BSL-Pontiac 5-7-15

[Ham]

Launched at daylight took out at dark. I wish the day could have lasted another 6 hours..

Water temps 66 warming to 70. Wind 5-15 from the south. A little gusty at times with front edges of T storms.

Water clarity was awesome. 8 foot or so in pockets and 12 plus on main lake.

Good topwater bite early.

I think there are post spawn LMB shallow in the brush. I think we are in between waves of spawners.

There are piles and piles of fish off shore. Channel your inner Babbler and go find a pile of them.

I enjoyed the topwater bite early. I probably stayed with it too long. I got a couple on 18 inch smallies shallow which made be stick with that far too long. The middle day was a major junk fishing grind.

I finally switched and stayed out > 20 FOW and dropped a hammer on them.

I lost a monster Spotted Bass. I had no idea the fish was that large until she jumped clear of the water and spit my bait. I really think 19 plus inches.

I had a handful of smallies over 18 and at least 3 LMB that I measured that were over 18. I only caught 3 spots all day and every one of them was an absolute football. I had one just under 17. All three over 15 inches. Lots of chunky smallies.

I finished the day with one last topwater fish. I caught 72 fish. All bass. Vast majority were smallies.

I love Bull Shoals Lake.

[Diamond City Fisher]

Thank you for the report....sounds like now is the time.

[Ham]

Fish24/7 reports are always dead on. Kinda wish I had seen his latest one before my trip, Lol.

The middle of the day was a real grind and it would be really easy to get discouraged and quit. Lots of stuff working a little bit. I had 11 rods out, Lol. I caught fish on 6 or 7 of them and had bites on every rod I fished with.

I knew how to catch the LMB and they were ALL keepers (I caught 8 I think), but it was slower than I like.

[Fish24/7]

cool man!

[Ham]

I took some pictures and I'm pretty sure I caught the same bass twice! It was an 18 inch fish that I caught once on a Sluggo and once on a topwater about an hour later when I worked back thru that area. Lol, dumb and dumber.

[abbfish]

Ugh, I can't get back down there until Memorial Day weekend. Thanks for the post.

[Ham]

By then, most of the spawn and post spawn funk will be over, they will have the feed bag firmly strapped on and will be in easy reach. I have some trips planned.

[Bluff-Bassin]

Nice job sounds like a fun day.

[mickmaples]

Ham,

can you give me a little feed on what kind of structure or baits were working the best? Points? Secondary points? Bluff ends? etc? Also....jigs? A-rigs? I have a little club event this weekend and will not get there to practice due to motor repairs taking me to the last minute before leaving.

thanks,

Doc

[Ham]

I don't throw an A rig once water hits 60 degrees. Maybe I should but I do not.

LMB are in brush and I did better way in the back of pockets. Top water baits, but SB's would work when there is wind on them.

I really like points for the SMB. I like bluffs for Spots, but as I said my spotted bass numbers were very low. They were all good fish, but very small numbers.

Every day is different, but I would look at > 20 FOW for the better smallies and <12 FOW for LMB.

I always like Walk the Dog baits and I especially like pop rs and slow moving prop baits post spawn.

I like a chunk of soft plastic on a jighead for smallies. Grub, tube, beetle spin without the spinner, etc.