ryanerb

Yes!!! Great reminder!!! Figured ned/DS would be too finesse and they can't find it in that stained water?

Went fishing for a few hours in the afternoon on Saturday Feb 8th. This was to one of my local Central California lakes, which is relatively small, 1100 surface acres. Water Temp: 51-52, with some afternoon 54 shallow agains a rock wall Water color: Pretty stained overall, less than 1ft visibility near the river end of the lake Weather: Overall sunny, high around 65 degress Moon: Full moon Lake Pressure: Unfortunately a 35 boat bass tourney was going on, which is too many good anglers for this size of lake. I've heard the fish really shut down with this many guys casting after them Bass tourney results: Many MANY guys struggled, couldn't even fill a 5 fish limit. Some guys did well I believe deep cranking. Winning weight was 23lb, 2nd was 21lb. HOWEVER, many guys did not have 5 fish limits, or even close. I don't have the full results yet. I thought I also heard some guys actually got some flipping pretty shallow. Imagine that... My techniques: Dirty water, I thought a jig in black and blue would be bold A few casts with a bladed A-Rig A few casts with a chartruse red eye shad Overall thoughts: I never caught a fish and I don't think I got a bite. I basically only fished from 1-4pm on my boat in various areas of the lake. Stained water, I figured fish would be semi shallow, HOWEVER, water temps of 51 degrees means they might not really want to pull up. Wasn't very sure fishing a jig deep (10-20ft) was that great, I'm not sure how easy those fish would find that thing Crank seems like a good way to go, and some tourney guys proved this, but I was thinking with all the pressure the fish wouldn't like the noisy obnoxious thing and maybe would be negative towards it. Would be interested if anyone has any further thoughts, but it was a tough day, and I look forward to that water getting up in at least the high 50s to low 60s before things really start to turn on. I'm still learning

Well, if you got the 'cash' for a mercedes, then keep moving forward. There are always more budget options, but why not get the nice stuff if you can afford it. Only consideration I might have is a heavy boat, requires a big 112lb thrust 36v trolling motor, etc. You mentioned this in the first post. Center consoles are super universal. You may consider a larger dual console.... Unless there was something I missed making you want the center console. The dual console will feel more like a ski boat, the center feels like an ocean fishing boat. Haha funny side note, I have NEVER EVER seens a manufacturer advertise standing on the center console driving through a convertible T-TOP. Pretty wild. Can't believe the stuff they come up with these days. I'm sure you can't go wrong, but you also wanna make sure you are semi right when spending that kind of coin. Everyone has a different taste and set of requirements of what makes the 'right' boat for them and their family.

Yeah, you can try at the lake in 6 inches of water if your clarity is good enough.... Or get a clear plastic storage tub, poor some dirt and rocks at the bottom, and re-test... Worth doing some more 'experimenting' than just the bath to be confident of your 'results'... But I love your thinking and love this thread! Let us know what you find out!

Some humminbird units have a shortcut to very quickly turn off the sonar pings. On my old unit, you hit the power button quickly once, it brings up a menu. Very quick and easy. Something to consider.

I would have thought they would bite better before the cold front too... It was almost like a false spring weather pattern! Still some nice fish, seems the neko is always a sure bet for some spots. Thanks for all your great Cali posts, I can relate being several hours south of you.

LUCKY SON OF A DUCK! I live in CA, no Academy here... Too bad they don't have those kind of deals online. Wish I could get them to ship me some! haha

Looks like a fun day! Can't pass em up with the kids want to go. Mine will be that age sooner than I know!

Tom, so sorry for your loss. May he be in peace, and peace fill you and your family.

It just shows on the Ebay homepage for me: Use code NEWYEARTEN at checkout. Min Purchase: $100, Max Amount: $50. Expires 01/24/20 PST.

That looks like a great day on the water. Similar to my local lake! It's great to see some other California reports in here, keep em comin!

Ok guys, maybe I missed it or something, but ebay keeps prompting me with a 10% off coupon, they even teased me to get 30 bucks off a 300 dollar Lowrance unit I was looking at... Anyone else seeing or using this coupon?

