A silent jerkbait up fairly shallow was the ticket again today . . .

A-Jay

Had a productive day today. This one was the biggest of the bunch. I was coming up on a rocky point so I said to myself, "self, I wonder if there are any crayfish (crawfish, for you southerners) in this here lake".

 

I had already been doing well catching a handful ripping a bluegill pattern lipless crank through weeds. So I decided to put a craw pattern lipless on. First cast, fish on. As I'm taking the hook out of it's mouth, I see 2 crayfish claws sticking out of it's throat. So I guess that answered my question!

 

 

Crappie are spawning like crazy here right now. When they get like that it can be hard to even fish for bass. They'll attack anything and I get frustrated dealing with them. I took a different approach Thursday. I kept catching crappie, so I just started keeping them since my parents had been asking for some fish to eat. I didn't even have a crappie rod or bait, but a 1/16oz chartreuse Ned rig head with a Purple Death TRD TicklerZ was doing just fine. Every piece of wood I pitched at had crappie on it. I caught some jumbos, but tossed them back in favor of the easier to clean 10-12 inch males. Pretty much had forgotten about bass when I pitched to a stump in 2' of water on a secondary point and set into what I assumed was a drum, until it went airborne. Not a real fun fight in a stump field, I was pretty surprised to get to touch it really. Another smallie over 4, this one went 4.69lbs, I believe my 4th over 4 from Kansas this year? Crazy.

Wasn't 2 minutes later I did it again, this time a 3.56.

 

Kept all the crappie I could stand to clean with my cheap Wal-Mart knife. Filled a gallon bag most of the way up.

 

 

You need a bigger ruler! ? 

I've got a 30" kayak board, but I never bring it in the boat. It's 18.5" at the end of the board, if I'd put her on the board right and pinched her tail, probably a 19.25-19.5" smallmouth and obviously not missing any meals.

9 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Crappie are spawning like crazy here right now. When they get like that it can be hard to even fish for bass. They'll attack anything and I get frustrated dealing with them.

 

Beautiful smallie!  

 

The crappie are a different story up at Smithville.  I have been out there with my grandkids and my wife over the last couple of weeks.  The unstable weather has kept the water temperature around 58 to 59 degrees except for really sunny warm days where the top layer will hit 61 or so at selected spots.  Smithville is 7150 acres so maybe it hasn't warmed as quickly as the lakes you are on?  We have had three big days in that two weeks where we limited out on fish that appeared to be moving to the bank and were at a stopping point on the way there.  The rest of the time the fish have been scattered and deeper.  I expect the consistent warm days next week will result in them fully committing to the spawn.

The lake I was on is 7,000 acres and water temps were 57-59. They were extremely shallow. Didn't catch a fish deeper than 4' and most were less than 2' deep.

Interesting.  I haven't been to Smithville since Thursday so we will see how it is next time. 

56 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The lake I was on is 7,000 acres and water temps were 57-59. They were extremely shallow. Didn't catch a fish deeper than 4' and most were less than 2' deep.

I believe I fished that same lake Monday. Water temp was 59. Crappie were hitting everything I threw. Ended up keeping a couple dozen for my neighbor. If it is the same lake, It might be a little  bit iarger than 7000 acres.

It was a Ned Rig kind of day ~ 

A-Jay

Finally had good weather, and the females were coming to bed. Caught these two about a hour apart. The first photo she ate a craw and the second a senko. Second ones a new PB!

@Swbass15, congrats! 

Boated 11 more bass and a huge crappie yesterday all falling for Spinnerbaits and chatterbaits.

Best bass just under 5 lbs.

 

Fun afternoon at the river yesterday afternoon.  A friend and I hit a few different locations throwing plastics on jigs for whatever would bite.

 

We ended up getting at least 12 walleye between us and I got the only two smallies.  The one pictured was a decent one right before heavy rain started dumping on us.  The walleye my friend has in the picture went 25".  They were snapping at B Fish'n Moxies and Pulse-Rs.

 

Another early morning to beat the crowds. Got one nice one, and the other buck off the bed. Big momma wouldn’t commit though.

First trip back to the home lake since it shut down a few weeks ago. Felt great getting back out there despite what seemed like half the bass and kokanee fishermen in CA being out there with us. Picked up around 60 with 2/3rds of the fish coming between 10-12 until a mid-day lull sent us home for the day. 

 

One of the better ones...

 

Pops with a nice spot...

 

Good news was it was a new species PB on this lake. Bad news was it wasn't the right species. Thought I had a DD LM for the first 15 seconds or so, then it just turned into the catfish v. carp v. trout quandary for the next few minutes.

 

Nicely Done.

and Best Hoodie EVER ~ ! 

A-Jay

Just another wonderful time on the water , jerkbait and small swimbaits are the ticket this time of year.. slower day than normal with around 30 fish for the day but I had to snap a couple pics and the random northern that decided to eat. They wanted them faster as the water temps are reaching 54-56 now , soon we will see those beds forming and chaos begins ! They are all so fat! 

4.27lb pond bass today. 


 

Almost a heart shaped blotch on that smallie.

Bait finally showed up in the mail yesterday after a long quarantine in Japan. Took it out after work this morning and it got blasted right on the edge of some emerging water willows.

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Almost a heart shaped blotch on that smallie.

Didn’t even notice how accurate that is, pretty neat.  

My pup finally had the courage to sniff a fish today.  

First fish of the year, and first ever pandemic fish... No biguns, but quantity. All caught on a Pad Crasher Jr (which I found at another lake) and a T-rigged Rage Tail Structure Bug. All in spars emerging lily pad between 1-2 fow.

 

 

First decent Largemouth of 2020

 

 

And one of these toothy, slimy, critters