1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Blue Raider Bob, that’s not the actual name of it , but it’s what I call it based on the amount of crackheads that hang out there

That explains alot! Whew! 😁

Decided I needed a change of scenery today.  Went to Lake St Joe which is near one of my neighboring towns.  51 degrees and partly cloudy.  Winds west north west 11 mph gusting to 24. 
 

Only managed one, but it is the largest bass I’ve caught yet on this particular body of water.  Attempted to work my way completely around the lake but found that someone had posted no trespassing signs on the other side of the dam.  I don’t remember them being there last year but I decided to call it an early day.

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

Decided I needed a change of scenery today.  Went to Lake St Joe which is near one of my neighboring towns.  51 degrees and partly cloudy.  Winds west north west 11 mph gusting to 24. 
 

Only managed one, but it is the largest bass I’ve caught yet on this particular body of water.  Attempted to work my way completely around the lake but found that someone had posted no trespassing signs on the other side of the dam.  I don’t remember them being there last year but I decided to call it an early day.

 

 

 

Looks like she's ready to drop a whole new generation....class of 24. Maybe you can get permission from the land owner. Hope so!    I own land on the Duck River in middle Tennessee and I've yet to be able to say no to someone who asks politely and is respectful of my property. 

11 minutes ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Looks like she's ready to drop a whole new generation....class of 24. Maybe you can get permission from the land owner. Hope so!    I own land on the Duck River in middle Tennessee and I've yet to be able to say no to someone who asks politely and is respectful of my property. 

Yes sir, she’s a chunky gal.  I’m hoping I can get permission also.  I think this lake has a lot of untapped potential.  I only started fishing it late last year and by that time the weeds made bank fishing pretty tough.  If all goes according to plan I may be the proud new owner of a fishing kayak this summer so there’s always that option as well.

I've been managing to catch a few but no big ones lately and not big numbers.  Most all I've been catching have been on the main lake.   Bass should be up the creeks and in coves this time of year.  I haven't been able to find them anywhere but on the main lake this year,  I committed to fishing up the creeks today.   I was "rewarded" with 2 Bass in 6 hours.   I caught the first one, (a 17 inch Spot) on my second cast.  I cruised up a creek looking at my side scan.  I saw 4 fish ~10 feet deep on a secondary point.   I turned the boat around and was able to catch one.  I didn't get a good picture, my hands were wet, cold and slippery.  I was afraid I'd drop my phone.   It's the first Bass I've caught this year that appeared to have been spawning.  It had a worn/bloody tail.  It still appears to have some eggs.  As I said earlier it was near the bottom in 10 feet of water.  I don't know if it was spawning there, had spawned somewhere else, or just had a bloody tail.   Morning water temp, after yesterdays rain was only 57 degrees.   

So I was hopeful to catch one so quickly, but they disappeared.   I stayed in the creeks.  I couldn't find them on sonar, and I tried quite a bit of "search casting" too.   

 

I caught my second, and last one ~6 hours later.  It was suspended under a floating dock.  I slipped a wacky in the space between 2 floats and it took it.  It was a nice healthy small Largemouth.  I didn't measure it, but it was small.  Look at my hand in the picture.   After than I called it a day,  came home and took Mrs B out for Supper.   

 

So why aren't Bass in the creeks, and why do they seem to be so scattered?   We've had record rainfall the past few months.  I wonder if "bad stuff" has washed into the creeks and something just isn't right with the water.  I'm sure a bunch of swampy stagnant water got washed into the lake via the creeks but the rain started several months ago.   There's some baitfish up the creeks, but not like years past.  There's a BUNCH of turtles up the creeks.   Do oxygen levels vary from one part of the lake to another?  I would think the levels in 57-60 degree water would be pretty stable.   

I was going to go to another lake one day this week (Monticello Reservoir SC) but it's been really windy.  Monticello is way smaller that Wylie but is basically a big round bowl.  It turns into the ocean in strong winds.   The wind was straight out of the North today, strong enough for big whitecaps.  I know where to go, and where to not go on Wylie in my smallish boat and strong winds.   

 

So, Woody, you basically fished six hours with wet, cold hands and not catching any bass, as you caught your first on your second cast and your last right at the end. That's hardcore, Woody. Hat's off to you!

If they aren't up on the bank be it main lake or the back of creeks, then I'd expect for them to be staged up at the closest secondary and even main lake points leading to the locations you know they'll spawn at.     

 

If you found them good in the winter, and you know where they'll be spawning.....it's just a matter of drawing a line between the two points and concentrating on the fishy looking spots b/t the two.   

 

I think we as anglers get way too locked into water temps, or another of the main spawn trigger events like moon cycle, instead of just using our eyeballs, and fish catches (the color of the fish, condition of the tail, and often times pinkish looking areas that indicate stress) to put the puzzle together.   I wasted the first 6 weeks of the spawn last year, and a big reason for that was I wasn't up on the banks looking for bucks, beds, and eventually pairs. 

 

Once they make their push up shallow, I don't think they back that far out until they go true post spawn mode.   

 

20 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Once they make their push up shallow, I don't think they back that far out until they go true post spawn mode.   

