straw hat

You might try the MDC on line website. Some of there old issues had some high quality pictures of craws, shad, etc. Just a thought.Good luck.

Thanks guys. Really sorry about your face charliehorsejigs. You are right, it could have been a lot worse. I will say a prayer for you. i hope you heal fast. It looks like my fourth surgery will be on my right shoulder around early May. It looks like I will be taking my wife fishing this summer and watching her catch fish!!! I am sort of looking forward to it. Looks like I will hit the lake again Tuesday, will let you all know whats happening.

Well, made my first trip to the lake today since early Dec. Still have to fish one-handed but it is better than not at all. I fished about 1 mile from CC. The water was stained, 45 degrees and with 2' clarity. A lot of fat bass at 7 to 10 ft. Most were 13 to 14 1/2". They were still pretty white colored but fought well. Caught 2 channels at 18' in the channel. The crappie were 7 to 10' deep in 20' of water. Most were small but caught 3 keepers. Had to quit early, my only good shoulder is wore out!! It just not use to all the work

Managed to catch 2 channels today on Stockton. Water temp was 45. They were 16' deep in a tributary channel. It won't be long now unti they start picking up!!

My absolute favorite smallmouth bait from June to September was a natural colored Creme worm. Love those things!!

Given a one one one choice a smallmouth would prefer a shad and when the wind blowes the shad up on a rocky bank they sure will fill with them. BUT, remember in the spring most of the shad from the year before have now grown too large for most smallmouth to feed on. Studies have shown that smallies will feed primarily on craws and insects with minnows in third place. This pattern holds until small shad arrive in late spring. In other words, Walcrabass, as usual, is dead on with the colors.

That water can really be clear that time of year around the dam and then if you get a clear calm day they can really back off those points.

I have fished for big smallies from late March to mid-April. I used fairly large minnows. My best luck usually comes in the areas with scattered big rocks at the end of bluffs as you approach pea gravel points. If you start getting smaller ones either shift deeper and/or further out on the points. As usual, they will prefer windy points. If you really want to focus on the bigger ones don't hesitate to go as deep as 20 to 25'. The cloudy days before fronts seem to be the best, and besides, they are usually shallower then. I hope you catch a monster, I caught quite a few over 3 pounds but never was able to break 4 1/2. Not complaining though. Good luck.

joshgray is right I am concerned that with the warmer weather this winter that there may not be as big a die-off this year. Just find a niche in the bank that faces south. After a day or two of southerly winds to wash the bait into that spot 'go get em;. You don't need to fish real deep, start 3 to 5' and work out from there. I can usually start routinely picking up a few on fresh shad or minnows of the edge of the tributary channels in early march. Places like the CC bridge, Aldrich and below the 39 bridge. Good luck.

Great report.

I noticed that the corp website showes that this rain has brought up the water temps at the dam as well as the incoming streams. 42 (up from 40) at the dam and 43 (up from 41 in big Sac. The walleye should start moving pretty soon now,

Some day you need to come up and fish Stockton, it has a lot of nice crappie in it. I grew up fishing the upper Jacks Fork, Current and Eleven Point rivers. Beautiful streams in that area. Some day if you want to try something different you need to fish the Eleven Point River below Greer's Spring for chain pickeral. There are some monsters in there! Good luck on your guide service. I hope you do well.

I totally agree with you Ron about the jigs although we didn't have spray scents back in my day! . Welcome to the website!!! I look forward to your wisdom in our discussions as well as your fishing reports for the lake. Did you guide for anything other than bass?

Good job waterpossum!!

