20180504-High winds warning

20180504-High winds warning till 18:00 cant catch a break weather-wise… seems I’m always fighting the extremes.

Walked down to the bridge and cast UL jigs into the brown water white caps. Water will clear in a couple days after the t storms last night. Strong current thru the bridge… the fish avoid. So fishing will be a bit negative for awhile.

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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20180430-Brenden tags some nice shiners

20180430-Brenden tags some nice shiners

The afternoon started out with Brenden and I taking practice casts out on the lawn ended up taking it to the docks and tagging some nice shiners spawning in the shallow weeds. The 1” swim baits were to big for the fish though they smacked it and held on for awhile. Brenden and I then dropped down to the pink waxie on a .016 oz Jig tossed into the weed pockets to nail them… and of course Brooklynn wanted to hold and touch nearly everyone of them…good times

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20180430-we had a scheduled trip today that worked against the solunar tables

20180430-we had a scheduled trip today that worked against the solunar tables

… but scheduling and finding that gap between day care, school and work found us on the lake during the Lull.Period during a 93% solunar day. We saw it in the forecast… after a significant winter like weather the two days before bringing those water temps back down into the upper 40’s there was no cheating the solunar table. I believe we could of gotten away with some decent fish and numbers if it wasn’t for the huge temperature drop.

Once at the launch we were greeted with some wind, sun and warming temps. The water temp registered 49°… I wasn’t shocked or surprised. We were on the way for a tough slim picking trip… no doubt about it.

I flipped the side scan on to scan 120 ft both sides to look for the fish pulse… were they out deep, tightly schooled, deep or shallow… nothing. The Dead Sea.

We tried the Shallow at the Bank Pattern we were so successful the past few trips with zero response. We looked for them tight to cover, near and on the first break in the shallow coves. No pulse.

We brought the battle to one of our most productive coves… I side scanned 100 ft both sides all the way to the end … only spotting solitary isolated fish with no response to baits.

Once at the end I bottom bounced a Long-Cast/.016 oz jig/1” Apex Minnow and hooked up on a nice tag of a chunky egg laden SMB… saving my day… somewhat.

The only other fish was Earl’s junior LMB… could not spot or tag a single B.Crappie or B.Gill.

The near skunking on the Lull.Period only solidifies our belief in those solunar tables. Scheduling worked against us but it was really nice to hook up with friends and cast!

20180428-here is a great and simple tip to add considerable lifetime to plastic tails on collared barbed jig heads. Clip the tip section of the plastic bait approximately the length of the jig head itself off before inserting the plastic onto the hook. It saves splitting of the plastic since the section is now larger to accommodate the diameter of the collar and barb. This is where most failure starts where unclipped baits will start to split when the small tip is stretched over the collar.

add a drop of super glue on the collar and behind the jig head and this combo could go all day!

Guaranteed you will be pleasantly surprised!

20180426-Putting It Together… Cold Water Period, Shallow at the Bank Pattern and Major.Periods 

…looking at my schedule I needed to be back at the home base by 15:00 and noticed a Major period that would take place from 10:00 – 12:30 … in 35 mins time I was on the spot making my first cast near the 10:00 mark. 

Lake conditions were favorable with glass calm seas, sunshine, cool temps and 52° surf temp at the launch. 

I immediately took up position to fan cast the bank in 0 to 2-0’ of water continuing with the “fish at the bank” pattern I had success with the past couple trips… the bite continued! 

I continued tagging the 90% plus Master Angler Rated B.Crappie with a few exceeding the 13” mark with a specimen at nearly 96%...and an occasion mid LMB and Midsized Lepomis mixed in. 

The action was at a methodical pace lasting throughout the Major.Period and ended quickly like a switch at the 12:10 mark. 

The popular methods for tagging were long-casting/.016 oz jigs/waxie or swim tails, short rods with 2# mono diameter super lines or less… Nanofil and Gliss. 

What ive learned from fishing seasons in the past concerning the cold water periods including ice… Is it is a nearly a complete waste of time fishing the lull periods in between major and minor periods. Ever been on a hot bite then all of a sudden the bite stops?... yes we all have been in that situation… chances are they are associated with  an ending Major or Minor Period. 

Was a successful trip for the books and I was back home an hour ahead of schedule! 

Timing… timing… timing.

20180426-after a brief warm-up a small cold front went thru yesterday with some chilly NW winds cooling the waters and probably putting a beat down on the B.Crappie movement shallow.

I feel the need and draw to the water today thru the early Major.Period to check the pulse on the B.Crappie as well as the B.Gill movement along the bank…on a 61% day the major.period will be 10:00-12:30