 

I've never seen them "go back" but I think maybe for some reason they have this year.  I've caught 3 LM's over 5, and several Spots over 3 earlier this month 7 feet or less deep.  Maybe it's a different group of fish but I caught 9 today (all spots) and they were all at least 15 feet deep.  After struggling yesterday I decided to use my electronics.   The shallowest Bass I caught today was 15 feet deep at the end of a dock.  It was the biggest, but only 16".  (pictured).  The others were toward and off the ends of points 15 to 25 feet deep.  6 of the others were between 14" and 15" with a couple "micro bass".   Not what I was wanting, but it was nice to catch a "limit" that was legal length.  (even though there's no limit on Spots here)

I stopped by and talked to a friend of mine (who's a retired pro Bass fisherman) today.  He said this weather has the Bass scattered.   It's not been cold but the water temperature is 3 to 4 degrees cooler than it was 2 weeks ago.  I suppose, in addition to the crazy weather there's a diverse bunch of spawners.  A couple years ago I caught a Bass with a bloody tail (near the Nuclear plant discharge) in January.  Last year I caught one that was fat and full of eggs in late June.  

 

Katie, I had some "Hot Hands" hand warmers.  They just hadn't warmed up for the first picture.  My hands weren't cold and wet for long.   

 

I still think you're hardcore, Woody. 

A couple of fish from this week. 

 

Hit a family pond today. Put my nephew on a beetlespin on my 30 yr old zebco ultralight ugly stick I just cleaned up and he caught this one on second cast. Now he's interested in fishing 😎 my work here is done. Definitely the highlight of family Easter, for me at least. 

Great job @FishTax!  

 

Nothing better than passing on the passion to the next generation.

Saw some baitfish jumping out of the water. Made a couple casts with a chatterbait and ended up getting this hog. 
 

 

Peak pre-spawn hog at that....congrats on the fantastic fish!   

Today I caught my first 8" hudd fish... after over 100 hours fishing it over the years. I've caught fish on bigger baits but for some reason I could never get them on the traditional slow bottom crawl. I was retrieving it mid column and watched this fish engulf it near the end of my cast. A new personal best!

 

 

 

 

 

Daygum monster @Fried Lemons, huge congrats on such a special fish!  

Let's GO @Fried Lemons!  That's a dang gorgeous fish!

 

@Woody B here in central NC they definitely were close and then pulled back.  Water temps have dropped 5 degrees over the past week or so.  I think a few already fired before it hit and may have locked in for a little while but mostly I think the lions share is still waiting to do their thing and we got a real spring this year in NC rather than dropping straight into summer like we did last year!

An eventful evening. Numbers were decent, managed 12 bass, ten of them on a chrome jerkbait and two on a spinnerbait.

 

 

About an hour after I started, these two guys showed up across the pond from me, no big deal. Saw them catch a couple of tilapia and throw them in a bucket, so I'm thinking heck yeah keep it up, get those things out of here! Welp, then they decided to bring that bucket over to an area I was just recently fishing, and start feeding a 5 foot gator that was sunning there. Biiiiig no no here in FL. I let them know that what they were doing was illegal, that people fish here with their kids and walk their dogs here, and feeding that gator is putting them in danger.

 

Walked back to where I was fishing and they didn't seem too dissuaded, ended up calling FWC and their operator dispatched an officer to me after I explained the situation to her. Unfortunately the guys saw me on the phone and I'm guessing knew what I was up to so they hoofed it out of there within a few minutes of me ending the call. Unfortunately it means that gator will get trapped an killed so that it doesn't pose a danger to people.

 

On the bright side, I did manage to get into a nicer fish, biggest of the evening went 5lb even, caught on a spinnerbait. My second biggest spinnerbait fish currently.

 

 

Ate it right at the bank, inhaled at when I gave it one last little pause/pop.

 

@Aaron_H that's a nice fish there!  Spinnerbaits rule hard.  I'm feeling like they kinda pick up where the lipless leaves off in some ways as the spring gets more pronounced.  Something about the way they hover and dance in the windy or muddy water really gets big fish riled up.

 

I see @Aaron_H is back to his old ways, just posting slaunch donkies on the reg 😎

 

 

Had a great day out on the water. Started off sunny and by lunchtime the storm had moved in with some cool rain and snow up the hill. Water temp 58* and saw some bucks up shallow making beds. Good times just right around the corner. 

 

 

 

They were primarily interested in finesse and a wacky senko was the ticket.

 

 

Underspin also picked up quite a few, including this overzealous crappie.

 

No giants but catching a bunch of 15-18" spots was a great time.

Thanks to high wind and heavy rain for the last 36 hours, we didn't have snow on the ground today, which is great. However, we're supposed to get another six to ten inches of snow on Wednesday, so I'm going fishing on Tuesday. The high is forecast to be 47, so the bass will be cold, but I'm hoping they'll feed before Wednesday's nor'easter, which is a North Atlantic storm.

 

I won't catch big ones like @NorcalBassin, @Aaron_H, and @Fried Lemons, but if I catch one or two, I'll be happy. Heck, I'll just be happy to be paddling and casting and trying to guess what a shivering bass might gobble. 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I'm going fishing on Tuesday.

Ooh, keep me updated. I'm always so confused trying to figure out how to catch bass in early spring.