Saturday Cold And Windy

[focused fishing]

Techo,

Throw your favorite jerkbait in the same places you would a wart, windy chunk rock banks and points. THROW IT TO THE BANK!! Most of our bites came when the bait bounced up of the bottom in 4' or less water. We were throwing Lucky Craft Pointer 100's in Chartruese Shad & Aruora Black, put the bait on the bank and work it fast. We paralleled the bank with a wart and jerkbait all day, boat in about 8' and casting to the bank. Guy in front throwing a wart guy in back with the jerk bait. They are eating the wart better, usually a face full of hooks, than the jerkbait, usually just the back hook, but it's a great way for two guys to work an area over right now. Most of our fish on Saturday came off one 200 yd stretch of bank down by the dam, we just kept going over it and over it into the wind and picked up fish on every pass.

Good Luck & Have Fun!

EP

[Whack'emGood]

Hey guys. Thanks so much for the tips and reports. Are you guys fishing the standard (small) Wiggle Wart or the (larger) Mag Wart? It sounds like you are fishing it fast... are you fishing them erratic (stop and start, etc.) or just grinding them steady through the rocks? Eric-- it sounds like you are finding them all bunched up-- is it the same for you Bill, or are you covering alot of water and picking them up here and there? Also, it sounds like they are on chunk rock banks that slope less than 45 degrees-- is that correct? Sorry for all the questions... We caught them okay Sunday on jigs, but couldn't get into them on the wart-- there is something I am missing in the puzzle. We are going to try one more time to put it all together this Saturday. I appreciate your time and knowledge.

Whack'em

[techo]

Many thanks! I haven't been on the lake enough the last two weeks to keep up. Your guys' reports are huge at eliminating water and narrowing down patterns.

Thank you.

[focused fishing]

Wack'em

Let's see if I can answer these:

Regular Wart - Pre-Rapala, phantom green, nat. green craw, brown craw, phantom brown.

Retrieve: Not real fast, just a steady grind on the bottom, when you hit something that stops the bait (big rock or piece of wood) allow the bait to float up. A lot of bites on the rise.

Bunched up: Yes and no, the 200yd stretch of bank had almost too much wind on it and it had been on it since the day before (wind blew from the south fri, sw friday night and then west most of sat.). We fished other banks and picked up one or two fish prior to fishing this bank so they were bunched where the wind was the most intense for the longest period of time. When you catch one watch for others to be following, if there are fish following it is worth your time to go over the bank again.

45 degree or less: The bank we had the most success on had a little bit of everything, semi-flat, 45 degree and even some steep ledge. It didn't seem to matter as long as the wind was crushing it.

The key for us was wind and lots of it. We fish directly into the wind all day, it makes throwing a light weight wart tough but if we tried going with the wind we did not get bit, just moving down the bank too fast to control the bait and the speed of the bait.

I think I got all of them.

Hope this helps.

EP

[Whack'emGood]

Thanks Eric... it is much appreciated. I think the main part of our problem was probably that we were not fishing into the wind. We were letting the wind push us and casting downwind... definitely hard to get the correct speed of retrieve doing that. Thanks for the tip on the float-up also. Man... I am ready to go out and get'em now! I have got the bug in a bad way. Too bad I have to wait until Saturday! I will post a report when we go. Once again... thanks alot. I really appreciate it.

Whack'em

[Bill Babler]

Wacked, everything that Eric said.

The only difference is we found fish as I posted on either this or another thread really bunched up. We had as many as 5 follow a hooked one to the boat. Once you find one of these spots, you can, cause we did. Just look for others that are similar.

A good example would be the inside point at old 86 camp ground on both sides of the long 86 point, along with the point. You wanted the depth to be a very gradual fall, as to keep your wart in the strike zone as much as possible. You also wanted as both Eric and I have mentioned some junk like big size rocks for the baits to bounce up over. I was swimming a jig, and Bill the wart. As soon as we would bounce or hang a bit, we would snap the bait up.

Lots of times instant bite. They for sure are not everywhere, but once you find them, they are great. Several guys fished with-sight of Ahoy's had had 10 to 15 keepers.

Buster Loving and his son, fished all day in that area and had over 15 pounds with his son winning a $500.00 savings bond for top youth fisherman. Bet he didn't use 3 gallons of gas and had a dozen or more keepers. Those kinds of banks.

In the last 2 or 3 weeks there has been 500 pounds of bass released in there, you might want to give it a fling.

Won't take you long to get on the right spot. Did have a couple of keeps on a blade in the wind. Both were LM, within 5 ft. of the flat banks.

Good Luck

[techo]

I plan on putting in and fishing the same area as Buster did. I hope he takes Saturday off!

[Whack'emGood]

Thanks a million Bill... as always, your reports and help is very much appreciated. We will definitely heed your advice and give it a shot. Can't wait to get after them this weekend. Hopefully this cold front won't affect them very much and the feeding frenzy will continue.

Thanks again.

Whack'em

[Whack'emGood]

It looks like there are going to be 20-25mph winds on Saturday. I'm hoping that the harder it blows, the better the bite is. I'm also hoping we don't get capsized!

Whack'em