Bass Fishing Report 12/16

[Guest]

I had never fished out of Oakland and launched there around 11:00 AM.  I began fishing a point with a jerkbait, Ned rig, and Rock Crawler and didn't have any luck.  So, i cranked my boat up and found a cove  with some boulders and began crankin.  I got a keeper Smallmouth pretty quick and then I got a short Largemouth.  So, I just kept paralleling the Rock Crawler around boulders in 6 to 10 feet of water and would pick up a bass here and there.  I ended up landing nine bass in about five hours and lost a few.  I had five keepers (4 Smallmouth and 1 Largemouth) and big bass was an 18.5 inch Smallmouth.  It was really windy today and i think that definitely helped the crankbait bite.  Water temp ranged between 51 and 53.

 

[Ham]

I love the Oakland area. What where your water temps?

[Quillback]

Cool, It makes for a fun day when they are biting cranks.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Ham said:

I love the Oakland area. What where your water temps?

I saw water temps between 51 and 53.  Yeah, I'll definitely head back and fish the Oakland area again sometime.....

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Quillback said:

Cool, It makes for a fun day when they are biting cranks.

Yup, it was a good time....  Some of those Smallies were whacking that crankbait pretty good...

[Fish24/7]

Micropterus,seeing any sea gulls diving on shad?

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Fish24/7 said:

Micropterus,seeing any sea gulls diving on shad?

I didn't notice any sea gulls diving on shad.  But, I fished Bull Shoals out of Oakland again today and saw bass busting shad in a couple of places.  The one time i was quick enough to get over there, I caught a Smallmouth about 14 inches on a jerkbait over about 50 ft of water in the middle of a cove.  

Fishing today was tougher than the last time I went out.  I ran the same general patterns as last time and tried some new spots as well.  I caught 7 bass and had 3 keepers (all Smallmouth).  Big bass was a Smallmouth right at 18 inches.  

[Johnsfolly]

Sounds like a couple of good trips. Nice bass! Congrats. I just don't fish for winter bass. Always felt that most of the fish are too deep to have a chance from the bank. But even from reading a lot of this winter's threads from the guys in boats the bite can be tough. So those were some nice fish.

[Fish24/7]

12 hours ago, Micropterus said:

I caught a Smallmouth about 14 inches on a jerkbait over about 50 ft of water in the middle of a cove.  

cool, you'll get used to doing that if not already. lots of fish " in the middles"

[Fish24/7]

2 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

Always felt that most of the fish are too deep to have a chance from the bank.

I do a lot of bank fishing still. Go early and stay late. If one spot sucks drive to another. Have patients and confidence. You'd be surprised what you can catch from the bank in January. There's shallow bass year round.