Transitions

NumenOn the Water

Date:  April 29, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone

Target:  CIR Largemouth Bass

Time:  7:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Conditions:  About 50 degrees and overcast with North to East winds greater than 10 mph; 56 degree water; very clear, with over 5 feet of visibility.

This was Michigan's Lower Peninsula, Inland Water Opening Day for pike, walleye, muskies  and trout.  I was greeted at the ramp by a cluster of folks looking to get out on the water for the first time this year. By 7:15 AM, I was already missing the cold-water, bass-only season I'd enjoyed in relative solitude.

The water was the warmest so far this year, and also the clearest.  Still stumped by last week's skunk, I started in my familiar 5-foot zone and worked through my best water without an apparent touch.  I worked a variety of cranks, the WarPig, and my faithful Shadow Rap through this best water.  In addition to the weeds, I scouted both the shallows and off the deep edge as I moved down the break, and I was extra vigilant for simply seeing any fish.

I turned around and scouted the best spawning area; I found a decent bass under a boat dock, and a very nice bass cruising within sight distance of a pile of cinder blocks.  Each had zero interest in eating any baits (jig, senko, Ned.)  The dock fish seemed immovable, the block fish was skittish but unwilling to give up a prime spawning location.  So at least a couple of fish had moved shallow, but certainly the main push had not yet arrived.

I switched from the Shadow Rap to a darker Berkley Cutter (I'd had other days where one or the other was more productive) and moved to a different weed edge.  I quickly caught several pike from tiny to just-legal size.  It was good to get bit, but the bass were clearly not on the jerk bait, today.

I continued working this edge to the west with the WarPig rattle bait.  As I approached a certain spot, I recalled that a fish ate this lure there last year and really turned around my day.  As I daydreamed along these lines, a swung on a faint "tick" on the lure and soon netted this nice bass:

The only nice bass of the day was just over 18 inches long.  According to my records, she represents an "average" Reeds Lake bass for April 2017.

But this fish did not reverse my date for the day; she was the only quality bass bite I got all day.

Loathe to simply do more of the same, I started running a milk run of spots and lures.  I fished from six inches of water to over 20 feet, using all but one of my rods on board.  This paid off with a single, pip-squeak 12.5-incher that ate a senko from under a dock complex.

After a quick lunch of franks and beans from the Thermos, I took advantage of the slow bite and clear water and tied on a new-to-me lure, a River2Sea S-Waver glide bait.  I also turned to my first off-shore stop of the season, a known big-fish haunt.  I was impressed by the behavior of this lure in the water (I can't wait to try it on East Traverse Bay or similar, deep and clear smallmouth water), and I promptly got smashed by a 24-inch (or so) pike.  It was by no means a large fish, but it was an impressive strike, and it stoked my confidence in this new lure.

I threw this River2Sea S-Waver glide bait for the first time during the last hour I fished, and had a terrific, smashing pike strike.  It turned out not to be so big, but it sure was motivated to kill this bait!

I finished my day by going through my highest confidence area with this lure, hoping to draw a monster out.  That didn't happen, but I guess it could have.

What do I have to say about this?

It's always nice to get a few bites and to gain confidence in a new presentation.  I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but I'll just chalk that up to this; just about everything seems to be in transition right now.  The bass would like to commence with their spawning ritual, but they're not there, yet.  Nor are they reliably positioned on the edge or in the depths.  The weather has been especially unstable (which alone could account for my sub-par performances), vacillating between very early spring and summer-like conditions.  While I was typically out there by myself for much of the season, I am now fishing around many others.  The docks are in, and the ski-boats are out.  Heck, even I am in transition; in a week I will be in a new house and reporting to a new workplace.  I'll even be transitioning my "home" waters; it won't be Reeds Lake, anymore.  It might be Lake St. Clair; but I'll be searching for a closer, suburban, overlooked gem!  It will be hard-pressed to match Reeds Lake!

What the Heck?

NumenOn the Water

Date:  April 23, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  BL

Target:  CIR Largemouth Bass

Time:  8 AM - 12:30 PM

Conditions: Clear skies; westerly winds less than 10 mph; very clear water (more than 5 feet of clarity); water temperature 54-55 degrees F; air temps from 35 to 60 degrees.

