Quick report for the weekend folks

[Donna G]

Good to "see" you, Dave.  Wow! Beautiful brownies - my favorite fish to catch.

[willyfish]

Yes the wind today was brutal. Spent about 3 hours in Whites branch at Kimberling. Fished from 130 till dark. 1st cast in Whites was a keeper then nothing for a while. First cast jinx for sure. Hit some pockets on way back toward Aunts had one swimming a grub and my buddy caught a couple on a keitech. Around 7 picked up a few on top, spook and I was throwing a sexy dawg. It was a tough day for us but it’s still better than working. I hear it’s gonna get below 40 tonight. Steaks on the grill and cocktails for me tonight. Might have a big breakfast and let it warm up tomorrow morning. Good luck 

[vernon]

Despite our anxiousness to get out there we didn’t make it until around 3:00. Was hoping the wind might relent at least a little but no soap. 
 

Anyways, made it up to near Coney Island and fished pockets on the north side. Caught about a dozen smallies each with five or six on Ned and the rest on a Keitech 3.5 on a 1/8 oz. NuTech head which was stupid in the wind. 

Just did what everybody else has said they’ve been doing. 8-12 feet on gravel mostly.

Threw a white spinner bait a bit on windy banks (which was basically everywhere) but no joy. 
 

Just a nasty wind to deal with as it was impossible to escape. No matter how hard we tried to find a somewhat sheltered spot it would follow us and was relentless. 

Made it back to Rock Lane around 6:00 and messed around there for an hour or so and caught about six more before the hands got cold and we called it quits.

Sometimes it sucks to be us but glad to be here nonetheless!

[vernon]

Thought this one was kinda interesting.

Almost a goggle eye/smallmouth/bluegill/guppy hybrid!

 

[Quillback]

That is one goofy looking fish.  I'm thinking 12 inches long but weighs 3 lbs.  

[vernon]

2 minutes ago, Quillback said:

That is one goofy looking fish.  I'm thinking 12 inches long but weighs 3 lbs.  

Probably should have kept it. 
Might have made me famous!
After I paid the fine for keeping a sub legal whatever it is of course. 

[Guest]

On 5/8/2020 at 8:48 AM, dtrs5kprs said:

Only things that have changed since we got here on 4/26 are the weather, and the pool. 

Think most folks know what we do, how we do it, and generally where. Although we get around quite a bit more than many would expect.

We're fishing finesse on gravel, including main lake places, specifically with the Ned. Also catching some dragging the doctor or a fry. Water color hasn't mattered a bit. Same for snot, wind, or water color. We've caught very few fish deeper than 10', not for lack of looking.

Started getting a topwater bite Sunday, but my guess is the cold weather will hurt it. Lot of them were slapping at it more than eating it. Spawn coves, pole timber points, and guts on that bite. Obviously better with shad everywhere. It seemed to pop at 64 degrees (on our graph, anyway). Waking baits have been better than wakers.

Catching all four species on the same stuff, same baits. Plus a few big whites on topwater. Catching a lot of blacks, and a lot of solid K's, which is a little different. 

do not know why, but those same bass seem to disappear at night.  have been catching some really nice quality as you have pictured, but can't catch them in the same type places you are.  and, i sue can't tell that they have spawned yet.  with all the fronts, yo-yoing water, and sub-fifty degree nights, i don't see it happening  for a while yet.

bo

[dtrs5kprs]

8 hours ago, merc1997 said:

do not know why, but those same bass seem to disappear at night.  have been catching some really nice quality as you have pictured, but can't catch them in the same type places you are.  and, i sue can't tell that they have spawned yet.  with all the fronts, yo-yoing water, and sub-fifty degree nights, i don't see it happening  for a while yet.

bo

Yep. I think there is a big wave of brown fish that hasn't come in. Gut feeling from years of fishing for them, preferentially.

We caught all three (no meanies ☹️) in the same kinds of places today. Some bedding hard, some spraying, some gutted, some clearly haven't been near the bank. Lot of fish aren't on the banks, but bedding in the "vee" of the backs of spawn coves. Can't really see them, even with the lake clearing up. At least I can't.

Still not catching many that are really eating. Not spitting shad, craws. Boy did have a brown fish around 19" that hacked up a big perch. Cold night hurt the morning. We fished 7am-ish to 730pm.

Mix of the little rig, a quirky Japanese plastic, a jig, and some topwater for us today. Jig was shallow, on a sharp drop. 

Water temps took a hit overnight, but we were reading 65+ by 4pm.