Nice when fish are close to the bank in the shade under tree branches

This one small lake I fish has shorelines with trees overhanging 2-3' of depth. Crappie, bass and sunfish hang out there in the middle of the day and can be caught the same way you would when flipping under docks which this lake has none.

The fish smacked lures imediately, easily getting hooked. Here are a few:

The shoreline fished depended on the time of day and the sun's position. The opposite shore had far less shade due to the sun's angle. Later in the afternoon I figured I would cast parallel to a wide shallow flat's edge that signaled a drop from 3.5' - 6.5'. Sure enough fish were grouped along it in 4' as indicated by lure depth fish were caught.

That’s a productive tree . Nice outing!

Over 100 yds. of shady shoreline got me out the the sun ever so often. Only got hung up 8x due to unseen submerged brances and stumps.
Question: how many of you catch fish in 2' of water, on a sunny day, in July, in the middle of the day?!! Between the shady locations and open water in 5' - 44 fish (y. perch, crappie, bass, sunfish). The fish weren't near as big as the hogs you guys catch, but they'll do in a pinch:

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Note: Murky green water is typical in this lake all summer long especially under drought conditions. The lake has dropped 2' since spring with no inflow.
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Very nice. Shade only makes it better for you and the fish. Thanks for sharing

I like the shade as well. Glad the fish cooperated

Great job. Thanks for sharing.

Nice tree! That’s a lot of what I fish too. Down here it’s just what they call home most of the time. Good days catch!!

I'm glad fish like shade. I'm right there with them. That sun beating down makes me start rendering.

Sent from my HD1925 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

that's why I like the bimini on my toon. can drift along and hit shady spots IF I was getting out which i havn't done much this summer.

Like smaller lakes with shady overhangs as you can ketch them all day like that especially if there is some brush in there or trees down. had perfect lake like that for years but got divorced from it tho still had access as I maintained it for her. then she had to sell it to take care of her daughters college.

What is really amazing is when patterns such as the above is duplicated on a different lake but in a slightly different way.

I found a pick-pocket pattern* three weeks ago and it's been producing on and off at times since then.
(*pad fields are dense on this lake but still have pockets/indentations to pitch lures into versus the long edges facing open water which don't hold fish. In fact 89 fish were caught on one outing last week following that pattern.)

But after strugging with casting accuracy due to a 20 mph wind, I decided to go to the other pad field (maybe more wind protected?) on the other side of a long rock point (which a house is built on). It has trees on one side providing shade to a drop-off-shore line that drops fast to 10'. A dozen fish were caught along the shaded shoreline to the tune of 10.5-12" crappie and big sunfish! :

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I got a chance to re-try the new design ( (which I've named it Whiskers) that only got nips at the lake originally posted, but this time, using a heavier jig head to adapt to the steady wind, it was slammed by crappie and sunfish - including the 12" crappie pictured with the wacky-rigged lure.
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Once I got to the other pads, I'd had it with the same hight wind and a 10 lb anchor that wouldn't hold the boat stationary. The strong south wind was no different than on the other side of the point and I headed back.
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But I got to see the shoreline shade pattern work again on one side of this lake's shady point which usually doesn't hold fish.