Hello, Anglers. There is simply no way that I can write a fishing column this week without first saying how thankful I am for our amazing armed forces and their families. I am so proud to be an American where we enjoy so many freedoms which is made possible by men and women who have made it their choice to defend this amazing country. I pray daily for their welfare and for God to continue to bless our freedom-loving homeland. God Bless The USA!
LAKE CONDITION: After a brief rise of 4-5 inches following the rains of last week, the lake resumes it trend downward and registered at 164.12' at mid week which is basically 7.88' below full pool of 172' msl. Water temps are running from 69 on main lake to low 70s with the cold front. There are numerous areas all over the lake where new grass is growing, both visible and submerged. This is especially true on the south end of the lake with its clear water conditions. The generating schedule has been one unit running from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
FISHING REPORTS/BASS: There's nothing like a March cold front in May as another challenge in this very unusual spring of 2011. The bright side of all of this is that it will help keep water temperatures down for a while longer and will improve fishing for the next several weeks and will keep more fish in the shallow water for an extended time. Long term weather reports have predicted a cooler than normal May.
One pattern that has improved the past couple of weeks has been top water patterns which is a favorite way to fish for many bass anglers. Some of the top rated lures currently for getting quality bass on top include Pop R, Chug Bug, Zara Spook and Yellow Magic. In addition, plastics frogs are also catching fish when fished over grass with local favorites including Stanley's Ribbit and Zooms Horny Toad. My personal favorite is a Ribbit (pumpkin pearl) rigged with a 4/0 Double-Take frog hook which I fish on 50 lb test Spider Braid.
Spinner baits have been a staple for me last fall, all winter and certainly all spring and they continue to catch fish for us. On windy days, of which we have had many, the spinnerbait can be a game changer and a trip saver.
There have been many days where we have fished spinnerbaits two-thirds of the day. While I use spinnerbaits from one-eighth to a full one ounce, the one I use the most is Stanley's Vibrashaft three-eighths oz. with double willow leaf blades. I often change the standard #4 willow blade to a #4.5 blade especially when the winds are high. I find that I catch bass on spinner bait skirt colors with shad patterns, white and chartreuse or a combo of all those. We use a variety of retrieves when working spinner baits but mostly use a very fast or very slow presentation.
When we do not have an active bite on topwater and spinnerbaits we have been using TX and Carolina rigs, drop shot and deep cranking a Bill Norman DD22 crankbait. We have been successful on all of these methods and it just depends on the conditions and the mood of the bass to determine which one of these we will use. We are mostly fishing the TX rig in scattered grass or on the outside grass line (6' to 12') and using the Carolina rig in deeper water on main points with brush from 12 to 28'.
Drop shot patterns are working in 15 to 30'.
CRAPPIE/BREAM/YELLOW/WHITE BASS
White perch are mostly being caught in baited brush piles on jigs and live shiners in 12 to 25' as well as along the outside edge of grass in 8 to 15'. Bream have started to bed in 1 to 4' and can be found along the edge of the bank in large coves with live crickets and earth worms. Yellow bass
are in good numbers along the main creeks and the mouths of major coves and are hitting small crankbaits/Rat-L-Traps and jigging spoons.
AUTHOR INFO: Joe Joslin is a syndicated outdoor columnist, tournament angler and pro guide on Toledo and Sam Rayburn. Contact him at 337-463-3848 or joejoslinoutdoors@yahoo.com . and WEBSITE www.joejoslinoutdoors.com
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