Fishing new water

Paddled a full day yesterday on some new water. 3 other buddies and I fished all day and managed a couple decent fish. The water we were fishing was a creek on the AL side on the north end of Lake Harding. When ever you go to fish some new water what are the types of bait do you take because I try to keep a minimal amount of tackle and gear with me but always seem to leave what there biting on at home. The reason we were fishing a lake instead of the river and shoals is a buddy of mine has access to a cabin and it is at a good spot where there is not a lot of boat traffic. All my rods are rigged for moving water and rocks so I'm running 30lb braid on my rods. So what size line do you recomend on still water because I think the heavy line was hindering the bite. And here is a pic of the only bass I caught and one of the few crappie that I managed, The other guys that went with me might post their pics.

here are mine from the trip minus 1 fish cause it was alot smaller

With it warming up so much in the last couple days, I'da used a fluke and a shaky head or texas rig. I would throw the texas rig on 8-10lb mono and the fluke and shakey head on the same or 10-15lb braid with an 18-24" 10-12lb mono or flouro leader. Though, 15lb would be on the high side.

they were hitting crankbait deepdivers

Mesocollins, I tried the shakey head and rigged a double fluke rig and could not get a bite with the 30lb braid and left my flouro 15lb flouro spool I use for leaders at the house. I believe if I had smaller line I would had some more bites. hopefully I will be able to get some smaller line on the next trip.

aznflycaster said:

Mesocollins, I tried the shakey head and rigged a double fluke rig and could not get a bite with the 30lb braid and left my flouro 15lb flouro spool I use for leaders at the house. I believe if I had smaller line I would had some more bites. hopefully I will be able to get some smaller line on the next trip.

Click to expand...

Thats better than I did in that creek this weekend. I fish that creek a lot, and havent cought a fish in there in a month.

aznflycaster said:

Mesocollins, I tried the shakey head and rigged a double fluke rig and could not get a bite with the 30lb braid and left my flouro 15lb flouro spool I use for leaders at the house. I believe if I had smaller line I would had some more bites. hopefully I will be able to get some smaller line on the next trip.

Click to expand...

The flouro leaders really seem to make a difference when you're using braid - especially in clear water.