Based on an excellent season to date and  these results 52 weeks ago, I had high expectations for the day. From a catching perspective, these never materialized.

Waiting for BL's arrival in the AM, I spent 15 minutes or so entertaining myself in some weedy and shallow water around some docks with a senko.  I didn't catch anything, but I saw a sizable bass and the first bluegills of the season appeared to be flooding the shallows.  This only bolstered my confidence as we approached our first spot of the morning.

We ultimately worked through the entire season's productive water and a few other spots without a bump.  We each saw a bass following our lures (a jerk for BL and a square bill rooting the bottom for me), and I set my hooks into a variety of bottom debris, but nothing  ever bit.  I generally maintained the boat in 5 or 6 feet of water, I maintained a lot of contact with the favored green weeds, and we both explored both shallower and deeper waters.  BL favored jerks, cranks and jigs, and I went through a long list of cranks (shallow and deep), jerks (shallow and deep), rattle-baits, spy-baits and the chatter-bait.  I worked pretty hard at getting something to go; I simply never gained any traction, today.

What do I have to say about this?

I've got little to add, other than to ask "What the heck?"  Other than the post cold-front conditions and the surprisingly clear water, I can't explain our lack of success. I had more confidence working specific, known, productive pre-spawn areas than to search out off-shore or deep-water fish.  With absolutely nothing going on, we left before the lake got too busy.

Difficult Limit

NumenOn the Water

Date:  April 16, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone (It's Easter Sunday, after all)

Target:  CIR Largemouth Bass

Time:  8:30 AM - 4 PM

Conditions:  Windy all day; 15-20 mph from the west.  Conditions started 55 degrees F and gray, then heavy mist, and then clearing skies with temps climbing to about 70 degrees F.  Super windy yesterday, water was very stained (2 feet of visibility, a little better on the south side of lake) and water temperatures ranged from 51.5 F to 55 F in very shallow, protected water.

This was a tough, but ultimately satisfying, day of fishing.  I was fortunate to have all day in front of me; I was able to stay for as long as I chose, and I was engaged in the chase all day.  Water temperatures are starting to climb more quickly (it was 80 degrees the day prior), but wind and runoff have stained the water.  This day, the water was both the warmest and the most stained I'd encountered so far this year.

I expected a strong rattle-bait bite, and because of the poor water clarity, discounted the jerk-bait.  When the rattle-bait didn't produce, I relied heavily on the chatter-bait, especially next to shallow cover, to no good result.  I also threw a variety of cranks over weeds and along walls.  I may have ridden the shallow water/sea wall horse too hard and for too long, because in the first four hours or so, I only caught a single bass.  I may have had a couple of swipes at square-billed cranks run over weeds and through the shallows (or the sensations could have been from weeds and other obstructions), but my only hookup was this long and lean fellow that I plucked out of two feet of water, along a wall, while rooting bottom with the Parrot Rapala DT-6.

18 inches; long and lean; 2.75 pounds (?); Parrot Rapala DT-6 crank bait along seawall; 2 feet of water

After a hot, on-board lunch featuring tinned spaghetti (i.e., Spaghettios) in my trusty Thermos, I decided to try the jerk-bait in the slightly clearer waters of the lake's south side.  I was quickly treated to the following bass:

16 inches; solid 2 pounds; 4 or 5 feet of water; chartreuse and white shallow Shadow Rap jerk bait; My kind of photography!  I'm naturally obscured by heavy mist on the GoPro.

This bait also produced a small pike and another pike bite.  With three bites in less than an hour, I thought I might be onto something.  I returned to my favored area, but when the bait produced nothing here, I continued the process of rotating spots and lures.  Most deep-water presentations were out-of-bounds, because the wind was a serious challenge to boat control, but I did switch from shallower cranks to the previously productive KVD crank.  Soon I got bass number three:

17.5 inches, 3 pounds; 5 or 6 feet of water; KVD crank in the right kind of weeds

This girl showed the presence of some quality bass in my area of highest confidence, and also revealed that the bass were still using the same weeds that have been so productive for me this season.  She also put the idea of a successful virtual limit for the day in my focus and within reach.  By this time, the bass in this area had seen my Shadow Rap, and they'd also been exposed to my KVD crank.  I reviewed my options and came up with a white and green Berkley Fire-Stik jerk-bait.  It was more garish than the Shadow Rap; it might be more visible in the stained waters of this northern flat.  It also runs a foot or more deeper than the Shadow Rap; I was often (literally) in the weeds on a retrieve.

