5-10-14 Report

[5bites]

I know I know. This is outdated information as much as things change this time of year. Here it is anyway.

Last Saturday I fished the Grand Lake Anglers for Christ (http://www.glafc.net) tournament with my oldest (10yo) son. We fished the mid lakeish area between sailboat and honey creek. It had been a month since I'd been there so I figured there would be slimmer pickings for spawners and more post spawn fish. That said I started out throwing a black buzzbait to keep the boat moving while I tried to get a vibe on what was going on. First fish (14 incher) came on a fallen tree in the back of a cove. Working back out (here's where the day changed) I saw a fish spawning on a boat lift. I fooled with it a little while and finally got a hook in it. It turned out to be a 16.5" spot. So out at the mouth I threw a Carolina rig on both points assuming some post spawn fish would be around by now. Nothing. And I still hate Carolina rigs. Back to the buzzbait I pick up a few short spots and start seeing bass cruising quite a bit. So now I'm on the move casting and looking for beds. I come to a dock with a forked tree in front of it that have a spawning pair in full spawning ritual. One was 15-16" and the female was around 4lbs. Neither one of them could care less about me, my paca craw, my brush hog, or my senko. So after spending to much time on them I move further in the creek and continue to see cruisers and spawners that are not near committed enough to stay put to try and catch them. This creek has a very defined channel with ledge rock on top of it. Toward the back I see a solid fish that is guarding its bed good enough to catch. First attempt was with the paca craw. It didn't like it but wouldn't just get mad and jump on it. So I switch to the brush hog. Pretty much the same reaction despite its larger profile. Next up was the wacky rigged senko. First pitch the senko had made it a foot down and the fish turned a 180 and looked at it. Then it bolted straight to it and crushed it. You would have thought the senko called this fishes mom a bad name. Anyway it was mad and put up an awesome fight all the way to the net my son was handling. That solid fish ended up being 3.5lbs. So obviously by this point I'm committed to sight fishing. As the day went on I picked up several fish here and there either on the bed or I'd see them cruising and back off and catch them or pitch into deeper water that they may have disappeared to. One fish we sat on for about a half hour so my son could try and catch it. It wouldn't have helped us but I wanted him to get the experience. He had opportunities to catch it but he being 10 couldn't read the fish very well and didn't react fast enough when the fish would have it. Nevertheless it was good for him to see and try it. He will learn and no doubt be good at it. After this I went back to the spawning couple to see if their mood had changed and maybe be ready to play. No. Once again I wasted to much time. We moved to a cove south of us and found another 4lb class fish that just wouldn't get mad. I'd pitch to her and she'd swim off, come back, I'd move the bait and shed just swim off again. The water was slightly dirtier here and the breeze had picked up so it made it hard to find exactly where her bed was or even to see her a lot of the time. So we moved around and yet again I see multiple cruisers but nothing I can get to play. I saw one 3-4lb fish that was apparently guarding fry yet doing a bad job at it. This fish would appear from under a dock, straight up out of 6' of water, in front of the dock by the cable etc etc etc. I fan casted the area with the senko trying to get her to get mad enough. One time I saw her rise up to the senko and swim off. That was my fat for being to close.

Back to the 4lb bedding fish that I couldn't see well. I pitch to her, she disappears, then I see a fish (thinking it could be her maybe) swim over the log to my right. I back out and pitch in that direction and get bit but it comes unbuttoned. So as I'm reeling the fish bolts out and disappears so I stop reeling, the fish swims right up to the senko, then jumps on it. Everything happened pretty quick and close to the boat so I had to swing it. Another nice keeper Kentucky. Not the fish I hoped it was gonna be but it helped anyway.

We fished out the cove seeing yet again several fish that would have helped but very very skittish. This is obviously frustrating. We make a run back to wolf creek where the weigh-in is and in the interest of fishing every minute we could we made a stop. We fished around the pocket quickly and cam to a fallen tree. I need there to be a 5lber there. At the skinny end with the branches I get a bite, reel two or three times and swing in our last cull. A 15" largie lol. Not the cull I wanted but it was a couple ounces of help. Maybe.

We ended up with 11.41 I believe which was disappointing and honestly about a pound and a half less than I guessed. Usually I under guess. My wife and 7yo son (who fished the previous GLAFC with me) was at the weigh in when we got there. I let my boy that fished with me check us in and get a bag so he could get the full experience. I stayed in the boat and put up rods.

