Post by 31Airborne on Apr 23, 2020 7:53:56 GMT -5
Spent some time on the lake WED, trying to time the passing of one front and the coming of the next. Was a chilly start - 40* at launch but at least the wind had died down. Watched a beautiful sunrise as I continued my study of the midlake region.
Revisited a couple of the main lake coves I've reported on earlier, trying to get a feel for how things are progressing w.r.t. spawn, baitfish activity, water temps, and the effects of the monsoon rains we had last week. (I spent 2 days on Kerr last week and saw some of the worst conditions there I'd ever seen - huge floaters and red mud flowing in the main channel.) Was surprised to see a moderate stain on the water at the state park ramp (maybe 3-4' of viz). Saw 55.2* at launch - the cold nites we'd experienced the previous few days held the temp down.
My first stop was about 2 miles from launch - a deep main lake cove w/ lots of secondary points and channel swings. Marked 56* there. Started off throwing moving baits - chatter, DT6, 2.5, spinner, small swimbait. Had one wicked swat on my spinnerbait but no hook-up. No other love on moving baits. Had to ease up to a dock to free a bait and as I moved in shallow I marked fish holding tight to the bottom in 4-6'. After freeing my bait I eased back out and switched to bottom presentations - c-rig, shakyhead, jig. Got bit almost right away on the shakyhead on a secondary point. I worked a number of points in this complex, alternating between shakyhead, jig, and c-rig. Landed another fish - a small keeper - on the c-rig. This fish was also holding in 4-6' of water.
From there I motored up lake, stopping in similar complexes as I made my way about 2 miles north of the state park ramp. Was able to get the bottom bite to repeat everywhere I went. Almost all of the fish came off of points. A few came from transition lanes between points but were within a casts' length of the point itself. Some of the bites were pretty lite, almost tentative. Lots of swings-n-misses. Was able to catch a few of these by following up and slowing down the presentation. The follow-up bites were pretty aggressive.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 55.2 at launch to 60.7 (around 2 PM). 2) Water clarity improves as you go down lake, clouds up a bit more as you go up lake but it's still easily fishable. You clear water doods will hate me for this but the water conditions on SML right now are perfect as far as I'm concerned. 3) Some bait fish activity but most of that was in the channels and deep. Not much going on around any of the bait I marked. 4) Points closer to the channel were better than points further away. Points on a channel swing were money. Had to fish broad, rounded points thoroughly. Many of these held multiple fish. Narrow, long tapered points did not produce more than one bite. 5) 4-6' was the magic zone all day. Bite was slow in the morning. Picked up around noon. If your bait touched or deflected off of a stick, rock, stump, or bump it was annihilated. 6) Did have a couple bites off of deeper brush. You had to be patient once the bait cleared the cover. The fish would follow it out, take it in slowly. Line would feel like there was nothing on the end, like your bait had broken off. Had to speed reel the slack line in to catch up with the fish. In every case the fish took the bait and swam deep with it. 7) Black-blue jig, green soft plastix. Did have a couple of bites on crank baits later in the day (shad pattern).
Ended the day w/ a few punks, lots of cookie cutter 2-lb fish, and one that went ~4 lbs. A couple of the fish I caught were post spawners - tails were beaten up and they were long/skinny. The 4 lb'er was full.
I kinda like these mid-week breaks. A great way to get away from the drudgery. Lake was pretty quiet - a few fisherdoods, a couple rec doods. I may have to make this a habit . . .
peace,
B
Revisited a couple of the main lake coves I've reported on earlier, trying to get a feel for how things are progressing w.r.t. spawn, baitfish activity, water temps, and the effects of the monsoon rains we had last week. (I spent 2 days on Kerr last week and saw some of the worst conditions there I'd ever seen - huge floaters and red mud flowing in the main channel.) Was surprised to see a moderate stain on the water at the state park ramp (maybe 3-4' of viz). Saw 55.2* at launch - the cold nites we'd experienced the previous few days held the temp down.
My first stop was about 2 miles from launch - a deep main lake cove w/ lots of secondary points and channel swings. Marked 56* there. Started off throwing moving baits - chatter, DT6, 2.5, spinner, small swimbait. Had one wicked swat on my spinnerbait but no hook-up. No other love on moving baits. Had to ease up to a dock to free a bait and as I moved in shallow I marked fish holding tight to the bottom in 4-6'. After freeing my bait I eased back out and switched to bottom presentations - c-rig, shakyhead, jig. Got bit almost right away on the shakyhead on a secondary point. I worked a number of points in this complex, alternating between shakyhead, jig, and c-rig. Landed another fish - a small keeper - on the c-rig. This fish was also holding in 4-6' of water.
From there I motored up lake, stopping in similar complexes as I made my way about 2 miles north of the state park ramp. Was able to get the bottom bite to repeat everywhere I went. Almost all of the fish came off of points. A few came from transition lanes between points but were within a casts' length of the point itself. Some of the bites were pretty lite, almost tentative. Lots of swings-n-misses. Was able to catch a few of these by following up and slowing down the presentation. The follow-up bites were pretty aggressive.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 55.2 at launch to 60.7 (around 2 PM). 2) Water clarity improves as you go down lake, clouds up a bit more as you go up lake but it's still easily fishable. You clear water doods will hate me for this but the water conditions on SML right now are perfect as far as I'm concerned. 3) Some bait fish activity but most of that was in the channels and deep. Not much going on around any of the bait I marked. 4) Points closer to the channel were better than points further away. Points on a channel swing were money. Had to fish broad, rounded points thoroughly. Many of these held multiple fish. Narrow, long tapered points did not produce more than one bite. 5) 4-6' was the magic zone all day. Bite was slow in the morning. Picked up around noon. If your bait touched or deflected off of a stick, rock, stump, or bump it was annihilated. 6) Did have a couple bites off of deeper brush. You had to be patient once the bait cleared the cover. The fish would follow it out, take it in slowly. Line would feel like there was nothing on the end, like your bait had broken off. Had to speed reel the slack line in to catch up with the fish. In every case the fish took the bait and swam deep with it. 7) Black-blue jig, green soft plastix. Did have a couple of bites on crank baits later in the day (shad pattern).
Ended the day w/ a few punks, lots of cookie cutter 2-lb fish, and one that went ~4 lbs. A couple of the fish I caught were post spawners - tails were beaten up and they were long/skinny. The 4 lb'er was full.
I kinda like these mid-week breaks. A great way to get away from the drudgery. Lake was pretty quiet - a few fisherdoods, a couple rec doods. I may have to make this a habit . . .
peace,
B
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