Visited a an old favorite, small lake that I hadn't been to for a couple years. Surface temp 53.   I was catching, but not much size: two on small twin buzzbait, otherwise, scattered bites with no pattern I could interpret.  The grass really threw me.  It was almost like my home lake in NC where they have already sprayed this year, dark and slimy.  I seriously doubt they spray this lake, so maybe a mild winter prevented a 'normal' near complete die off....I don't know, but it made it hard to fish around/in, and nothing biting across the top of it.  I did find myself in a small cove getting bit by a few 1-2 pounders.  Remembering a recent thread here, I turned around and casted out behind, into over 20 fow, and dragged up to the weed line and found bigger fish hanging around 15'....a lot deeper than I expected. 

 

Took the canoe out this foggy, chilly morning. Wasn't expecting much, then wham! This one was angry at my little keitech, and glad I remembered to check the drag on the ML beforehand. Just under 21" and healthy

14 hours ago, NorcalBassin said:

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.

The markings on those spots are awesome!

Pre spawn bite in full swing. This is prime time for numbers and size. They kept me busy yesterday as well. These two were my best. Small blade bait fished quick and shallow did the trick. Also gave me my pb foul hooked gizzard shad, lol.

Good gracious ! Now I see why @The Bassman catches monsters in his small ponds . Thats a meal and a dessert size gizzard 

@The Bassman: Gosh, those are big bass and double gosh, that's a small pond!

1 hour ago, The Bassman said:

Pre spawn bite in full swing. This is prime time for numbers and size. They kept me busy yesterday as well. These two were my best. Small blade bait fished quick and shallow did the trick. Also gave me my pb foul hooked gizzard shad, lol.

That pink color is a big bass killer. I really miss those small ponds - lol.

2 day report.  I had family stuff yesterday and today but I managed to fish a little.   Yesterday (in 3 hours) I caught 7 small Largemouth.  (no pictures, I'm talking 10 to 12 in buck bass).   I couldn't find the big ladies.  I thought I had one.  I caught a 9.66 pound Blue Cat. (soon to have picture in other species thread)   The Cat's I catch on bass lures usually slam them.  This one was on a bladed jig.  It didn't slam it.  I felt the blade quit moving, and set the hook.  It didn't twist and turn like Blues usually do.  It was fast, and shaking it's head while staying deep the whole time.  The first time I got it near the boat I saw a gray/silver flash.  I thought it was a huge Spot until I  got it ready to boat.   I have more family stuff today, but it was on the lake.  I fished early, went to lunch, then fished a few more hours.  I ended up with 15 Bass,  mostly Largemouth.   They were all ~halfway back in pockets hugging cover.  The smallest one "might" have been 14".  (first picture) It was really pale, like a winter Bass.  2 others were pale also.   The biggest was an 18" fat Largemouth full of eggs.  I didn't weight it, just held it next to my inch markings on my boat and quickly released her.   A couple (including the pale one) were on a Buzz Bait before the wind got up.  The others were split between a shaky head, spinner bait and bladed jig.  I guess the water temperature has confused the Bass as much as it has confused me.  Yesterday I found bucks on secondary points.  Today I found bigger "does" further into the pockets.   No bloody tails or other post spawn signs on any the last 2 days.   The lake was FULL of boaters both days.  Between that and the wind the lake was like the ocean.  

 

 

Added: The hair police have been stressed lately due to his weather.  I got a hair cut so I wouldn't induce any more stress.  

Looks like @Woody B catch increased by 22% because of a haircut. Proven increase in success.

First bass oriented trip of the year.  Fished duck lake montcalm co michigan.  Duck lake is a good sized lake but, fairly shallow.  the lake probably only averages 3-4 feet deep.  I’ve started on duck the last 3 seasons as it is one of the fastest lakes to warm up and have decent  water temps.  water temp was 41-42.2 F.  

 

no real pattern.  judging by a fat 22 inch pike that i caught the pike havnt even spawned yet.  looks like the bass are still in their winter pattern which, on this lake means they are hanging out in 4-6 ft of water. not ready to spawn yet or even thinking about it. 

 

caught a couple 16 inch bass a 14 inch bass and a couple pike.   the big bass and pike came on a blue gill LC 95 pointer.  a couple bass and pike came on a SSR-7 perch shad rap.  Had a hammer handle steal my delta craw sr-5 shad rap. My current personal best was caught on that delta shad rap.  that was a bummer. however, not bad for the first bass trip of the year. 

 

Fat bass, Woody!

 

Fat pike, Michael!

 

 

2 hours ago, Mbirdsley said:

First bass oriented trip of the year.  Fished duck lake montcalm co michigan.  Duck lake is a good sized lake but, fairly shallow.  the lake probably only averages 3-4 feet deep.  I’ve started on duck the last 3 seasons as it is one of the fastest lakes to warm up and have decent  water temps.  water temp was 41-42.2 F.  

 

no real pattern.  judging by a fat 22 inch pike that i caught the pike havnt even spawned yet.  looks like the bass are still in their winter pattern which, on this lake means they are hanging out in 4-6 ft of water. not ready to spawn yet or even thinking about it. 

 

caught a couple 16 inch bass a 14 inch bass and a couple pike.   the big bass and pike came on a blue gill LC 95 pointer.  a couple bass and pike came on a SSR-7 perch shad rap.  Had a hammer handle steal my delta craw sr-5 shad rap. My current personal best was caught on that delta shad rap.  that was a bummer. however, not bad for the first bass trip of the year. 

 

 

Nice. Not bad at all for low 40s. 

