bshaf, Chick, Bass and Crappie, 3/31 - 4/3, David and Polo-dog

[bshaf]

After fishing through the terrible conditions of last weekend (and catching a few good fish), we were really excited to fish all week during the warm up. We had water temps in the very low 50's to start the week and yesterday had temps in the mid to upper 60's. We were on the water everyday this week and threw just about everything at the bass and focused on staging areas in 1-20 fow. We could not get anything going. We caught a couple keepers on traps and one on a spinnerbait Monday and Tuesday in varied depths and structure. We had caught fish in the cold water shallow so we knew fish were really wanting to get shallow and we kept checking some very promising flats and areas leading to spawning sloughs. We even found some emerging grass, in a ditch in about 6 fow, leading to a spawing slough filled with stumps..... and caught NOTHING. I thought for sure there would be bass using that and we fished it at least once a day if not twice??? It had everything, except feeding fish. We really focused on banks that had structure (wood and stumps) but came up with very little at every turn. My only regret is not slowing down and fishing smaller plastics really tight so some of the structure but I knew the time was right for traps, cranks, and spinnerbaits.... maybe a mistake but oh well. By some of the reports it seems many others struggled to get a bass pattern together. In the past we have done fairly well on the Chick for being a couple Yankees used to river smallie fishing. The Chick showed her teeth despite the gorgeous weather all week.

We did see fish (pairs) working bed Thursday morning in about 2 FOW on stumps. You could see the clean rocks against the stumps and even saw a buck bass fanning a bed in the area. I was surprised as I thought it was a bit early for spawning but I guess not.

Mark (Polo) continued giving us tips and tricks to try and he really saved the trip for us by taking us crappie fishing several times and showing us a few of his spots and techniques. He was an excellent guide and we can't thank him enough for showing us how to catch a few fish.

I really wish I had more of a report on what worked for us but overall the fishing was slow. The weather and people were great. While on the water we bumped into a few on the forum: Jason, The Wolftever Kid, Ed, and fishingaddiction and his daughter (talked with you briefly in the creek). If you were in Wolftever Creek at all this week you probably saw us buzzing around a time of two.

The Chick is a great fishery and hopefully it can remain that way for a very long time. We hope to come back again next year but will be sure to avoid the first phase of the lake fill-up to summer pool (zero-current) and beautiful weather... as it was terrible for the fishing.

Thanks again to all those who helped us along the way.

Tight Lines.

Brett

 

[EricM]

emoToast emoToast

 

[rsimms]

Thanks for sharing... sorry you didn't tag "The One." But glad you paid a visit. emoThumbsup

 

[Gator]

Thanks for the report. It sounds like you had fun and enjoyed what you could even though the bass were a little bashful. Mark is quite a fisherman and I'm sure he enjoyed helping out.
emoGeezer

 

[Javelin33]

Thanks for the report. Something has changed in the past few days and they're biting better now.

 

[fishnaddiction]

Enjoyed the brief conversation and hope to see you next time.