FLW this weekend

[J-Doc]

All the fish I caught were fattty pre-spawners spitting up crawdads, no sign of bloody tails.

All the fish I caught Friday were chasing shad. I think the mid-lake to upper lake feeds primarily on shad but a crawfish diet is also sustaining. I think the river end on the lower end of the lake is primarily crawfish and baitfish such as sunperch and such. I could be completely wrong in all this. Just a hunch......

I did manage to catch just over 9lbs myself Saturday but it took a while. The first bass was on a Ned rig. Took me 7 times to get him in the boat. He would hang on to the tail end and let go halfway to the boat. So the 7th time I let him munch on it and munch on it until he took off swimming with it and I got lucky. I was determined to catch him after 6 tries. The rod was bent literally 6 times so I know he had it.

Now here's the thing....

The quality bass I caught were on underwater points about 20-30ft deep and suspended around 3-5ft off the bottom. They were stacked up pretty good but the wind was pushing my boat just over 1mph with no trolling motor. Just the waves and wind. When I turned back into the wind with the big motor on, I was moving about 1.8mph and I typically run 2.6mph at idle. So the 20-30mph winds were key it seems. The waves were pushing them up on this flat between underwater points and they were aggressive.

At the time, I was trolling for stripers with live bait. And 1mph seemed to be the speed they wanted it. My rod went screaming and before I could get comfortable fighting what I thought was a good striper, the other rod bent back and I had a double. One was a 2-1/2lb largemouth and the other was a 2lb smallmouth. On another pass, I got two stripers. Then another good 2lb+ smallmouth. All 5 fish hit the bait hard. It was like watching an episode of Wicked Tuna. Lines started screaming and I was excited running to the line. :-)

I would have caught more but when I tried to make a sharp turn in the wind, the line got wrapped around the boat prop (even with the motor off, wind was pushing so hard the prop turned) so I had to dig out line from my prop. IN THE WIND. Which wasn't fun. After that, I decided I'd been out long enough. Although I know I could have caught more.

So the moral of this tale is..........larger fish hang out deeper and run with stripers. Chasing bait. I spoke with Scott Martin yesterday and showed him the pics below and he also found that too late in the tournament that fish were schooling underwater and out over deeper points chasing bait. Where most folks don't want to fish. It's hard and takes tons of patience not knowing what you're throwing too, or what's going on underwater. Its like fishing blind. But once you learn how to do it (I'm still learning and still a beginner myself) I suspect it will be much easier and be far more productive on this lake. Funny thing is, they would bite every time when I passed the underwater point. Double hook ups are fun.

Oh........

And that 2.5lb largemouth went home with me. HE GOT FILLETED!

(He had weird black spots on him. He needed to be culled)

Smallmouth

Smallmouth

Spotted largemouth (black spots....genetic thing?)

Happy livewell (I'm happy, they aren't)

Pre-spawn Kentucky (1.71lbs) - Yakfm was a witness to the weight of this little gal. She was about 14" (+/-) and on a wind swept point.

[Guest]

I found those deep schooling bass on the side imager, didnt have anything heavy enough to reach them.

Im sure the Arig wouldve driven the weights higher if it was legal in FLW.

Im just happy to catch them at beaver, on a bait I had never fished previously.

[J-Doc]

The Keitech is a very effective bait. Placed in the wrong hands and it will put a whooping on you. :-)

YAKFM met me at the 12 bridge ramp and I've seen what he can do with a Keitech many times. Must be something about the retrieve and feeling the bite. Sometimes they hit it on the fall. Sometimes they freight train wreck it and sometimes they just inhale and swim with it. I've got several colors and sizes and I now have a Keitech box just for these baits.

Totally agree on the glue. Krazy Glue gel works best for me. I use it for the Ned also.

Glad you were able to catch some. I enjoy bass fishing but I enjoy blackened striped even better. :-)

[J-Doc]

I found those deep schooling bass on the side imager, didnt have anything heavy enough to reach them.

This is my new quest. How do you fish deep effectively when the wind is pushing you so hard you might as well be sailing.

I've got some ideas. Several presentations could work. Just depends on if the fish are in the mood to bite.

And if wave/wake boats are around. They shut off a bite like a switch.