I was determined to learn from my mistakes and amazing amount of frustration during March of 23 (documented in this thread lol).   Failure is the best motivator, and by my records, this March was the 2nd best month I've had in 20 months being back on the water.   

 

Yesterday was great, had 5-22lbs.   Today not so great, watched an easy 7-8lb fish on bed with a paired male, but only the male would fire.  I left them alone after a few minutes but with much disappointment.   She dwarfed the male, and the male was close to 3.   

 

 

6.8

 

6.4

 

Then from Fri afternoon

 

6 even (one of the few fish I wish I had a length from, very long)

 

First Fry Balls I've seen, but I'm sure I've missed some earlier ones....now realize only a handful of those countless individuals make it to be a 12" fish, then the odds of that 12" fish reaching 17.5" is equally as daunting.   We as humans have it quite easy.  

35 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

Nice. Not bad at all for low 40s. 

no not bad at all.  I’m guessing the deeper lakes in the area like Crystal might be around 35-37 degrees.   educated guess. 

Three more six-pounders and yet another twenty-pound bag. Forget about the NCAA. March Madness is all about Alex!

Drifting the Tennessee yesterday......well actually I wasn't. Nickajack was not letting any water out so the river was very low and the fish were nowhere near the banks. But, I finally did get on the board with my first two 15" plus fish. Got a Smallie on a swimbait and a Spot on a Ned. Caught a variety of littl'uns on a Tiny Rap including a Crappie to make Team9 jealous......not really! That Crappie proves hunger is a powerful motivator! 

PS if someone can explain to me how to prevent pictures from loading sideways, I will be grateful.

Bob, at the end of last year, I encountered the same problem with my photos loading sideways. I'd reorient them in my photo-adjusting program and then load them and they'd revert to sideways. Anyway, good fishing, Bob!

Well I'm way behind on my reports, but I guess better late than never. 

 

Day 1 

Launched at Sizemore Landing with about 12 other kayaks. I was the only one without a motor so at 0630, I watched everyone else blast off, then hopped in my kayak and started kind of kicking around and scanning since I hadn't fished this area at all in practice. 

 

As soon as the sun started to lighten the sky after lines in, the schooling started. I hadn't had much luck getting the schooling fish to bite, but I had a different bait ready for them this morning and it flipped the switch for them.

The Rapala Crush City Freeloader on a 1/16oz Hover Head just slowly swam through the schoolers did all the heavy lifting in the morning on day 1. I started with a 16" fish.

Then went back to back with 16.75" inchers.

A 17" fish and a 13 incher rounded out my limit.

It all happened so fast, I had no idea what I had, what time it was, what had even happened really. I culled the 13" with another 17" fish.

And then culled the 16" fish with another 16.75" fish.

It was about 0830 at this point, only 1.5 hours into the day and I was already into the mid 80's on my limit, which was my goal for the day. My buddy Jon and his son pulled up in the boat to watch me and then another boat pulled up. I thought I was going to have someone park on top of me and fish because it had happened so many times, but it turned out to be Mark Cisneros from Bassmaster. He introduced himself and told me he was going to take some pictures. My heart was already going, but I knew what it meant having the camera boat pull up on me, even if it was early in the morning on the first day. Trying to fish when I knew they were there watching me, I haven't been that nervous since I drove my first born home from the hospital. 

Jon took a picture of the camera boat, taking pictures of me.

Some action shots, unfortunately the bite had died by the time they got there and I only caught 1 tiny smallmouth while they were there.

Now when I tell you that my bite died, it was stone dead. If I only knew how close I was to the motherlode though. I fished until 1330, with 1 more dink largemouth to show for it, before I decided to move to another ramp where I had 1 short stretch of bank across from the ramp where I'd done well in practice. I caught several more there in the last hour and hooked 2 that felt good, but both just came off my jig for some reason. I ended the day in 20th, but it was a tight race and it wasn't out of reach. I never looked at the scoreboard, couldn't make myself do it, but my wife took a couple screenshots.

Sorry about the audio on this video, but there may not be a day 2 video so this is all I've got for now.

 

 

I did go out for a few hours yesterday on Easter and caught myself an overinflated football. 17.5" and 3.75lbs on the Strike King Rodent with a Gamakatsu Nano Alpha 4/0 EWG Superline hook. 

 

 

Imagine Cher singing this:

 

If I could turn back time

If I could find Clayton a way

To go back to the motherlode

On that day! 

19 hours ago, gimruis said:

Looks like @Woody B catch increased by 22% because of a haircut. Proven increase in success.

I hope this works for me. I've got short hair for the first time in 4 years. 

Just now, IcatchDinks said:

I hope this works for me. I've got short hair for the first time in 4 years. 

Well alright.  I bet it feels great not having a birds nest on top of your head!

@Woody B: Woody, don't come to Maine with your Sinead O'Connor head. I'll have to call you good ol' Frosty Top.  

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

@Woody B: Woody, don't come to Maine with your Sinead O'Connor head. I'll have to call you good ol' Frosty Top.  

 

I think I saw your lake front property yesterday, and it wasn't in Maine.  There was a house under construction....5000+ square feet with a huge newly constructed dock and boat lift.  There was a single canoe on the boat lift.  I should have taken a picture.  If I get back in that area this weekend I'll snap a pic if the canoe is still there.  

@Woody B, one of my old customers had a mansion on the most prime lot on the lake , same thing. Hydraulic Boat lift with bunks like a trailer, red canoe sitting on it 😂 

Quote

5000+ square feet

 

No thank you. That's 5,000 square feet to clean. I'll take the lot and the canoe and pass on everything else.