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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment