Bass Fishing Conditions

[M_Taylor]

Hello everyone, I’m making my quarterly trip up to see the in-laws and of course I’m bringing the Ranger. 

I usually fish out of Linn Creek area or the state park area. I’m not looking for specifics, but curious on where the bass might be as far as pre spawn and general mood. Moving baits versus bottom contact preferences etc. Not sure if I should still be looking main lake or going back into secondary points or farther. Any ideas on current water temp? I know it’s going to drop and the weather isn’t going to be nice, but as long as there isn’t lightning I’ll get out there at times. Always appreciate the suggestions and will of course give a report back after the weekend. Thank you in advance. 

PS Crappie fishing has been real good on Beaver using artificials on 45 degree chunk rock banks and lay downs, so I assume I could catch some on LOZ this time of year with same techniques? 

[DChance]

for bass I would probably be thinking 1/2 to 3/4 back in creeks or coves and throw a spinnerbait. 

wiggle wart and rock crawler may be decent too. 

can probably still catch fish with jerkbait too. 

[405z06]

been watching these posts. was down near the 26 MM over this past weekend and it was the poorest fishing I have ever seen at LOZ. the bass fishing was so poor I bought some minnows for crappie and got skunked there, too.

Back to the rivers and smallmouth for me, good luck, though.

[fishinwrench]

I haven't seen the midlake area in awhile, but up on the lower end we have the dreaded green slime that makes throwing Wiggle Warts and C-rigs near impossible.   

Spinnerbaits and Flukes are the order of the day if you have the slime. 

[buckcreekmike]

I went out from 5:30 to dark last night and caught 6 or 8 bass. One nice largemouth pictured (over 18”) and one fat barely keeper. Caught a spot or two that were over 12”.  All on a stick bait. I was at the 7mm or so.  Pretty decent couple of hours.  

Saw shad tails hanging out of the gullet in a couple of them.  

[nomolites]

As Wrench said the rock snot is bad in some areas....I did well recently using a Keitech and it is about time for the carolina rigged lizard /brush hog.

Mike

[conorsixtakc]

Was thinking about heading down this weekend but probably gonna stay put until that slime clears out. These Kansas brown fish are too much fun to leave anyway. 👻

[buckcreekmike]

10 hours ago, conorsixtakc said:

Was thinking about heading down this weekend but probably gonna stay put until that slime clears out. These Kansas brown fish are too much fun to leave anyway. 👻

Wilson, Melvern?  

Maybe best not to say, but those are nice. 

[M_Taylor]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. My trip got cut a little short due to a stomach bug, unfortunately. I did get out on Friday for about 5 hours. I fished within the State Park area, mainly on main lake points and little coves. I never went far back into creek arms. Water temp was around 54. It was windy and sunny.

Fishing was fair to decent in my opinion having not much experience fishing the lake. I caught 13 with 3 being nice keepers. Nice fat healthy fish. I never weighed any but I did get a plump 18 incher. 

My main two baits were a suspending jerkbait and a jig. I lost a number of other fish along the way. The jig got the biggest bite, and the jerkbait got the numbers. Fun time, only wish I would have been able to fish more. 

Included are a couple of the best ones.