barometer 30.16 and steady. humidity 34%. partly cloudy and calm winds in the morning with 10-20 mph wind and light trade showers in the afternoon. moon phase waning crescent.water temp stayed consistent at 70 -71 degrees. air temp was 61 at 7 am and topped out at 76 at noon. water level was 69.70 ft. water clarity ranged from less than a foot with heavy stain in south fork to 1-2ft with light stain in the main basin. we started our day on the lake at 7 am, we were the first at the ramp but it didn't take long for 3 more boats to quickly show up right behind us. no sooner did we launch than another boat quickly did and got the takeoff on us. we motored right behind him as he was a much smaller boat and i didn't want to wake him by flying by. he stopped across from cow point and we motored on by. my son made the call to stop just after the cow point turn and start our fishing. i had on a rebel super pop R, he had on his usual floating buzzbait. we began casting just near the ironwoods. it was on the 3rd cast i had a good hit just in between two logs. it missed and i quickly grabbed the spinning rod with a senko rigged as a follow up bait. i made my cast to the same spot as the hit and didn't even get to start my retrieve when my son , whom had cast to the front of the boat started yelling. as i looked over i quickly saw the boil with his line in the middle of it and realized he had a fish, i don't think he knew he had a fish hahahaha. it was his first fish caught from beginning to end all by himself, made the cast retrieved it and caught and reeled in the fish all on his own. i don't know who was prouder him or I! from then on we had steady action and the pop R really started to get bit. we had 2 more fish in short order. lost one on a jump and landed the second one. it went maybe a 1.5lbs nice and chunky. we soon had another little tiny wooden boat pull up right behind us, literally! so close my son looked at me and said " dad i can't even cast, they are too close" i don't know what they were thinking, another boat I've never seen on the lake. there are more and more each weekend. the boat across from us had a guy with texas plates and it was one of those basshunter plastic boats, again someone id never seen before. he caught a nice little chunk on the point right across from us, he looked to be throwing a jig or some sort of small soft plastic. kinda pitching it into little areas up along the bank. the small wooden boat finally jumped around us and again against all common sense or etiquette jumped maybe 20 yards in from of us on the bank and started fishing again!!! i mean come the f%$K on right!!! id have lost my cool but we were still doing good and caught another 1.3lb bass right behind them. worked the bank a bit further and saw them get a good sized bass. finally said screw it, too crowded and we made the run down to boy scout island . fished the point which is fully exposed now and saw tons of bait on the graph but didn't get anything even on the several kinds of baits we threw. we then ran over to the military housing area and fished a couple of the points and then into the coves there hoping for a pre spawn staging area, but to no avail. made the run over to condo cliffs and fished the south fork side of it. no luck again on multiple baits. even the tried and true jig and craw came up empty. motored over to kemoo island and threw a pose 300 crankbait at several points. worked the jig a bit deeper. finally had a nice tag on the poes as we rounded a small point. nice 2.3 lb peacock bass. very fun fight and usually rare this time of year but they seemed to be becoming more active from what i have heard from other posts. saw a couple of small busts out under the power lines. very short very far and few between. graph showed lots of bait and suspended fish around them though. we went over to the saddle and coaxed the geese over with some crackers , its so funny because even without his red hat ( he has a new lucky bass pro hat in beige and white) the geese seemed to recognize him and the boat and immediately got all excited even though we were some distance away. as he fed them i threw my black and blue jig and craw with the mr twister trailer. dragging it along the edges of the saddle i hooked a nice chunky 2.8lb largemouth. always count on the jig!! i fished some more till the crackers ran out but didn't get anything more. we motored back toward the ramp for the noon exchange and fished several spots with no luck. finally got another little chunky largemouth on a berkley havoc pit boss. then we went back to the ramp. traded the kid for lunch and took off up into south fork hoping to find some pre spawn fish. water was much dirtier and lower up there. fished hard with a red wiggle wart crankbait .switched it up with a spinnerbait and the jig but no luck. changed the jig trailer to a bo hawg frog pork chunk and continued on. graph didn't show much in the way of bait of fish up there.worked several lay down and steeper bluff banks with no luck. went all the way upto the old military bridge and it was low enough to pass right under with the only thing blocking the way being all the wood piled against the pilings. flipped the jig into several areas and finally caught a nice 2.3lb bass . it was very pale and white i guess from being in the muddy water. didn't get another hit so i started back on my way down into south fork. threw at more lay down and a couple of other points with no luck. went into rose street slough but it was very muddy and nothing seemed to be in there. the falling water seemed to have driven most of the fish into the deeper haunts. the depth finder was registering 13 ft in the middle of the lake at this point.headed back down past the ramp and back to the area where all the top water action had taken place, fish them with the pit boss and the jig and pig but with no luck. worked down to the bamboo cove and fished them with a combination of spinnerbait and soft plastics and jig and pig but still no luck. made a run to across from the old effluent plant and fished the steep bank and all the lay downs. caught a bass on a red wiggle wart crank bait but he got off at the boat, sportsman's release. noticed some intermittent busts out in the middle, earlier there had been very large shad schools all through the area out in the middle so i made a few casts with the only topwater i had on. it was the super pop R Zell Rowland edition with his signature on it. i had the go pro hero on and as i made a comment that tucs never hit pop R's i had a vicious strike. at first i though a bass but it fought like hell and then the first jump i knew it was a tuc!!! a big ole tuc!! got it on vid i hope it turned out. fish of the day for sure hands down! moved on fishing as i went no luck along the boy scout point, no luck along the coves and points along the military housing. fished condo cliffs with no luck back to kemo'o island and caught another small 1lb bass on a crank bait. drop shotted the saddle but nothing. ran back along condo cliffs and caught another small keeper on the red wiggle wart. day was drawing to a close so i made the run back up to the bamboo cove and fished the opposite bank with no luck. ran back to the ironwoods along the retirement condo and caught another small bass on the devilsspear , then one on the jig and pig. worked around cow point. and decided to make one pass along that new big lay down near the bridge, alas another boat was working along that side and i had to bide my time. for some reason he took off and left the tree. i swooped in and got one on my first cast with the devilsspear, got off on a jump. i regrouped and after a few more casts into the deeper pocket of the tree i had a second much bigger one on but it wrapped me up and got off. i felt it for several seconds before i lost it and eventually my bait as well. this ended a very successful sunday on the water. despite the heavy pressure and all the new boats, including the clueless guys with no etiquette. my son and myself had a blast and the camera got another try. hopefully i can learn to get new and better shots with it!
No comments:
Post a Comment