At about 2:45 PM, I netted this fat girl:

20.5 inches; 5.5 pounds; Berkley FireStik jerk bait over 4 or 5 feet of water

Re-locating to a nearby edge, I caught my limit fish on the next cast:

14.5 inches and at least 1.25 pounds; same as above.  You can see the bait in the lower left corner of the picture; that's as garish a jerk bait as I've ever (successfully) used for largemouths.

I fished for another hour, or so, trying to cull up.  I don't think I had a bite that entire time.  I alternated between this jerk bait and the KVD crank, scouring my highest confidence areas.  Boat control was getting increasingly difficult, and a number of bass boats were now rotating through any spots of interest.  When the wind caught my line, blew it over a dock post, and I lost my day's hot bait, I decided to call it a day.

What do I have to say about this?

Every time I go bass fishing, I want to catch a big bass (let's say three pounds or more), and I want to catch a "limit" of bass (i.e., five bass over 14 inches.)  With a virtual limit weighing in at an estimated 14.5 pounds (minimum; and a pike), it would have been nice to cull the smallest.  Virtually any bass I've encountered this season would have been bigger; it just didn't happen this day.  But this is all for fun, so that doesn't matter; these goals are just a tool for me to stay fully engaged in the efforts of the day.

But on a day like this, this represents Work!  But that's okay, too, because it's the work I've chosen for the day.

And here's what didn't work; square-bill cranks, chatter-baits, rattle-baits, anything deeper than 6 feet, and anything finesse-related that required a stable platform.  The wind (which makes these efforts seem more like work, indeed) was relentless!  But I think I've adjusted my attitude about wind and fishing, and can now take advantage of more of the benefits that wind can offer (biology, location, presentation, etc.)  to a fisherman. 

I'd be remiss to not gratefully acknowledge the other gifts of the day:

Frogs! - there was an uninterrupted chorus in all corners of the lake.  They like high water and warmer temperatures!

Cranes! - Several flights of noisy sandhill cranes flew overhead!

Waterfowl! - I could identify the loons, mallards, buffleheads and geese, but the lake was full of swans and hundreds of other puddle ducks!  I'm in the middle of a metropolitan area, but the birds and bass don't care about that!

Lund, Thermos and Hot Lunch!

Easterly Winds

NumenOn the Water

Date:  April 13, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  DC (partial)

Target:  CIR Largemouth Bass

Time:  3:30 PM - 8 PM

Conditions:  Overcast, with east winds 10-15 mph; 50 degrees F.  Water was very high and cloudy, with about 2.5 feet of visibility.  Water temps were up to 49.8 degrees F, but not rising today!

I arrived early, intent on searching new water with new tactics while waiting for friend, DC, to join me.  A different crank-bait and a black/blue chatter-bait fished slowly through the productive types of weeds, from 5 to 10 feet of water produced nothing.  I tucked tight to some reeds, thinking the warm, high and murky water might bring some fish into heavy cover; I soon pulled a chunky, 19.5-inch four-plus-pounder from less than 2 feet of water.  I spent the next 45 minutes or so exploring some shallows in which Numenon has never before ventured.  These waters showed some potential (lots of flipping targets!), but I didn't encounter any fish.

A black and blue chatter-bait, crawled along reeds and adjacent cover in less than two feet of high, stained water, produced the day's biggest bass; 19.5 inches and over four pounds.

Having picked up DC from the dock (now installed!), we went directly to what has been my best area.  While DC threw a spinnerbait or a chatter-bait, I worked my WarPig through the expected strike zone.  We encountered nothing!

Now feeling some pressure from the clock, we went back to fishing some shallow cover.  DC scored a smallish pike on an X-Rap jerk-bait, and he temporarily hooked up with a large bass.  She got off, but she had revealed herself to be immediately adjacent to shoreline cover.

Continuing to concentrate on such targets, DC caught another smallish pike, and I caught another 19-inch bass on a parrot-colored Rapala crank (which is perhaps an old DT-6?)

A couple of different baits stepped up to produce this day's bass.

What do I have to say about this?

