Dwight Hottle

Yea I'll be smiling for that one.

Remember you started it.

Went out by myself today hoping to find some clear water & hungry bass. Since the water had cleared nicely overnight I decided to try a shallow jerkbait & a deep jerkbait. Dead sticked the deep & worked the shallow. Hit my first fish of the day & was pleasantly surprised. 22.5" by 16" girth. She weighed 6lb-7oz. Second fish hit the shallow jerkbait. 5lb-8oz. Switched the deep jerk to a 2nd shallow bait. Third fish hit the previously hot bait. She weighed 5lb-6oz. Fourth fish hit the newly switched out shallow bait. She weighed 5lb-15oz. I thought I was on a roll. Kept trying for the fifth bass but it turned out to be walleye, dinner. The bite quit as the wind blew from the east & dropped the surface temp from a starting temp of 50-51 degrees to 47-48 degrees. Best day this year for quality.

Here is a new update from today 5/12/11. Caught this sweetie on a jerk bait. My first fish of the day. She was 22.5 " X 16" girth. She weighed 6lbs-7oz. That's 6.4375 divided by 8.50 the PA state record X100 equals 75.74.

Sounds like a good outing. WTG Joe.

Steve what are you going to do for an encore?

You are still living the dream. Big time memory & story too.

Beautiful water & fish too! WTG

Yes the lake. We were fishing between 15-25 fow.

A-Jay Don't tell big John you called him a fattie. He is 6'3" & weighs 285lbs. I told him that fish really looked big even with him holding it.

Hit the water with a two fishing buddies. We tried a totally different area than we had been working previously. Had a few hits on jerk baits but didn't find to many suspended fish as the water was dirty & the bass seemly only wanted baits targeting the bottom, tight to the bottom. We worked various crank style baits hitting bottom as often as we could without snagging which we did. Big fish for the last couple of days was a 6lb-9 oz beauty which was a PB for big John. Second biggest fish was an even 6lbs.

Very sweet trout A-Jay. Lots of different approaches to getting that cat skinned.

That's a heck of a nice first bag A-jay. Congrats.

Yes sir. Temps hit 50.2 today. My buddy pulled a 6lber for big fish of the day. Water clarity today was about 3-4 feet.

Yesterday was a rain/blow day. Got tackle ready for today. Headed out in search of some bigger fish than we found on Monday. The water was extremely dirty from the launch area until we went out a couple of miles down the shoreline. Stopped in an area of 30-40 fow looking for some staging big girls & found nothing. Didn't mark bait or what we were looking for. Moved again & reset up in 20-25 fow. I stayed with the same jerk bait I was using two days before. My buddy hit a couple of quick fish between 2-3 lbs. Then I got hit & it was game on. The wind had picked up & was blowing us over a mile per hour which made playing a fish on a long line that more difficult. We were drifting with two rods out each holding one & dead sticking the second rod in a rod holder. The fish that hit my bait felt like a real toad. Pulling drag & basically a standstill without mr gaining any line. Finally I started winning the battle. When she hit the net we both remarked how heavy she was for the length. She weighed 5-15. 15 minutes letter I got hit again. This one weighed 6-3. My first six pounder of the season. Then the waves started building & finally chased us off with pretty consistent four footers. A good day indeed.

This fish came in 15 minutes later, 6lb-3oz smallie. That's 6.1875 divided by 8.50 ( PA record) X100=s 72.79.

Here is a new update from today May 4th. 5lb-15oz smallie that fought like a much bigger fish. 5.9375 divided by 8.50x100 =s 69.85.

Actually about the same depth. The washed out looking ones are probably relating closer to the bottom or right on bottom. Some times the water clarity might have an effect as well.

That is sweet!

Great that you got your great uncle out for some fish action. Good therapy for sure. Nice fish too.

When your fishing for smallies & you hook a double digit fish of any species my first thoughts are new state record & maybe a new other record. This cat hit a lc pointer jerk bait. & pulled drag & stayed up in the water column with great big head shakes. I have never caught any cats in this area before so no I was not thinking anything other than walleye or smallie. I knew it probably wasn't a waldo when it stayed up. I have caught a few bigger smallies that never tried to jump so until we got a glimpse of it boatside I was having visions of grandeur. I was really pumped for about an hour afterwards.

Went out with a long time buddy today for smallies. We started out shallow fishing jerk baits after launching. Caught a couple small ones & decide to move to deeper water. We were fishing jerk baits in 20 fow When I got hit bigtime. After an extended fight with big head shakes we netted a channel cat measuring 31"x19" & weighing 16.5 lbs. Ended up with 35 smallies for the day with one 5.5 & one 5 .75 for big fish. Catching more numbers with lots of 2-4 lbs smallies in the mix. Water surface temps are still in the 46-48 degree range.

Here is an update from today. 5lb-12 oz smallie. 5.75 divided by 8.50 Pa record X100= 67.65

Sounds like you had an excellent day. WTG

I like.