Took a buddy out yesterday morning and this afternoon for a little pond hopping and baitcaster lessons for him. The bite is on. Swim baits and spinner baits seem to be the ticket. But my buddy took his PB (3lbs) on a tube being thrown as a follow up bait after it missed my swim bait. A lot of dinks,but 6 over 2 pounds and one just shy of 5. Spinnerbait was a Booyah 3/8 double gold willow blades with a custom skirt in blk/slvr/wht fished at a med/slow speed. The swim bait was the Luck"E"Strike bass majic in natural shad on a Zoom horny toad hook with a 5/16 weight that is customized to be crimped to the hooks shank, fished it alot slower than the spinner bait with slight twiches and the hammered it. Starting to get good.............  

Nice! Can't wait to get out there again. Nasty weather forecast for the weekend but we'll get together soon.

Good report. This is the week its going to bust wide open here on Smith Mtn too.....bite has been real good the past few days.

Thanks for the report Rob, good to see that Lake Royal is active.  Lake Mercer has picked up a lot as well.  I caught a 3.5lb, a 3.75lb and a 1.5lb last Saturday.

Good info.   I was out at Royal two time a week ago and it was pretty dead.  One each day at 10" & 12" on Finess worms on the point.  Glad it's picking up.  

Where on the lake are they hitting now and do you know where they'll spawn?

Don't think Rob was fishing Royal. I could be wrong though.

Andrew is correct. I was not at Royal. A couple of guys said they caught a 7.5 and 9 pounder a couple of days ago out of Royal. I will make it out there one evening with a swim bait and see whats up, the water is real dirty right now.

Nice to hear!  I'm bringing the telescoping rod to work tomorrow and checking out the action at Lake Barton around 5pm.

Paul, are you still due for your first bass of 08? Hope you crush'em!

Closest I've come is almost pulling one up to the shore at Royal while almost stepping on a big dead turtle.  Don't forget those 2 bluegills though. ;D

Way to whack em Flippin. I've not had much luck with swimbaits--but then I haven't made a serious effort with them. Was the water in the pond you were fishing relatively clear, or have you had success with swimbaits in stained/dirty water as well?

Flippin4it, You are right on the money!  The fishing is starting off strong!

I caught a 4.5lb LMB on a watermellon with gold flake swim senko in a pond this evening. I had a 1/4oz black lead bullet weight as well. I got the bit a foot off of shore. He killed it immediately after I turned the handle. Extremely stained water with 1 foot visibility. Caught a 2.5lber running down the edge of the pond as well.

I have not sniffed a bite on a Money Minnow (Basstrix knockoff) yet. I am ready to give the Mattlures Baby Bass a try this Sunday in clear water. I did quite well with it in the tanic water in Florida last month!

I've been catching a few here and there in a couple of recent outings. Hopefully with all this warm weather I'll have a really good day by the end of the week.

  Vekol, the water was slightly stained. The key is getting the hook in them. I'm throwing them on a Kistler Helium 6'9 MH matched with a Johnny Morris reel spooled with 15lbs Yozuri hybrid and i'm setting the hook "HARD".

        I went again this afternoon after work and caught 5 Largies and one massive bluegill on a chrt/wht Gerkin spinnerbait with double gold willow blades. It seems every place I've been, the spinnerbait has been working every time, but only with gold blades. I have thrown sliver blades with double colorado, tandem and double willow with zero results. The skirt color does not seem to matter.  

What's a Gerkin spinnerbait? 8-)

Trever, shame on you...