What a difference each trip makes!  Reeds fished like a totally different lake under the conditions presented.  Another pattern emerged for me; this will increase my confidence in throwing chatter-baits, especially in cold water.  And this is useful; the Z-Man chatter-bait seemed to be immune to the filamentous algae; it glided through the slime with no ill effect.  Finally, I am fairly amazed at the high average quality of the bass I've caught to date this season.  I hope to continue riding this horse and learning how to keep catching them with some consistency.

New Day, Better Day!

NumenOn the Water

Date:  April 9, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  BL (partial)

Target:  CIR Largemouth Bass

Time:  9 AM - 2 PM

Conditions:  Mostly overcast, 55 to 75 degrees F; persistent southerly wind at 15 mph or more, with gusts to a reported 30 mph.  Water temps were 44.7 to 47 degrees (warmest of season to date)

It was going to be difficult to improve on the previous couple of trips, but conditions just felt fishy!  Overnight temperatures had stayed above 50 degrees, i.e., the water did not cool overnight, there was a bit of cloud cover, and the barometer was falling.  If we weren't defeated by the building wind, we had a good chance to catch some good fish!

BL chose to start with yesterday's hot bait (KVD crank), while I chose to jerk.  We made a bee-line to the previous day's hot area; but we fished through, without any sign of success.  As we neared my highest confidence area of the lake, I picked up the rod with the Berkley WarPig rattle bait; this lure had been lights-out last year when the water neared 50 degrees F.  We were still a ways from that, and scouting casts with this bait had not yet produced this season, but I didn't want to miss out on the early part of this bite!

I was trying to work the edges and drops from about 6 feet of water out to 10 or 12 feet, while BL worked from 7 feet and shallower.  As I worked my lure with a slow "Carolina-style", pulling retrieve, it got hammered on about my third cast.  If this were a bass, I knew it was a good one!  She stayed deep, but when she relented to the pressure of my casting outfit, she revealed herself to be a fine bass; a scooch over 20.5 inches and overweight; she was bigger than the bass I'd taken with BL the week before.  He indicated she might be the largest bass he'd ever seen, and so we weighed her; she checked in at 5.75 pounds. 

Today's first fish measured 20.5 inches and 5.75 pounds.

She had totally inhaled the bait; she had really wanted it.  That told me that I was on to something good; just how good, I would soon find out.

A few minutes later I landed a solid three-plus pounder.  After the first fish, I didn't even bother with measurements or pictures; it was just another solid bass of 2017.  Just moments later, I swung at a slight hesitation in the WarPig's vibration; I could tell it was another heavy bass.  In the net, she looked like a fat four-pounder; but when I measured her length, she, too, was 20.5 inches.  She was so fat, she looked short.  Thinking she might go "6", we weighed her; 6.1 pounds!

I was pretty pleased with Bass No. 3; she also measured 20.5 inches, but weighed 6.1 pounds.  This is probably the first picture of me with a verified 6-pounder.

The WarPig had produced about 15 pounds of bass in about 15 minutes.  I selected a bluegill-colored WarPig for BL while I continued with my red crawdad; half an hour later I finished my "limit" with two additional bass at 19 inches (weighed at 4.3 pounds) and 15.5 inches (guesstimated at a minimum of 1.5 pounds.)  

A 5-bass "limit" weighing 20.5-21 pounds doesn't happen to me all that often (maybe a handful of times in my life), and this limit included a "dink".  There was room for improvement, and I knew I could challenge my best Reeds Lake limit (from last April) with another good bass.

Now I gave my red crawdad WarPig to BL; we both wanted him to catch a good fish.  I switched to cranking.  We visited and revisited several spots, but when I dropped BL off at the ramp at Noon, we still had not caught another bass.

I reclaimed my WarPig and started covering some new water.  A few casts in, I set the hook into a hard-fighting fish.  My hopes soared; this fish was heavy!  She rolled to the top, though, and revealed herself to be a respectable pike; at 34 inches, she's the biggest I've landed here, yet this year.

My quest to upgrade my virtual limit weight was interrupted by this 34-inch pike, and that was okay by me!

Other than another, smaller pike, and a couple of swings and misses, nothing else of note happened.  The wind was picking up, the lake was getting busier, and the season's first waterski boat was launched.  I'd done well enough; it was time to leave.

