley, and most small lakes in hilly national forests all around me. What were beautiful remote lakes are now nearly dry creeks meandering through snag fields and dry cracked mud flats.

I probably should have replied after looking at some reports, but I've put too much into this to just wipe it out, so be aware I am mostly assuming based on old experience and what's happening all around this part of the country.

OK, so now we have more to chew on. We need more information, though.

Jim

OK No tidal fluctuations to deal with, I'm used to that and can catch fish that way. This is Indian creek res. Crooked Creek Res, and Lake Chicot. the water levels are low, but not that low. water is good, just the right tint of green. plenty O2 . they are however heavily fished. Not very big lakes and the weekends I wont even go, just to many people. I have caught a couple fish, usually suspended in 20 - 30 feet of water in the main channel. Seeing them run the bait fish and not getting strikes is getting old though. the ones I have caught, they appeared to have stopped running the shad for a few minutes when I caught them.

Oops. When you wrote "north" I took that literally. To me anywhere around Alexandria is still south LA. I-20 divides it for me. Whole different people above and below. Anyhow, some of what I wrote above for northern parishes doesn't apply down there. I couldn't delete the post, so we're stuck with it.

Ya'll have had your share of weather down there, a lot more rain than in the north half. So your pool levels are in good shape. Got some green water, so there's plenty of plankton and O2. Is Lake Chicot still closed and drawing down for repairs? It would sure be good if they dredged some of those sediments out. The average depth used to be about 11 feet and boat traffic has kept the water dingy there. Or not? I'd stick with undisturbed fisheries. Fish out of a boat? If so why not switch to Cocodrie Lake a few miles NW of you?

When bass find and attack a school of shad, the shad begin to get separated into many smaller schools for a while until reorganizing. The feeding bass have to chase more if still hungry, swim farther following them. At that moment apparently your bass was between schools, appearing to be done. But because the bass ate your lure it wasn't done feeding. The next time you see a school boiling on surface, stick around rather than moving to another boil. Fish around where you last saw activity. I've found the shad often have a habit of returning to the same spots to start yet another feeding frenzy. I also believe the larger bass have learned that, sticking around places most likely to host shad schools. They at least stick around to mop up dead and dying shad that fall to bottom.

Another benefit I believe in by staying around an area of action is most other anglers crank up and jump to each new boil. I've watched them spook the schools down one after another, getting in maybe a cast or two. Most won't blunder up to my boil area, so I hold it all alone and get some good uninterrupted fishing at suitable intervals. I keep one long spoon rod handy for really long casts, one with the big minnow, and other rods rigged with a plastic worm, spinnerbait, jig, etc. Sometimes the boils will erupt from under the boat which seems to attract shad. Just let the jig fall right next to the boat and haul a bass in.

I had a great friend from Eunice whose dad built half a dozen pirogues a year out of hand crafted pieces of cypress and osage orange (from Texas). He gave me one. His son Tommy had never had a job before except help run the crawdad farm, so the family was grateful. He was my guide in the lower parishes back in my timber buying days. That little boat was way too beautiful to actually use, but they meant for me to use it hard, so I did. The hull was seamless, polished up like a fine dining room table, and light-weight. The bow half was covered with a hatch big enough to stow a deer and my legs, and the whole thing could nearly float in a tire track puddle. I hunted deer and ducks mostly in Felsenthal Refuge on the Arkansas side, and fished water no bass boat has or ever will see. Good days long gone. Oh, the food they served up! And the late night celebrations!

Jim

I live about 6 miles f rom Lake cocodrie, water is almost to clear there now. they been trying to drain it for two years and rains keep bringing it back up. they say they going to try to keep it down for a year to kill off grass that is really becoming a bad situation there. There is some fishing, they are small though, Haven't spoke to anyone that has found good size fish there other than blue gills in the June run. Chicot will be closed for about 4 weeks they say.
I Like the swimming minnow idea. I will try more of that. I was using primarily, spinners, crank baits and weightless worms and jerk baits.
Being a swamp rat all my life It feels funny if I aint throwing a bait next to cypress tree or some slough run out. This is first year lake fishing and it's whole new world to me. With fall and winter coming I have another question. How long can I expect this pattern, will the fish be active at all in coming months. Most of the basin nearly stop completely when temps drop. and catching fish can be mere luck of right day right place.
I really appreciate all the input here. If I can be of any help to yall in the Lower basin please, feel free to contact me. I be more than happy to tell you what I know