After this past week I now remember why I liked the Chick sooooo much! You guys are so lucky to have such a great lake to fish on even with all the pressure. We tried our best to stay out of the Pros way this past week. For the most part we did. There were a couple times we had a couple come in on us. Considering they do it for a living I was not upset. Had one literally cut us off as we set down on one point and idled up to the point. He came charging in front of us with his big motor, cut us off and never looked our way. The Marshall did and he looked embarrassed. I motioned to him which way were they going to go and he asked the pro. I shouted we would head the other way and he finally looked at us and said, "Thanks!". It was not easy trying to avoid them, they were pretty much all over the place. emoRedface
Even with that all said we had a great time. We got there on Monday the 8th and had a couple hours to fish. Hit HBSP and launched. Shakey only bite with just two hours before the rain ran us off the water. Nothing big, best was a 3 lber. 6 bass with four keepers. Kind of in search mode more then anything.
Tues the 9th, hit it hard running. I think I was out of practice. We missed as many as we caught. emoRedface Still "looking" more then anything as we fished trying to figure out a pattern. Put 18 bass in the boat with a couple nice ones. One four and one five pounder. Kind of surprised on the size. Our whole week we mostly caught keepers. I bet we had 1 short for every 4 keepers we boated. emoScratch Sounded like the Pros had the opposite happen. The pattern we found was a pretty consistent one for this time of year with unstable water. I think the bass on the Chick want to spawn but the water has them staying back some as it has been going up and down. Our main depth we got bites were between 4 to 6 feet on points or drops near or leading into spawning flats. We did have a couple come from water only about 3 feet or less but they were few and far between. Most again on a shakey with a couple off spinner baits. Best five would have gone around 18 lbs.
Weds the 10th. Best day we had for numbers. Boated 28 bass. Got on a couple places where there was a trap bite. Mostly in the 6 foot range water depth. When they hit it, they crushed it. Size was not as good this day, but had two low four lbers with a lot of 2 lbers., not sure we ever boated a 3 lber. this day. May have been the big girls did not want to chase a trap. Lot of fun either way. Still working the lead ins to spawning areas. Best five today would have been around 17 lbs.
Thurs we were limited as where we could go. The wind about blew us away. It was bad. We were in Martin's boat, a 30 year old Basscat with a 150. When we saw how bad the river looked we decided not to cross it. Had to stay on the Harrison side and tried to stay out of the waves and wind. Kind of handicapped us, that is why we were limited. Still managed 23 bass in the boat with the best five going around 17 lbs. on this day also. Lots of bass in the upper twos with a couple in the lower threes and only one barely over 4. emoScratch Trap, spinner bait and shakey.
Friday it all came together for us. Even thou it poured first thing that morning we toughed it out and stayed on course. Only boated 21 bass but had a huge Chick hog at 8.81 lbs. emoDance Also managed three 4 lbers and a couple more solid 3 lbers. Best five would have broke 24 lbs. emoToast The weather cleared up and we focused on the pattern we had found. Waves never got too bad so we were able to get around safely also. emoThumbsup Out of our best five we would have weighed in one off a spinner bait, three off a shakey and one off a trap. All came from the pattern above. Even thou we boated 21 bass that came into the boat, we lost several others. I am not sure but it almost seemed like those bass had seen so many baits they were just not eating it well. Lots of missed bites with half worms to show for it after setting the hook. Considering the week the bass had just been thru you can't blame them. emoRolleyes
Here are a few of the pictures we took. Martin takes a lot of pictures. 97 bass in four days and two hours, I'd say the lake is not bad (LOL). emoTongue Jmax
Even with that all said we had a great time. We got there on Monday the 8th and had a couple hours to fish. Hit HBSP and launched. Shakey only bite with just two hours before the rain ran us off the water. Nothing big, best was a 3 lber. 6 bass with four keepers. Kind of in search mode more then anything.
Tues the 9th, hit it hard running. I think I was out of practice. We missed as many as we caught. emoRedface Still "looking" more then anything as we fished trying to figure out a pattern. Put 18 bass in the boat with a couple nice ones. One four and one five pounder. Kind of surprised on the size. Our whole week we mostly caught keepers. I bet we had 1 short for every 4 keepers we boated. emoScratch Sounded like the Pros had the opposite happen. The pattern we found was a pretty consistent one for this time of year with unstable water. I think the bass on the Chick want to spawn but the water has them staying back some as it has been going up and down. Our main depth we got bites were between 4 to 6 feet on points or drops near or leading into spawning flats. We did have a couple come from water only about 3 feet or less but they were few and far between. Most again on a shakey with a couple off spinner baits. Best five would have gone around 18 lbs.
Weds the 10th. Best day we had for numbers. Boated 28 bass. Got on a couple places where there was a trap bite. Mostly in the 6 foot range water depth. When they hit it, they crushed it. Size was not as good this day, but had two low four lbers with a lot of 2 lbers., not sure we ever boated a 3 lber. this day. May have been the big girls did not want to chase a trap. Lot of fun either way. Still working the lead ins to spawning areas. Best five today would have been around 17 lbs.
Thurs we were limited as where we could go. The wind about blew us away. It was bad. We were in Martin's boat, a 30 year old Basscat with a 150. When we saw how bad the river looked we decided not to cross it. Had to stay on the Harrison side and tried to stay out of the waves and wind. Kind of handicapped us, that is why we were limited. Still managed 23 bass in the boat with the best five going around 17 lbs. on this day also. Lots of bass in the upper twos with a couple in the lower threes and only one barely over 4. emoScratch Trap, spinner bait and shakey.
Friday it all came together for us. Even thou it poured first thing that morning we toughed it out and stayed on course. Only boated 21 bass but had a huge Chick hog at 8.81 lbs. emoDance Also managed three 4 lbers and a couple more solid 3 lbers. Best five would have broke 24 lbs. emoToast The weather cleared up and we focused on the pattern we had found. Waves never got too bad so we were able to get around safely also. emoThumbsup Out of our best five we would have weighed in one off a spinner bait, three off a shakey and one off a trap. All came from the pattern above. Even thou we boated 21 bass that came into the boat, we lost several others. I am not sure but it almost seemed like those bass had seen so many baits they were just not eating it well. Lots of missed bites with half worms to show for it after setting the hook. Considering the week the bass had just been thru you can't blame them. emoRolleyes
Here are a few of the pictures we took. Martin takes a lot of pictures. 97 bass in four days and two hours, I'd say the lake is not bad (LOL). emoTongue Jmax
