Date: July 31, 2017
Body of Water: Lake Ovid
Boat: Numenon
With: M
Target: Largemouth Bass
Time: Noon - 3 PM
Conditions: Clear and bright, mild westerly winds; water 80 - 81 degrees F
Hitting a new lake at the crack of Noon on a bright, clear, calm day in late July; with water temps exceeding 80 degrees F, I didn't expect much from the fishing. But I didn't need much, either, since I was joined by my youngest daughter, M. Plus, it was a Weekday Fishing Trip on another Flex Day!
It's been over 30 years since I had fished Lake Ovid, and all my experience there was ice fishing. I expected lots of weeds, but I hoped to find a distinct channel on this small reservoir. I'd then rely on the crank-bait to find the bass.
The weed edge at about 11 feet was easy to find, but a half hour or more of cranking with a DT10 or slow-ripping a Red-eye Shad along the edges produced nothing. Neither did a slow-rolled chatter-bait. Eyeing a conspicuous yet isolated clump of weeds, I picked up a flipping stick with a Texas-rigged creature bait and started exploring, to no avail.
When I relocated to weed edge/point at the edge of some tree-thrown shade, M decided to join the fishing. I gave her a Texas-rigged Senko. I missed the first strike of the day with my creature bait, right on the shade edge. M tossed her Senko right in and, BINGO!, she'd caught the first bass of the day, all by herself! I'm glad I missed it! It was only 12 or so inches, but it was still plenty big to us!
Moving towards the dam, I continued pitching the creature bait. I had selected a watermelon-colored bait to match the brownish water. I converted two bites into two bass. One was simply tiny, but the other was a solid, 15-inch "keeper". Both bites were in the weeds, but not where the weeds were visible; rather they were in slightly deeper water, but still away from the weed edge.
Hitting a new lake at the crack of Noon on a bright, clear, calm day in late July; with water temps exceeding 80 degrees F, I didn't expect much from the fishing. But I didn't need much, either, since I was joined by my youngest daughter, M. Plus, it was a Weekday Fishing Trip on another Flex Day!
It's been over 30 years since I had fished Lake Ovid, and all my experience there was ice fishing. I expected lots of weeds, but I hoped to find a distinct channel on this small reservoir. I'd then rely on the crank-bait to find the bass.
The weed edge at about 11 feet was easy to find, but a half hour or more of cranking with a DT10 or slow-ripping a Red-eye Shad along the edges produced nothing. Neither did a slow-rolled chatter-bait. Eyeing a conspicuous yet isolated clump of weeds, I picked up a flipping stick with a Texas-rigged creature bait and started exploring, to no avail.
When I relocated to weed edge/point at the edge of some tree-thrown shade, M decided to join the fishing. I gave her a Texas-rigged Senko. I missed the first strike of the day with my creature bait, right on the shade edge. M tossed her Senko right in and, BINGO!, she'd caught the first bass of the day, all by herself! I'm glad I missed it! It was only 12 or so inches, but it was still plenty big to us!
 |
| M! |
 |
| Today's best bass; flipping stick in hand. |
At the dam, I noticed some surface-schooling bluegill activity. A small jig and float combo revealed these to be too small to be of any interest.
I graphed much of the channel on our way in, and I marked lots of fish and a few pieces of isolated cover. These should provide an option from the ubiquitous shallow grass. The lake has potential; it's convenient, quiet and undeveloped; I just don't know about the quality of the fish it might produce.
I'd enjoyed a solid outing with M back in the boat; but now it was time to go have a chicken shawarma dinner at our new, local favorite restaurant!
What do I have to say about this?
I don't do much flipping or pitching, but I usually have a rod rigged and ready. I picked it up this outing based on viewing the recent BASS tournament on Lake Champlain. It was won by methodically pitching weed edges for largemouths, despite the renowned smallmouth fishing on the lake. NOT flipping/pitching is certainly a bass-fishing weakness of mine, and what better way to generate some confidence in the technique or a new lake than by enjoying a little success with it? And while I had only a little success this day, all three of my bites came on the initial drop, in the weeds, but NOT the shallowest, visible weeds. I was at least on the "start" of a potential pattern for the lake, at least on this day.
And it really was nice to have M back on board, even if only for a too-brief visit!
I don't do much flipping or pitching, but I usually have a rod rigged and ready. I picked it up this outing based on viewing the recent BASS tournament on Lake Champlain. It was won by methodically pitching weed edges for largemouths, despite the renowned smallmouth fishing on the lake. NOT flipping/pitching is certainly a bass-fishing weakness of mine, and what better way to generate some confidence in the technique or a new lake than by enjoying a little success with it? And while I had only a little success this day, all three of my bites came on the initial drop, in the weeds, but NOT the shallowest, visible weeds. I was at least on the "start" of a potential pattern for the lake, at least on this day.
And it really was nice to have M back on board, even if only for a too-brief visit!
No comments:
Post a Comment