Big M area, Feb. 2

[Quillback]

Met my buddy Jeb at the ramp at 0730 and off we went.  It was 26 when we launched and it took a long time to get above freezing,  made for lots of fun clearing ice out of guides.

However, they were biting right away, we caught them dragging 2.8 keitechs very slowly along the bottom and on ned rigs, the fish we caught were deep for the most part, 10-25 FOW.  

We caught 18 total, biggest was a 2.5 largemouth.  Lots of spots as usual, nice fat fish, we didn't measure any, but several of them were obvious keepers.  Also caught yet another 16" walleye.

WT 41 and the bass were really sluggish.  Very few bites were of the thump variety, mainly rod-tip load ups.

Bite slowed abut 11 AM and we were back at the ramp not long after 1 PM.

[Johnsfolly]

Congrats @Quillback! Even with the cold you guys did pretty well for a relatively short trip.

[Dutch]

That beat the heck out of Stockton water haul.  The only way that I can get a fish on a swim bait is if it is on a bladed jig or an Arig.  Were you fishing them paralell or down hill?

Congrats Big M wizzard.

[Quillback]

35 minutes ago, Dutch said:

That beat the heck out of Stockton water haul.  The only way that I can get a fish on a swim bait is if it is on a bladed jig or an Arig.  Were you fishing them paralell or down hill?

Congrats Big M wizzard.

If I'm by myself I'll do a lot of parallel casting over the front of the boat, but when there's someone else in the boat it will be more staying out deep and casting towards the shore.   

[Bill Babler]

Going to be very interesting to see the water temperature after next week with highs predicted in the 20's and lows in single digits to low teens. I'm looking for a major shad kill

Water clarity in the point 9 to point one regions of the lake if we get no further precipitation could be in the 20' to 30' range on the white spoon test. 

[dtrs5kprs]

19 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

Going to be very interesting to see the water temperature after next week with highs predicted in the 20's and lows in single digits to low teens. I'm looking for a major shad kill

Water clarity in the point 9 to point one regions of the lake if we get no further precipitation could be in the 20' to 30' range on the white spoon test. 

Would love a clear water spring, but it almost seems too much to hope for.

[Quillback]

Water is still fairly murky in the Big M area, not exactly sure on the clarity, but I'm going to say 4 or 5 feet.  

We did see one shad doing the dying shad thing, maybe a sign of things to come?

[jeb]

Good trip, thanks for dragging me along Jeff. I'm also hoping the cold weather = shad kill. I love the spoon bite time of year!

[Mitch f]

Nice trip Jeff

[Jerry Rapp]

1 hour ago, jeb said:

Good trip, thanks for dragging me along Jeff. I'm also hoping the cold weather = shad kill. I love the spoon bite time of year!

with all due respect to you spoon lovers, I hope not one shad dies because of cold water and it warms up so much that the spawn is a month early.  But alas, I am afraid that is fairy tale this year.