Weekend Report-Bass Are Full Of Crawdads

[Alex Heitman]

I went fishing this past weekend in the Long Creek arm and caught a lot of bass right on the bank in the stained water. They were mostly big smallmouth with largemouths and kentuckies mixed in. All of them had been gorging on crawdads. A number of fish had pinchers sticking out of there throats. I caught all of them on crawdad colored cranks and tubes. A lot of times as soon as the bait would hit the water they would smash on it immediately right on the bank. I noticed a lot of people had talking about catching them in deeper water but all of the fish I caught were dead shallow. I think the stained water is the key that is holding them shallow and a lot of fish are coming up to spawn or they are spawning. Both Saturday and Sunday were terrific days. Between me and my brother we probably caught between 12-15 keepers a piece each day. It was especially fun catching some 3-4 lb smallmouth that would come staright at the boat and fight like a freight train, gotta love them smallmouth.

[buckcreekmike]

That sounds great, you gotta think they are still spawning. I always thought smallies spawn earlier than the others, but maybe the water conditions had a lot to do with it.

[Tfsh4bass]

Great report and sounds like a new wave of fish that moved up. I have always said regardless of temps I think some fish just work off their own calendar.

Waiting for the parts to fix my trailer is killing me...no fishing in almost 3 weeks is a record for me and I feel sorry for the fish when I get the boat fixed