Skeeter ZX190

Walcrabass: I am mainly referring to all of the rain, high water, and now very cold air temps. Maybe the bass will relate to the new structure like flooded picnic tables and out houses! The latest forecast has Stockton at 17 feet high by Thursday. Pomme 25 feet high. I wouldn't begin to know where to find them.

Winter fishing is officially totally screwed up.

There is a Corps of Engineers website that forecasts lake levels for the next 3 days. It forecasts Stockton to be 15 feet high by Wednesday and Pomme to be 20 feet high.

Walcrabass: Yes those are suspenddots. I was just trying to get it ro rise very slowly, which I did. What's wrapped around the hook is the same stuff, just the part between the actual dots. Doesn't look very pretty but it got the job done.

Here are a couple of close ups of the wart. It is brown on the top and sides and yellow on the bottom.

Walcrabass: I have no idea what the model or color number is. Been too long ago that I bought it.

Put in at Orleans Trail at 10:30 am. Fished a few spots in that area. Caught 4 bass with one of them being a 16 incher. Moved toward the Little Sac and caught 7 more. 3 of the 11 came on a Megabass 110 +1 in Pro Blue. The others came on a wiggle wart that you can see in the attached picure. Water temp was from 49 to 51.3. Beautiful day to be on the water. I found the fish in the back half of the two major coves I fished with one of those being Orleans Trail. In Orleans Trail I didn't catch anything east of the buoy line. I would say every bass came in 4 to 8 feet of water. A big shout out to btlifes2short. Because of his report from the 21st and 22nd, it helped me focus on the wiggle wart. I had to change colors several times until I found one they liked. Looks like old man winter is about to show up. Colder water temps are on the way.

I love jerkbait fishing in the wintertime. One of my favorite techniques. I primarily use a G Loomis bronzeback jerkbait rod with a Jonny Morris signature baitcast reel. Spool it with 8 lb. mono. I prefer Megabass Vision 110's. Pro blue, or KGB are good for sunny days. They are pricey, but I really like the action. I tried the Rick Clunn knockoff, but I didn't think it had near the darting action. I've never tried a Spro. I have several Lucky Craft's but just have more confidence in a Megabass. The key is location. I try to find where the channel swings in toward the bank causing a much steeper bank. 45 degree angle or more. Cast it close to the bank and jerk it 4 or 5 times to get it down, and then pause it for 10, 15, maybe as much as 30 seconds. Give it 1 or 2 jerks and then let it pause again. Watch your line close. You want to keep your line tight enough so any bite you can detect, but not so tight that it moves the bait. Another issue is water temp. When the water gets below 39, I struggle to catch bass. That's when I go looking for schooled up crappie. Hope this helps.

Fished from 7:00 am until 1:30 pm. Caught 20 bass with 3 of them being keepers. A 17 inch, a 16 inch, and a 15 1/2 inch. The 3 keepers all came on a white spinnerbait. Most of the 20 came on the spinnerbait but I also caught some on a pop-r and a ned rig. Fished around the dam area. I was surprised at how shallow the bass were. Caught the 3 keepers in 3 feet or less. Water temps were 67 to 68 degrees. Lots of boats out today. Joe Bass Team Trail had 100+ boats.

It is almost impossible to thread an Elaztec worm on a coil lock. To make it easier, I took a Dremel tool and sharpened the end of the coil lock. You just have to be careful and not thread your finger on instead of the bait.

Got on the water about 9:30 am and got off about 3:00 pm. Only caught 15 bass, mostly smallmouth. No keepers. Fished from Orleans Trail to Old State Park. Water temps were 80 to 82 degrees. Most fish came in 5 to 10 feet of water. Fished the ned rig in green pumpkin. We were at the ramp before sunrise but had battery problems. Finally got it fixed but by then any topwater bite was long over. Saw very little surface activity. Lots of shad especially in the Old State Park cove.

I went with the 6'6" medium light St. Croix Eyecon. Pairing it with a Pfluger President 6930 with 6 lb. Seaguar Invizx. Now I have to wait until I can find the time to try it out.

[quote name="crazy4fishin" post="412236" In the last 30 days I have repeated this over and over....I think that I have a Ned problem. I have come to the conclusion that the new big bait is small and size does not matter. As a leading expert in this field, I believe you would be diagnosed with NHFD (Ned Head Fishing Disorder). I suggest you find a local chapter of NHA (Ned Heads Anonymous) and seek help.

Thinking about getting another spinning rod for the ned rig. Anybody have some recommendations for a rod in the $80 to $120 range?

Slaving away huh?! Which tropical location have you been to recently while slaving?!

Wednesday afternoon and evening we saw hardly any surface activity. Only saw maybe 5 blowups and it was one or two fish hitting some shad once, and then they were gone. Not sure if they were bass or white bass.

This reminds me of a Jimmy Houston video where he and the camera man are trying to calculate the total number bass caught per year. Pretty funny video. To try and answer your question, I don't know if there is a mathematical formula to determine the new acerage based on a higher elevation because it depends on the topography. A lake with flatter and more sloping banks would result in more acreage from a 1 foot rise versus a lake like LOZ that has more vertical banks.

Got on the water around 2:30 p.m. and got off around 8:30 p.m. Started with the ned rig in green pumpkin on a point close to the channel. Caught 4 smallmouth with one of those just bumping 15 inches. Caught them in 9 to 14 feet of water. Moved around and ended up catch 13 on the ned rig. All were smallmouth except for one 15 inch largemouth. The last 45 minutes of the day we started throwing spinnerbaits up in the bushes and it was game on. We caught 12 that way. They all came on one point close to the dam. I wish now that we would have started a little sooner because we ran out of sunlight and a pretty good shower moved in. All together we caught 25 and missed several others. Nothing big enough to keep on the spinnerbait but it was a lot of fun and they were hammering it pretty good. Seemed like the fish were on the outside bushes. Water temps were 84 to 88 degrees and the water was clear.

Water from State Park marina to the dam was clear. I only saw one short limb floating and that was close to State Park.

Got on the water before sunrise. Fished around the dam area mostly and never went south of 215. Cloudy and little wind to start and rain when we got off at 3:30. Water temps around 78. The fishing is tough as has been reported in other posts. We caught 12 bass. Lost a really nice one on a spinnerbait that would have been pushing 4 pounds or better. We started out throwing a spinner bait and top water up around the bushes. Best places were close to points. We caught 5 that way. The bite slowed down so we went to fishing the ned. Caught 7 that way including a 16 1/4 inch smallmouth. Boy those are a blast. Fishing the ned we were in sitting the boat in 20 feet of water and casting to 10 to 12. Not really sure where the fish are. I am sure that there are some buried up in the bushes where you can't get to them. We hit several banks and points that had been successful in the past, but nothing today.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a know it all jerk. With the forecast coming up this week the lake might come up some more.

According to the Corps, the lake is at 873.67 while normal pool is 867.00. That's 6 1/2 feet high.

I beat my record. On Saturday I caught 6. Catch at least 1 every trip.

I put in at State Park marina about 6:45 a.m. but didn't see anyone else. 2 boat trailers in the lot, but bobody around. Thought a lot about Sac River Jim when I was out.

I bought a Pfluger President in May and have used it several times. Not for trout, but for bass. It is sweet!