im so behind on these reports hahaha. anyway we went out on presidents day. water temp was 70 degrees at launch and by noon had warmed up to 73 in places. wind was calm in the morning but ramped up to 15-30 by 2 pm. barometer was 30.14 and stable.new moon, partly cloudy most of the day with slight trade showers at times carried over by the wind. water visibility was heavy stain close to the ramp with 1ft visibility and medium to light stain in the main basin with 2-3 ft visibility in places. air temp was 63 at launch and warmed to 76 by noon, although once the wind came up it felt much colder and a jacket or long sleeve shirt felt good especially in the shade! 7 am launch, surprisingly we were the only boat at the ramp. i kinda expected a full lot, but i guess after the saturday rush and the tournament on sunday the rest of the fisherman decided to take the day off and rest. seems the bass had the same idea! we started our run toward the dam, and stopped at the new spot we call robbies spot after he caught his first bass all by himself there. its just on the back side of cow point and where the grass meets the ironwood trees. tried the pop R and robbie thrue his manns agitator buzzbait. we worked down the bank and got nothing they just were not there like they had been the week before. made the run down to boy scout island hoping to get on some shad schooling, last weekend there had been a fairly large school of shad just off boy scout point and i had gotten several bass that were hanging under it last week. alas i could not locate the shad this week and the bass were not there or were too pressured. i quickly realized that the fish had been pounded and i had to change things up. the heavy creature baits ,jig and craw, crank bait, tops waters. all had to be shelved for more small finesse baits. out came the senko weightless and a drop shot with a 6 in purple manns jelly worm. we headed down to condo cliffs and I cranked the south fork side , oddly i got a nice 1.5 lb bass off the end of a lone ironwood just where the military houses end and the cliffs begin. a red wiggle wart was the crank bait of choice in the stained water and low light conditions. cranked the rest of that side of the cliffs with no success. pretty much shelved the crankbait after that. slid over to kemoo island and drop shot'ed a few small points that are somewhat inconspicuous and so receive little pressure. again without the shad schools these spots were not working for us. we moved down to the saddle, long shot seeing as its another well known spot but figured its so good maybe it has refreshed. finally get on a few guys and pick up 2 nice 1.5 lb bass on consecutive casts. tried a few more but the lad was tired and the fishing was too slow for his tastes. time to trade him out after the geese get fed some crackers. we made the run back to the dock and looked for tadpoles, but they were all gone. he got his day on the lake and was tuckered time to get out and try some serious slowing down. tied on a purple,blue, and black jig with a black thorax and a purple bo hawg frog trailer. started to work down toward the retirement home condo from robbies spot. got all the way to the end of the bay where the steeper bank turns into a more stable muddy bank and caught a nice chunk on a laydown, but he came off. checked the line and lure , all g. second cast not 5ft from that laydown to another small lay down and bam ! little better fish, also jumped and threw the hook! damn!!! ok ok thought i had a possible turn around going but fished several more spots with same depth of about 10-12 ft and same cover and same depth change and nothing! so back to the drop shot, again at boy scout island point and this time got a nice 1 plus lb bass. but that was it for the point. back to condo cliffs,threw the jig and pig nada, threw the drop shot, nada. made a run up to the point before morgans, hadn't fished the north fork side of the basin in some time figured id check it out. hooked another small 1 plus lb bass on that point with the drop shot. ran up but skipped morgans. ran along the bluffs at kinkaids but had no luck about half way i turned around. it was getting late i was gonna throw some jig and pig along the straightaway near the bridge so i made the run back. tried the senko at several spots but it was so windy it was very hard to work and stay in position. threw the jig and pig at several good spots but nothing. finally began to throw deep into the center of some thick lay downs along the south side of the straightaway and got a solid hit on the devils spear, it came off though. switched sides and tried the big tree on the north side , even deep i didn't get anything, finally hung it up and lost it and another trokar hook. threw a slug go for the rest of the way back, but didn't get a single look or bite. fished all the way to the homeless camp along the freeway and finally gave it up. not too bad for such a tough day. caught several fish, very few boats out. i think maybe 4 total and myself all day. lots of bank fisherman but for a holiday weekend not crowded at all. with the water up and down and the weather so so and don't get me started on the lake pressure, i guess finesse will have to be the way to go. had we switched earlier might have gotten a few more fish , but its hard to do with a 6yr old in the boat. all in all still a great day on the lake with good memories and thats why i keep going back!
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