Bass at sunset
I went out last night around 5:00 to get a few hours of fishing in on a lake just west of the metro. Conditions were great. Sunshine, warm and gentle winds. The water was clear with 8 foot or more of visibility. Perfect for looking at fish and trying to catch them. Water temps have finally started to come up. Most of the lake was hovering around 60-61 degrees.
Small fish were roaming the shallows near the launch as we pulled away from the dock. I had never been on the lake but it was rumored to be good. After looking at the map we decided to start on a shallow flat on the south end of the lake and look around. More small fish were cruising the shallows. We caught several 10" fish on a ring fry rigged weightless and a jig. While casting to a dock in 3 feet of water, we were shocked to see a loon come firing out of the shallows chasing a school of fish. He stopped as he drove his bill into the soft bottom just feet from the boat. He popped to the surface with his catch displayed for a moment and then tilted his head back and swallowed the small bass. Then he proudly swam off as to say "thats how you catch em boys".
After retrieving my lure from the dock (I got a little distracted during the commotion) we moved a little further out and tried some weeds in 6-7 feet of water. Weed growth is still behind schedule and finding thicker weeds seems to help bunch up the fish. I made a long cast to a shiny spot I could see a long way off. Within a few moments I was hooked into a little better fish. He was a 14" buck, most likely sitting on a bed.
Another boat was working our way so we fired the big motor and moved to a row of docks adjacent to deep water. I switched to a grub and started swimming it around the docks. It was working well but not the quality of fish I was looking for. My partner continued to wear them out on his jig, but also smaller fish.
We worked around the lake and hit several more spots before the sun went down. We never found the big ones but managed to land a fish on almost everything we threw. Our largest fish was right around 15". A football of a fish that looked to me to be ready to spawn. As we pulled the boat out of the water 7 or 8 boats were measuring fish. It was a small multi species tournament. The biggest fish brought in was a 17" bass. The majority of the bass brought in were between 12" and 14".
I will be back on the lake next week. Hopefully we can find a few more of the big females.
Small fish were roaming the shallows near the launch as we pulled away from the dock. I had never been on the lake but it was rumored to be good. After looking at the map we decided to start on a shallow flat on the south end of the lake and look around. More small fish were cruising the shallows. We caught several 10" fish on a ring fry rigged weightless and a jig. While casting to a dock in 3 feet of water, we were shocked to see a loon come firing out of the shallows chasing a school of fish. He stopped as he drove his bill into the soft bottom just feet from the boat. He popped to the surface with his catch displayed for a moment and then tilted his head back and swallowed the small bass. Then he proudly swam off as to say "thats how you catch em boys".
After retrieving my lure from the dock (I got a little distracted during the commotion) we moved a little further out and tried some weeds in 6-7 feet of water. Weed growth is still behind schedule and finding thicker weeds seems to help bunch up the fish. I made a long cast to a shiny spot I could see a long way off. Within a few moments I was hooked into a little better fish. He was a 14" buck, most likely sitting on a bed.
Another boat was working our way so we fired the big motor and moved to a row of docks adjacent to deep water. I switched to a grub and started swimming it around the docks. It was working well but not the quality of fish I was looking for. My partner continued to wear them out on his jig, but also smaller fish.
We worked around the lake and hit several more spots before the sun went down. We never found the big ones but managed to land a fish on almost everything we threw. Our largest fish was right around 15". A football of a fish that looked to me to be ready to spawn. As we pulled the boat out of the water 7 or 8 boats were measuring fish. It was a small multi species tournament. The biggest fish brought in was a 17" bass. The majority of the bass brought in were between 12" and 14".
I will be back on the lake next week. Hopefully we can find a few more of the big females.
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I would rig the Trick Worms weightless texas rigged and fish them with twitches like a jerk bait. I believe they call it the "Trick Worm" because of the action that thing achieves when it is twitched. I tended to favor colors that made the bait stand out at a distance. When the bait would disappear I knew a fish had taken it. Mertherolate was my #1 color but I also used bubblegum, lime, and white. I also had success with black which I would fish with more off a lift fall twitch twitch fall.
I fished it in shallow water 1-4' on spawning flats where vegitation was starting to sprout early in the season. Right now is prime time for my Trick Worm pattern.
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