FLW pro Darryl Robertson was speaking at the weigh-in. He's running for congressman and I do believe he'd be great for it. Very Christian and very conservative. He provided burgers, hotdogs, drinks etc for those there. At every GLAFC there is free food at the weigh-ins. These are by far my favorite tournaments to fish. The atmosphere is great, 100% payback, and the guys running it do the best they can to run a good tournament. It may not always run as smooth as some but they try as hard as they can. It's always enjoyable. This tournament has grown a lot the last few years. Now drawing over 100 boats at times.

So, as of last Saturday I'd say keep the trolling motor going until you run across a committed fish big enough to be worth messing with. This was my mistake. To much time on iffy fish and not covering near enough water. Had I prefished I would have made better decisions. One thing that did help was I took both boys to table rock the previous weekend so they could see bed fish and experience trying to catch them. So at least I was kind of in that mode. I enjoy bed fishing quite a bit. Reading the fish and the anticipation is a lot of fun to me. I wish I had more time to do it to gain experience, especially on those not as locked down fish. That would change my game a lot and would have had a huge impact on my weight this weekend. Some don't like bed fishing and that's fine too. To each their own.

Anyway I'm going to be bouncing between the rock and grand this year so maybe I can contribute to this section some.

[Bird Watcher]

That's a nice report on Grand. Sounds like a fun day with your boy. thanks for posting.

[Quillback]

Thanks for the report, good to hear some info on the Grand bass fishing. I keep telling myself to get over there, but just haven't done it yet this year.

[darbwa]

Thanks for the report. We get too few of them for Grand. Unfortunately for me, those of you who do report are fishing "middle grand" which to me is north grand. I will be up there this weekend but I usually don't get too much fishing in on Holiday weekends.

[5bites]

Lol north grand.

I'm very very badly determined to learn about "south grand" this year. Off shore stuff. I just need to do it.

I may or may not go to grand Saturday. I'm pretty sure it could be a painful decision.

[Moswimb8slinger]

I got hooked on fishing the Oakley Big Bass after fishing 1 day of the Table Rock event, so I'll be fishing the Grand Lake event. My buddy whose going with me has fished there before, so hoping for another good outcome (i won the Saturday 9am hour on TRL)

[5bites]

Very cool. Please post a report of your trip. I would like to fish that one myself or the big bass bash in July. As of right now though it's just wishful thinking.

[Champ188]

Very nice report, 5bites. Hats off to you for including your sons in your derby fishing. That's an investment guaranteed to pay big dividends in terms far greater than money.

I fish Grand quite a bit, except for during the coldest months, so I'll make an effort to start posting some here. I'm going Saturday and will try to remember to post Monday (after the Nichols tournament Sunday). Not fishing Nichols myself but helping a friend.

[5bites]

Right on. Thank for the compliment. I've got one shot with these ornery rats so I try to spend what time I can with them. My youngest has really got interested this year. He always fished but now he's getting full on ate up with it like his brother and I. He spent 2-2.5hrs I. The yard Tuesday night learning to cast a baitcaster. Yesterday I came home to one of those physics defying backlashes lol. He'll get it. He's working hard at it. He's actually got a jar dedicated to saving up for his first baitcaster.

A friend and I went last Friday evening for a few hours. We put in at elk river. It's kind of a mess around there with the new bridge going in. You really have to crowd that center line if you cross the makeshift bridge now. Anyway we caught fish about like how you'd expect. Points and the first half of coves. I'd be more specific but I can't really. We wasn't in full serious mode so it's not like we really dialed them in lol. My friend caught one at 4lbs in some shallow cover, just inside the mouth of a cove between docks, but it wasn't on the bank. Another friend of my friend caught a 4+ in front of a dock on gravel using a shaky head so I know there are some quality fish up shallow around spawning areas but it appears to be main lake or not that far back. Near as I could tell anyway. I know this doesn't help really but it's something I guess.

Grand is a cool lake though. I always say fish act like fish there. Sometimes it's practically like pond fishing. It's a junk fishermans dream lake.

Good luck this weekend. I look forward to the report.

[Champ188]

Thanks much, 5bites. That helps more than you might think. I've always been one who'd rather just get some general help like that rather than a full rack of details. I sure do better if someone doesn't send me to a specific place with specific instructions. It's just hard to catch someone else's fish. Whereas, if someone gives me a general idea of what's going on, I can take that to my own areas, apply it and often come up with the answer. And sometimes not.