Quillback

I wasted an hour fishing in a shad filled cove yesterday. They were so thick in the back of that cove that I could smell them. From now on I am staying out of any coves that are filled with shad because I can't get a bite when they are thick like that.

No sir, I have not tried the Kut Tail. I bet they would work. Senkos will sure work. You guys are right about that forecast looking bad, I also hope they are wrong, we sure don't need a flood right now.

Launched early in 30 degrees and fog, and got off the water in the afternoon when the temps were in the 60's. It was a really nice spring day, saw some loons, the cardinals are calling, and saw an eagle in it's nest. The eagle was kind of funny, it was down in the nest and every once in a while I would see that white head stick up, like it was checking to see if I was still there, then down it would go, I would look up there a minute later and see the white head up again, then down it would go. Sure is fun to be out on TR on a nice day. The fishing was decent, I caught 15, biggest was a 3.5 LM, another LM that was just about that size, and several nice spots. Got a couple on the Rock Crawler, a couple on the Ned, and the rest were on the shaky head. A few of them were deep off chunk rock banks, but many of the bites I got today were on sunny, gently sloping banks that had buck brush. The kind of places you would expect them to be in April. Mostly in 5-15 FOW. Water warmed up, saw 53 a couple of times, with 51-52 being pretty common. It is still that stained green color. Saw some surface activity here and there, next time I'm out I'll have a top water on the deck. Probably won't catch many on it, but I would have sure liked to have thrown it at a couple of those fish.

I'll take 8 right now. There's that old Broadway saying that a bad rehearsal leads to a good show. I bet Bill will get his clients into them.

Way to go Bo, thanks for sharing some good info.

The bass at Swepco (warm water power plant discharge lake) spawn end of January into February. But I believe they have Florida strain genes, which complicates the matter.

I read somewhere that the big females don't lay their eggs all at one time, something to do with not all the eggs maturing at the same time.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep an eye out when I am in the area.

Bo, I did throw a crank for a bit back in a cove that I had caught several in on Monday and did not get a bite on it. Threw a jerker for just a few casts and nothing on it either.

Man, you may have found the secret. Good on you for figuring out that they wanted the blade.

Well those 3 kentucks were in 20 FOW right on the inside of a point near marker 23. That smallie was on a gravel bank that has a couple of boulders, i'd say it might have been 10 feet. The other few bites I got were generally a bit shallow, 10 or so.

I pull into a cove today, and fish about halfway back into it where another small side cove splits off. I'd say that side cove went back about 100 yards and if you ran your boat down the middle, you could cast to either bank. That side cove was absolutely filled with 1.5" shad. Incredible how many were in it. As far as I can tell they were unmolested by game fish. I sure couldn't get any bites and could not see any game fish activity. I have seen this before, and it always makes me wonder why there aren't game fish of some sort back in there tearing those shad up.

Got started a little late this morning, waiting for the temps to get above freezing. One of those days where it went from flat calm early to windier than heck in the afternoon. Fishing was tough, caught 6 total, all on a shaky head. Caught 3 Kentucks on 3 straight casts off one point, so basically I spent 6 hours catching the other 3 fish. Had some issues missing fish also, I think I missed at least another 6 today that I had hooked up for a second or two, but then they got off - hate to lose them on a tough day like today. I did catch a 3 lb. smallie today, he bit the shaky head and when I set the hook, I thought I had set on a stump or something, that fish was just rock solid and really pulled hard. Thought I was on to a 6 or 7 lb. largemouth, wasn't expecting a smallie, I just haven't been catching any sizeable brown fish lately. Water is still a stained green up the White, and temps were 47-50.

Good save, and you are right, it is tough out there.

Hopefully they will be doing the live coverage again this year.

Excellent!

Pretty good day, thanks for the report.

Excellent, glad to see you can make it!

Yep, I am also looking forward to some Cards/Cubs games. The pressure will be on the Cubs to perform as they are being touted as the best team in the NL.

Good stuff Dan - I think that WB is about ready to spawn.

Good stuff Hammer, you are right about the boats out there, I was wondering if it was a Monday holiday.

Nice ones Steve, some great fish on a tough day.

Cheese, the water is still a well stained green color, hasn't changed much in the last couple of weeks.

I was desperate, LOL. But, I had been reading so many reports of people getting them shallow that I had to give it a try. As I was easing back in there, I started seeing some shad, so I thought there might be a good chance for some bass to be in there, but lately I have seen the shad in cove backs and not gotten a bite. But yesterday they liked that little Balsa shad.

Sure was a beautiful day, fishing was slow, with a brief flurry of activity in the afternoon. Spent most of the morning dragging a shaky head and the Ned. Picked up a half-dozen doing that, and got my biggest fish, a 2.5 lb. Kentuck. Couldn't find a hot spot, just a fish here and there off points and chunk rock banks. Fish were in 10-20 FOW. Decided to try throwing a Bagly Balsa shad on windy banks, picked a couple up, then got back in the very back of a cove and picked up 4 largemouth on it. A couple of them were decent keepers. Fish were shallow, 5 -10 FOW. By then, I had put in 7 hours which is about my limit for a days fishing, so it was back to the ramp.