Kim City Jan 9, 2026 - Great day on the rock

[Dock-in-it]

I fished this morning and the bass were plentiful and willing to bite. I started out on my 1st location at daylight and it was loaded with shad but I was not seeing many bass. I had about 20 loons approach my boat within 50ft and they all turned around and ignored the shad and went about their way. Then with each passing minute the bass started to appear at all depths and feeding on the shad. (Patience is key) 

I am catching at a steady pace and as usual the shad balls start to fizzle out but the bass are still feeding on shad I can not see on the graph with the exception of some surface shad. Then the loons return and they decide to go nuts which triggers the bass to capitalize on a feeding opportunity.

Location #1 was deep main lake with trees and my boat was normally in 75 FOW and the fish were caught throughout the water column. 

Location #1 was very good until 9AM and then I headed to location #2 hoping it would produce a few more bites.

To my surprise location #2 produced more than 20 keepers. This included a nice limit of SM, LM, and more than 10 keeper K's.

Location #2 was a spawning cove with no trees and my boat was mainly in 30 FOW. The fish at this location had not been pressured and could be triggered in to biting real easy. They were feeding on shad near the surface.

The best bait was a VMC moon-eye 3/8 jig head with a 3" Damiki Armor Shad. I caught fish on several baits but the Damiki produced about 85% of the catches.

From now through March you have to keep all pre/post spawn locations on your check list. I have found multiple winter spots over the years due to bad weather conditions like extreme cold, wind, fog,,,,etc. Extreme weather will cause you to seek safety and comfort.

And you would be surprised how the bass do not care what conventional wisdom has to say.

WT 51.5

 

 

 

 

 

[edwin]

Wow...what an incredible trip!  Thanks for sharing 👍🏻