March 24, Big M

[Quillback]

Well it was another day of me being the net boy for Dutch's fish.

He caught a 3.25 smallie and a 22" walleye. I got to net them.  The bite was decent today compared to what it has been for us this year.  We caught 31 bass and the lone walleye.  We had 5 keeper bass with the smallmouth being the biggest.

Ned rigs were our best bait, with a couple on a 2.8 swimbait and a couple on a 2.5" tube.

For whatever reason most of our fish came from rocky or gravel banks.  We could not get any around trees.  We caught them in 10-20 FOW for the most part.

Early in the AM we found a bunch of bass on a 30 foot deep flat.  They just would not bite for us - we caught a half dozen of them, lost a few more.  Really light biters, we threw everything at them with the Ned working best, but it was frustrating being over quite a few fish and not being able to figure them out.

Quite a few loons around.  We came across a half-eaten gizzard shad floating on top and once we got about 50 yards away from it, an eagle swooped in and got it.  Always a neat sight to see.

If you like redbuds, they are blooming now.

WT 52

Here's the fish I netted:

 

[jstickley]

Hey, just wanted to chime in here with thanks for you and everyone else that post reports on this forum.  I check in periodically, sometimes just because I love reading about fishing, but especially when I’m planning to be fishing Table Rock and feeding my bass fishing addiction.

I skunked Thursday and Friday fishing the waters closer to the dam I normally hit when I’m on Table Rock, but decided to give the Big M area a shot Saturday based on reports like yours, seeing some very interesting structure on maps, and figuring there might be warmer water and more active fish further up lake.  (But yeah, largely the reports).  I threw a Ned, which fits my finesse fishing preferences well, and landed 33 bass over a nine hour day.  All but one of them spots, the outlier appearing to be a meanmouth.  Only three over 15”, and then just barely, but a great day of catching nonetheless.

Anyway, don’t mean to hijack your post!  My trip ended on a much better note, and I wanted to make sure you and the other active members of this forum heard a little appreciation for your work here.  Keep it up!

 

[Quillback]

Good seeing you get them, they seem to be moving into more of a spring pattern.

[Dutch]

It was a beautiful day weather wise and fish wise.  I started out losing my first 5 fish (3 on a jigging rap in 30 fow).  I didn’t think I would ever get to say “net please” but it finally happened a couple of times.  It was my best day so far this year.  Thanks for the trip buddy.

[rps]

I would bet that top fish is a meanmouth.