NumenOn the Water
Date: 5-9-15
Body of Water: Big Whitefish Lake
Boat: DC's Lund
With: DC
Target: LM Bass
Time: 10 AM - 3 PM
Conditions: Super calm; extremely humid with rain and sprinkles; about 70 F; a couple of days from the season's hottest weather; water murky and about 66 F. Most likely pre-spawn for bass.
DC called me to say that his dock and boat were in for the season; and that he'd caught 20 fish or so on about 25 casts the other night (which was unseasonably warm); and he further invited me up to go bass fishing. I took his invitation without hesitation; and I expected to figuratively slay some pre-spawn largemouths.
The day dawned to heavy rain; and so I delayed my arrival by mutual agreement to 10 AM. It was still raining at that point, but not so hard; and other than a few brief periods, it continued to rain (although usually just lightly) for the rest of the excursion. We started with a few small fish on Ned Rigs in shallow (including a possibly inexhaustible supply of rock bass), but elected to hunt for bigger bass. The water was surprisingly murky, and weed growth had started, but not progressed too far, yet.
The first legal bass came pretty quickly on a Rapala Scatter Minnow along the inside weed edge in 5 feet or so; this was followed by a smaller one right away, but then things got mysteriously quiet. Working both inside and outside weed edges, as well as through yje weeds themselves didn't yield much (a couple of small northerns for DC, a few small bass for me), but I did lose a nice gill-rattling keeper on an Arashi Shad; and we kept plugging away.
D alternated between a jerk bait, a small crank, and a Ned Rig up front; I typically countered with whatever he wasn't using (spinnerbait, Arashi, Shadow Rap, swim jig or Ned Rig, mostly), and while D was pretty quiet for the most part, I put together a decent junk program. At one point I had a legal bass on each bait, but ultimately the Ned Rig shined; and I ended with about 5 of my 8 keeper-sized bass (to about 17 inches) on Ned. Five-foot flats with crispy pond leaf seemed best; but both horizontal and slow scratching bottom retrieves caught fish. The keepers were universally fat females; the spawn is yet to occur.
It wasn't an easy bite, but there were no distractions; there was hardly anybody else out, and boat control was not an issue (between lack of wind and D up front.) I fished with some intensity and ended up with the 8 "keepers"; a similar number of sub-legal-sized bass; and a handful of rockies. D caught a single keeper bass, but also got a few pike to about 24 inches, some small bass and as many rockies as he might like; and was further fortunate to end the day with a surprise, bonus, almost-22-inch walleye. That walleye hit a small O-style, yellow crank bait along a steep weed edge and was destined to become Mother's Day dinner at his house.
DC called me to say that his dock and boat were in for the season; and that he'd caught 20 fish or so on about 25 casts the other night (which was unseasonably warm); and he further invited me up to go bass fishing. I took his invitation without hesitation; and I expected to figuratively slay some pre-spawn largemouths.
The day dawned to heavy rain; and so I delayed my arrival by mutual agreement to 10 AM. It was still raining at that point, but not so hard; and other than a few brief periods, it continued to rain (although usually just lightly) for the rest of the excursion. We started with a few small fish on Ned Rigs in shallow (including a possibly inexhaustible supply of rock bass), but elected to hunt for bigger bass. The water was surprisingly murky, and weed growth had started, but not progressed too far, yet.
The first legal bass came pretty quickly on a Rapala Scatter Minnow along the inside weed edge in 5 feet or so; this was followed by a smaller one right away, but then things got mysteriously quiet. Working both inside and outside weed edges, as well as through yje weeds themselves didn't yield much (a couple of small northerns for DC, a few small bass for me), but I did lose a nice gill-rattling keeper on an Arashi Shad; and we kept plugging away.
D alternated between a jerk bait, a small crank, and a Ned Rig up front; I typically countered with whatever he wasn't using (spinnerbait, Arashi, Shadow Rap, swim jig or Ned Rig, mostly), and while D was pretty quiet for the most part, I put together a decent junk program. At one point I had a legal bass on each bait, but ultimately the Ned Rig shined; and I ended with about 5 of my 8 keeper-sized bass (to about 17 inches) on Ned. Five-foot flats with crispy pond leaf seemed best; but both horizontal and slow scratching bottom retrieves caught fish. The keepers were universally fat females; the spawn is yet to occur.
It wasn't an easy bite, but there were no distractions; there was hardly anybody else out, and boat control was not an issue (between lack of wind and D up front.) I fished with some intensity and ended up with the 8 "keepers"; a similar number of sub-legal-sized bass; and a handful of rockies. D caught a single keeper bass, but also got a few pike to about 24 inches, some small bass and as many rockies as he might like; and was further fortunate to end the day with a surprise, bonus, almost-22-inch walleye. That walleye hit a small O-style, yellow crank bait along a steep weed edge and was destined to become Mother's Day dinner at his house.
 |
| D's Bonus Walleye to end a fine day. |
What do I have to say about this? DC's new house and docked boat might be the best thing to happen for me in a while! I love this easy access to good bass fishing, and we fish together well. We'll push each other to learn a lot about his new home waters. I look forward to more of this, and I've promised to reciprocate with Great Lakes, Reeds Lake or Muskie Trips as we can fit them in.
At one point of this trip, we were discussing how best to target the lake's crappies when D reminded me that he is, after, his Lake Association's current "Trophy Holder" for crappies. Given his surname, he immediately became known to me as TH-C. It could stick; but in the meanwhile, I hope I simply enjoy, and not get addicted to, his situation on Big Whitefish Lake.
At one point of this trip, we were discussing how best to target the lake's crappies when D reminded me that he is, after, his Lake Association's current "Trophy Holder" for crappies. Given his surname, he immediately became known to me as TH-C. It could stick; but in the meanwhile, I hope I simply enjoy, and not get addicted to, his situation on Big Whitefish Lake.
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