I used to have the same problem hanging up on the rocks with my jigs. I used to fish them on sort of a drop shot rig. I tied the jig on the line up about 6' up from the bottom of he line. Then on the very end of the line I will place two small split shots. It was almost always the split shot that got hung and I could simply pull on the line and the split shots would slide off the end of the line. This method allows you to use a lighter jig (with more subtle action) yet the same total weight (because of the two split shot). When you get hung do NOT pull the rig loose right away. Shake the jig right where it sets. You would be amazed how many times you can get a hit that way. When you set the hook the hung split shots slide off the end, the rig is loose and the fish is on. Even if you don't get a hit you can get the rig off simply by pulling and you don't have troll over and retrieve the jig. Simply put a couple more split shots on and you are in business,

I prefer using a slip bobber rig for crappie. You can set it to a specific depth once you find how deep the fish are running. This keeps the bait in front of the fish longer. Right now around High Point i would start out around 20 to 25 feet deep. Just a few feet short of the deepest part of the channel you can cast to. I can also tell you that if you run out of minnows they can be caught on jigs as well. I would start with blk/chart or red/chart. Think slow and then slow down some more. lol They won't hit it hard so if it feels even a little heavy set the hook. If it is one of those days were the crappie aren't hitting well, then shorten up your slip bobber to 15 to 20' for bass or walleye and keep trying. It sometimes takes an hour or two of trying various depths in order to find the right pattern but after that the pattern usually holds until the sun starts getting low in the sky, around 3 pm. In the dead of winter the best fishing is still around deep brush piles for crappie but when you are limited to bank fishing sometimes you just can't reach them fro shore. Nearly every crappie I catch this time of year will have its belly rubbing on the bottom. In the shallower parts of the tributary arms they try to go as deep as they can. Usually were the bottom of the channel just start to turn up towards the bank. Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions.

I usually do a lot of bank fishing during the winter but this year I am laid up. I can tell you that usually I search for the deepest drop offs in the main lake and focus 20 to 40 feet deep depending on the species I am after. If you want to try the incoming tributaries then focus where they come into the lake and the water runs 20 to 25 feet deep. Fish the sunnier days around 10 20 feet deep on the steeper chunk banks. Areas around the CC bridge and High Point can yeild some fish if you are patient. Are you focusing on bass, crappie ....??

Crazy? Well if you are crazy, I guess I am too!! It is a great time of year for those jigs and bass. It sounds like the weather was a pain but you did well. I use to do a lot of bass fihing this time of year with either jigs or drop shot rigs with live minnows. From the first of the year to mid-March I would try to find isolated dark horizontal logs or rocks, 10 to 20 ft deep, on south facing shores and just go real slow. I guess those bass would set along that cover trying to warm up. It always seemed like I did better when the wind wasn't blowing. I don't know if it was because the sun warmed the water more or if they were simply holding tighter to the cover without the wind. It sure was a good way to catch some nice 2 to 4 lb fish.

I wish it was that simple. To tell the truth I don'y even eat fish at all. All that we catch either goes to family or the church. I can't even handle the thought of raw fish!! I have seen people even eat pieces of raw squid and octupus that were still moving!! A liitle hard to swallow I uderstand when the suckers on the arms still cling to the sides of your throat. Not for me thank you.

Thanks for the earlier info. That sure sounds like a slow healing process but got to do what I got to do. Ya looking forward to the spawn. i put out some 12 new brushpiles this winter and most of them should be ready this April if the lake doesn't get too high.

I have read about those, but considering I am going to have adominal surgery in about 3 weeks and totally off my feet for about a month I think I will pass on the electric reel. I appreciate the offer though. I hope that by the time my abdom surgery heals I will be able to at least hold a reel in my left hand.

Thanks guys. My wife had a solution to my one armed fishing. She said that I can do the casting and she would be glad to reel in the fish for me! What a pal. lol

With only one good arm and my legs both out of commission til aroound at least March 1 it may be awile before I get to post any fishing reports

Iwould like to thank everyone who sent me well wishes for my surgery. I am pleased to say it went great!! That's going to take my left arm out ofcirculation for 3 months. Now i have another sugery in the end of January. That one will keep me off my feet for 2 to 4 weeks. I would appreciate it if you continue to keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks again.

Bob, it is reaaly good to hear from you. it has beed a while since your last post and I was getting concerned. Glad to hear you are OK.