[rps]

This is my new quest. How do you fish deep effectively when the wind is pushing you so hard you might as well be sailing.

I've got some ideas. Several presentations could work. Just depends on if the fish are in the mood to bite.

And if wave/wake boats are around. They shut off a bite like a switch.

Wind sock.

[bferg]

J-Doc-

Nice bag! Awesome smallies! Were you behind the islands in front of PC at about 8:00 Saturday? I was running around (getting blown around) in my little Lowe Roughneck. I had my boss and his son with me. They have minimal fishing experience and were struggling in the wind some so we ended up trolling around with no luck- off the water by 9:30.

Here is my question- what type of shad type bait do you use to target fish in 20-30 feet of water? I throw the kaitechs but usually with a very light weight? Even with 1/4 oz it seems hard to keep it in the zone that deep.... My goal for the year is to improve my deep/offshore fishing.

I guess a drop shot would work? But I like to wind and grind....I need a deep swimbait suggestion.

[uofastudent]

BIG HAMMER SWIMBAITS

[J-Doc]

Wind sock.

It's on my list. But I was thinking about bait presentation more so than boat control.

[J-Doc]

J-Doc-

Nice bag! Awesome smallies! Were you behind the islands in front of PC at about 8:00 Saturday? I was running around (getting blown around) in my little Lowe Roughneck. I had my boss and his son with me. They have minimal fishing experience and were struggling in the wind some so we ended up trolling around with no luck- off the water by 9:30.

Here is my question- what type of shad type bait do you use to target fish in 20-30 feet of water? I throw the kaitechs but usually with a very light weight? Even with 1/4 oz it seems hard to keep it in the zone that deep.... My goal for the year is to improve my deep/offshore fishing.

I guess a drop shot would work? But I like to wind and grind....I need a deep swimbait suggestion.

I may have been. Red Ranger RT188 (aluminum). I was there around 7:30 and watched Stetson Blaylock fish one of the spots I wanted to check. I think around 7:40 I went into Coose. Fished there a while and then came back around 8. I was on the backside of Deer Island and was tying on live bait while the wind pushed me and I looked up and a deep V trolled right in front of me. I was just drifting and looked up and there they were. Right on top of me. I jumped up to try and get out of the way with the trolling motor.

The live bait was striper minnows (brooders). I picked up a pound of them Friday evening at HLS and I still have about a dozen of them for the next trip. Simple rig. Live bait on a 1/0 circle hook with a split shot weight about 18"-24" above the hook. Let out about 80-100ft of line. Boat drifts on a contour and catch fish. Simple.

Now my quest is.......

What artificial baits will they actually bite doing the same thing (drifting with very little trolling motor use). You have to cast with the wind when it's blowing 20-30mph. Even an A-rig doesn't like casting into that much wind. So there are a host of bait presentations that you can fish deep but the question is, will they actually bite them? Deep diving cranks, weighted flukes, c-rigs, etc. etc. The list goes on and on. There are literally entire threads that could be dedicated to "what would work" but only trial and error will tell for sure.

My point was.........

Fish offshore as I've been saying. All the little ones live up in the brush piles and banks. The bigger ones are roaming deeper.

Here is my question- what type of shad type bait do you use to target fish in 20-30 feet of water? I throw the kaitechs but usually with a very light weight? Even with 1/4 oz it seems hard to keep it in the zone that deep.... My goal for the year is to improve my deep/offshore fishing.

You can use a heavier jig head if you want it to get down to 20ft quickly. You just have to reel it faster with a hi speed reel.

Would it work effectively? I don't know. Could. Depends on the conditions. Just have to try and see. How the bait is presented and what angle of approach the bait comes from is far more critical on this lake (I'm told). I cannot say from personal experience yet but it sounds logical and aligns with other things I've read. Whether it's true or not.......I cannot say from first hand experience yet. YET......being key.

Learning this lake is an ongoing pursuit. I welcome the challenge vs. running NORTH across the border as so many do.

[bferg]

Yeah, that was you I saw. Sweet looking rig you have! I wanted to fish where Blaylock was too...I saw him catch one there. I was actually coming back around and kinda went in-between you and that deep-V- wind was killing me in my aluminum boat.

I will join your quest for deep water artificial that they bite with minimal trolling motor use! I hate riding that motor in the wind all day.