KVD crank (bottom) produced on Saturday; Sunday was all about the Berkley WarPig (top.)

What do I have to say about this?

It felt fishy, and it was!  I'm not sure I've ever had a flurry like the first three fish, and my fishing is rarely so good that bass over three pounds are not admired to a greater extent.  I have never caught two bass over 5.5 pounds in a single trip, nor have I ever caught 5-pound bass on three consecutive trips.  I'm enjoying some awesome quality bass fishing!  But it is bass fishing, and I can go cold as quickly as I get hot; as demonstrated by my inability to punch a limit ticket or effectively cull up yet, this has not been easy fishing.  But that somehow just makes it that much more satisfying.

Expansion

NumenOn the Water

Date:  April 8, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone

Target:  CIR Largemouth Bass

Time: 10 AM - 3 PM

Conditions: Clear; 35 to 65 degrees F; winds less than 10 mph and variable, southerly direction; water almost 44 to almost 45 degrees F

I anticipated a fairly tough bite based on the chilly start and high, clear skies, but one never knows.  I started in some high confidence water (but not my best water) with my trusty shallow Shadow Rap.  I had my first strike in the first 10 minutes or so.  This was a chunky 16.5-inch pre-spawn largemouth in prime condition; things were off to an unexpectedly good start!

This fish had eaten over shallower weeds than I would have expected (perhaps 3.5 or 4 feet of water) given the cold.  I concentrated my efforts in this new strike zone in several key spots; and 2.5 hours or so later, had to concede that the fishing was tough!  I started expanding my search zone and expectations for what might work.  If the fish weren't unexpectedly shallow, perhaps they were off the deeper edge?  None had risen for my jerk bait, but perhaps I could dredge one up with a crank.

Returning to my starting point with a KVD Strike King diver, I pretty quickly found the edge I was looking for.  On a slow, "Carolina-crank" presentation, this lure would tick through the weeds in 5.5 to 6.5 feet of water or so, and these were the right weeds; green and without that nasty, filamentous algal slime.  On consecutive casts, I brought in a little of this opportune salad.  I was pleasantly vindicated when my next cast was intercepted by a hard-fighting 20.5-inch largemouth.  She was likely the fish of the day!

A fish like this is worth patterning, for sure, and so I worked hard at replicating this presentation.  It took some effort, and I had to return to this same spot a couple more times, but I was ultimately able to add a fat 19-incher,  a solid 16-incher and a long-but-lean pike to the catch.  I had a chance at my "limit" bass, too, but I managed to lose her, 

So I captured only four legal-sized bass, leaving some room for improvement in my virtual bag of 13 or 14 pounds for the day.

With the exception of the first bass, all the fish came from a very short stretch of weeds near the tip of a subtle underwater point.  The spawning flat reaches furthest into the lake here.  It may prove to be a key future location; it certainly seems to have concentrated the (biting) fish this day!

20.5 inches and well over five pounds; this big gal led me to a couple of other nice ones, too.

What do I have to say about this?

Reeds Lake has provided a very solid season to date, but each day's fishing has not been easy; I've had to remain flexible in both location and presentation.  Today, I was forced to expand my range and options, because the jerk bait was simply not producing.  I know the fish are available; it's discovering what they will react to on a given day that seems to be the key to maintaining any consistent success.

Switching to the crank was key, today, but so was noticing the key weeds and then exploring them with a productive presentation.  I borrowed a retrieve technique from last year's rattle bait success by dragging the crank along the bottom "Carolina-style" with the rod tip, as opposed to reeling.  This slows me down, but provides constant contact with the lure, as well as a repeated pause to the retrieve cadence.  It works with the rattle baits, and now I know it works with this crank, too.  

Finally, I'd be hard pressed to say when the last time I caught 5-pounders on back-to-back trip happened to be.  Maybe on Brooks Lake back in the hot summers of the early 1990's (buzz baits in the early morning darkness); or, possibly never.  It has been a very solid season for me to date.

