shore fishing

Question
I live on Lake Norman, NC, and i have a very good cove that i live in that has many bass, crappie, and catfish. It is many trees, weeds, etc. that fish use for cover. I would like some advice on different baits that i can use around the cover, in shallow water. I don't need to cast much more than ten feet from the shore. Also i have a problem with getting my bait caught on the branches and rocks.


Answer
A Chatter Bait by Rad Lures or a Manic Shad by Berkley would work well.  Try topwater frogs around trees and high weeds.  Also Bass Pro Shops has a long 10 inch soft plastic worm that is relatively thin.  Rig that up on an offset 5/0 worm hook and throw it on top of the weeds Texas style in the middle of the day, in the morning, and at night for lunker largemouth.  Also a small coffin billed crankbait is an essential and works any time of day.

For crappie all you need is a 13 foot pole a bucket of shiners and a #2 Aberdeen hook.  What you want to do with those is walk up to any tree or brush in the water and stick the shiner right up against the tree or bush and drop him to the bottom and slowly lift him up to the top.

For catfish since I don't know your area what I would do is go to a tack and feed store and buy a bag of range cubes and throw some in the area you intend to fish and they will bring cats to the area for at least a week.  Don't throw the whole bag just about three to four handfuls.  Then come back with some three to six inch shiners or shad and fish them in the place you threw the cubes on a slip rig and a 3/0 circle hook.  You will want to bait the area about two to three days before fishing and then again on the day you fish it.

Hope this helps.  
If you want to ask a follow up question with more info I would be glad to give more in-depth answers.