20180502-Shallow at the Bank Pattern continues

20180502-Shallow at the Bank Pattern continues

timed a short trip on a Major.Period… put in at the launch with 15 mph sustained and 20-25 mph gusts. I figured I would ride through all this chop to a shallow bay across the lake. This is the bay Earl tagged his Master Angle B.Crappie. I would basically pick up where we left off just a few days later.

The water temps picked up to just over 60° basically moving us into the pre-spawn period for B.Gills and many other panfish.

After an hour scouring the shallow bay I could not buy a panfish. Another boat with 2 anglers entered the bay and informed me they were going on their third hour without a hit! The cold front over the weekend really did a number … but the temps rebounded to almost normal for the season the past two days.

With little else in protected waters from the wind I set-off to discover a bite along the windward side of the lake. I could not spot a fish on sonar... I could not tempt a strike.

Moving between a pair of small stump lined islands I tagged a few small Y.Perch and a Junior N.Pike… got the blood going a little… all long casting/.016oz jig/Lil Minnow or waxie.

With the period nearly ending I tried one last little cut on the way to the launch. I have passed this little bay dozens of times through the years and I have never been tempted to test the waters within.

As I eased into the bay I looked on the contour map and noticed 4-6 feet was avg and maximum for the depth. I scanned for fish and noticed nothing. I fan casted my way into the bay without a bite. I took a long cast with the slip-float/Pink Waxie to some floating debri between some short docks and immediately hooked into a short R.Bass 5ft from shore. The shoreline was clean and lined with seawalls and is one of the main reasons the bay never interested me before. I noticed 64° water temps over 3° more than the rest of the lake.

I found a bite at the furthest end of the bay along a sandy bottomed area next to the seawall. One panfish after another with a nice lunker P.Seed with beautiful coloring in the mix. The Long-Cast/.016oz Jig/Lil Minnow or Pink waxie were the top baits.

My time was up and I had to leave the bite and make my way to the launch barely making a showing for the trip. i was thankful to finally find fish ... any fish! even though there were just a few and many were small i felt relieved just to get on any bite... the lunker p.seed was the cake.

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