First Limit of 2017

NumenOn the Water

Date:  April 2, 2017

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  BL

Target: CIR Largemouth Bass

Time: 9 AM - 3:30 PM

Conditions:  From clear and 35 degrees to overcast and perhaps 60; calm to mild SE winds < 10 mph; water temperatures from 42 to almost 44 degrees F

Newish fishing friend, BL, was right on time and helped quite a bit at the ramp; things were off to a good start.  We've shared some good fishing together over the last couple of years, but I warned him of a probable slow, but quality bite as we slowly motored across the lake.  Given our time frame of about 2.5 hours together, I told him I'd be very happy with four bass, but they'd likely average at least three pounds.

We were first on the lake, and we went directly to my highest confidence area.  We both started with jerk baits; he would cover the shallower water (3-6 feet or so), and I would focus on the edge at 6-plus feet with a Deep Shadow Rap.  After 100 yards without a strike, I couldn't help but switch to a shallow version.   I soon instinctively swung on a fish, and I knew immediately that it was a heavy fish.  It peeled enough drag that I was quite certain that it must have been a pike, but my first glimpse confirmed that it was indeed, a bass, and a very nice one!  This was the largest bass we'd ever caught together, and a very promising start to the day.  I didn't measure it, but I'm willing to call it another 5-pounder; acknowledging that it might have actually weighed 4.8 pounds on the scale.  On the other hand, maybe last week's 5-pounder weighed 5.5 or more; this fish was not as large as that one.  She was, however, fat and beautifully conditioned, and she fought better than any other bass yet this season.

My first bass of April was a beauty!

I am not quite sure why their lips turn red at this time of year.

Beautiful conditions for photography

In quick succession, I missed a fish and caught a very solid three-pounder.  Again, the white/chartreuse Shadow Rap was calling them out of the weeds in about 5 feet of water.  The key seemed to be a prolonged pause or two during the retrieve.  I switched rods with BL in order to get the hot bait in his hands, and then got No. 3 immediately with a white and blue Shadow Rap.

The third of a quick threesome, and the smallest

I was well on my way to my best day of the season to date; the Shadow Rap had produced about 11 pounds, and there was plenty of time ahead of us.

We circled through this same water, again.  BL stuck with the Shadow Rap while I scouted with other lures, including spin baits, rattle baits and swim baits.  We caught nothing here, and so we re-located to some similar water; but we didn't have any further action while we shared the boat.

After dropping BL off at the ramp, I went directly to some new water and tried a new presentation.  An old Mark Davis Bomber Flat A Shad in white and green, thrown into about 6 or 8 feet of water from a position in 12 or 14 feet, produced a 2.5-pounder and a wonderfully rotund (although short) pike.  When that window had obviously closed (based on no bites and several relocations in the next 90 minutes), I resorted back to the jerk-baiting with a Berkley Cutter in an attempt to complete my limit.  It produced my fifth bass of the day (over 14 inches) at about 1:45 PM, and completed my first "virtual limit" of the season.  This bass was about 15 inches and probably weight a bit over 1.5 pounds.

For the last 90 minutes or so, I scouted deeper water, adjacent to areas where I've encountered the pre-spawn bass.  A KVD/Strike King crank produced a couple of smallish pike and a chance to cull my smallest bass with a slight upgrade from 8 to 11 feet of water, but I muffed this last bass next to the boat.

I also explored slightly deeper waters (about 13-20 feet) with Heddon Sonar and Sebile Vibrato blade baits, but decided to call it quits when my lure was cleanly snipped off by a pike on the single strike they produced.  These are proving fun to fish, though, and I think I will be able to work them into my cold-water regimen.

What do I have to say about this?

BL is proving to be a good, considerate and pleasant (if infrequent) partner, and his company improved my day!  What started as a dream day turned into a bit of a grind; but having matched my goal of catching a virtual limit of bass for the first time this season (with a solid total weight of 14 or 15 pounds for the five bass), combined with catching another pre-spawn lunker, provided lasting, dream-like qualities to the day.  A day of intense concentration for the task at hand was a further gift, as were the multiple sets of paired (and perhaps, actively mating) loons.

Multiple lures produced today, including the two Shadow Raps mentioned above, the Bomber Flat A Shad, the Berkley Cutter jerk bait, and the KVD Shad crank.  What didn't produce included the Deep Shadow Rap, rattle baits, spin baits and GT 360 swim baits.  I am sure they will each have their time to shine.

Reeds Lake is rarely easy, but she has been a good learning laboratory for me.  I've still got lots to learn!