@WRB, is this what 'ike' is referring to about the flat side here? (see link https://www.bassmaster.com/blog/ike-mighty-shaky-head-part-1 ) I'm not sure when the 'glide' happens, I would think more glide with flat side down to give more resistance... Then again, you maybe after something other than 'glide' like Ike is talking about. Just trying to decipher if you and ike are on the same page, and or which page I wanna be on hahahah Just teasing!

Powell Inferno 711 for $55 at TW (was thinking for Ned or split shot) ... was thinking hard about it but hearing from wayy too many people, including some tackle shop employees that overall Powells are known for breaking tips fairly easy and maybe I should go with a Dobyns Fury 702 instead... I gotta admit the Inferno only has a 5 year warranty and a fairly hefty price for a claim considering the rod cost... So all this I'm leaning away from it...

Looks like a fun day and similar to a lake I fish. Great pics and thanks for the great report!!

Those are some nice fish for the Ned rig! Were you mostly dead sticking it or swimming it or.... ? Quite the quality bag! Is that common for that lake or an unusual day?! Nice that you are able to get out and fish!

Shakey head is a GREAT staple for spotted bass. No reason I shouldn't have thrown one. Sometimes I wonder why I let the bait monkey tease me with all these other baits when in reality I could probably always succeed with a shakey head on this lake! Sometimes all it takes is that one 'moment' for it to click and learn something new! Thanks for the tip, I gotta try refining a little bit, although I'll likely try to avoid the 70ft when I can

The more details the better! I had never heard of the BG baby shad (no one here in CA stocks it... Crappie ain't as popular as back east, etc...) but ordered some off Bass Pro and was able to get some crappie last fall in 17ft of water within 10 minutes of trying on some fish in a creek channel I saw on my sonar. Pretty rewarding, a good bait! Love it. Congrats on the fun day, thanks for all the info!

Love the sonar screenshot! The downscan really helps show the fish, the 2D almost looks like weeds or something?? Were the fish on a brush pile? creek channel? Any rhyme or reason they were where they were? Did you meter lots of schools all over? Super fun, glad you got into them, thanks for the post!! Congrats on the PB!!

Interesting. I haven't been a big color guy, stick with the natural colors but I've heard chartreuse is good for spots, etc. Definitely something I can fiddle with some more. I like having 2 guys on the boat and hopefully we are throwing different things, etc. Definitely used the graph, found some areas with heavy structure down below and marked fish and caught a few on those areas. I'm pretty sure I was using 6lb fluoro (if not, it was 8lb). I did find out someone else I know was out there the same day and they boated around 30 fish for 2 guys, but they are a better angler than me

Thanks for the tips. Come up any time, I'll take you out, I got the boat ready to go!

Tom, I was hoping you would respond! I do appreciate it and the tips referring to jigs and underspins. This was at Naci. So assuming they are the Kentucky/Nothern, what baits are they preferring compared to the southern spots?

Good suggestion. We were semi regretting not throwing topwater. I would have had to believe it to see it, as I've always done good on topwater in the summer and not in December. Would have been worth a try, especially after seeing a few fish surface. Sadly my rod with a keitech swimbait that was in the 'rod locker' didn't make it out.... why? I can't exactly tell you why, but probably would have been a decent 'search' bait... Will be a must have on the deck for next time. Thanks for the reminder!

Fished Saturday Dec 14th from 8am-12 noon. Central California Water temp around 56-57 Water clarity 4-5ft Air temp 50-57 As it seems, perhaps the lake is still in a late fall pattern. I'm not convinced it is in a full winter pattern yet, seemingly based on the water temperature and the fact we were metering shad in the backs of creeks. Most of our fish came on a drop shot in around 15-30ft of water. Tried an A-rig for a bit, but didn't get anything. Also had a fish on a spoon. I'm not sure if I should have thrown a crankbait more, but water seemed pretty clear for it. Didn't throw a ned rig, maybe I should have? These spotted bass typically like to hang fairly deep. I think I only landed two fish and my buddy maybe had 3 or 4. He was doing decent using his drop shot. Then again, this is a spotted bass lake, so fishing isn't / shouldn't be overly complicated (compared to some of the winter LMB fishing...) Any comments or questions are welcome.