Hello, Anglers. Lots of activity on local lakes signals the peak of the fishing season is slowly getting here as warmer water is making fishing slightly more productive. Tournament activity is heating up too with multiple bass tournaments this past weekend and others planned for this coming weekend.
One familiar tournament name in the area is George Jeane Jr of Evans who added another win to his career by winning the FLW/BFL Cowboy Division held on Toledo Saturday February 20th.
Jeane's 5-bass limit weighed 18 pounds 3 ozs and included a huge 10 pounds 9 ounce largemouth which fell for a crankbait. According to Jeanes, the rest of his bass came off a drop shot. Jeane won over $4,300 for his efforts as Robert Moore of Leesville won the co-angler division with a 5-bass limit of 17 pounds 12 ounces and $2200.
READER QUESTION: One of our readers, lake area angler Paul Guidry, ask a great question: "Is it legal to put a perch back in a fish that has spit it up in the livewell and weigh it in?" He further added "We came in 2nd place last week in the LA Oilmans and lost by .31 lb. One of our big fish spit up a perch. I did not put it back in but some people said you could."
MY ANSWER: In my personal opinion, no. While it is natural for a fish to spit up various things, it is not natural for an angler to stuff something down it's throat. I am having bass spit up a bunch of shad currently when catching them from deep water. I don't think it would be right to cram a handful of shad back into them before weigh-in. I can understand an angler wanting to especially if the perch weighs 2-3 ounces. But polygraph questions could prove interesting if you were to have a high finish.
LAKE CONDITIONS: At mid-week my favorite fishing hole is full reading 172.22 feet with one generator running 24 hours but that will change to both running shortly. Water temperatures are in low 50s and some afternoons reaching mid 50s before cold nights drop it back down near 50. The end of the week is trending warmer. North Toledo is heavily stained to muddy, mid lake is stained and south Toledo is mostly clear with feeder creeks stained. I found hydrilla(submerged grass/bass condo) last week in Indian Creek area which is the first I have personally seen in over 10 years. Makes me wanna shout!
FISHING REPORT/BASS: There are more anglers fishing so we are getting more reports and they are somewhat improved over last week. We caught most of our bass fishing both shallow as well as deep patterns.
In the mornings we have been fishing deep and waiting until the water warms a bit before we use shallow patterns. We also have been starting a couple of hours after daylight with cold nights and full moon the past week but we are no longer doing that. Our morning patterns have been deep crankbaits (DD22) worked very slowly with pauses over points and flats close to deep water. Top colors are Bumble B, Sexy Shad and Firetiger with flake.
We are also fishing drop shot patterns in depths of 20 to 35 feet and are using Berkley's Wacky Crawler (5 inch) in green pumpkin and w.m. candy.
We are also working Stanley's Bugeye and Berkley's Football jigs in depths of 15 to 25 with clean bottoms with a small bit of timber. Carolina rigs are also catching bass in deep water with anglers using Berkley Power Lizards, Flukes and Stanley's new Itzabug (4 inch) in watermelon purple.
We are also catching bass in shallow water after it warms a bit targeting drains and ditches running from the main lake or main bay into the bank. Secondary points on these drains are holding bass. Another productive area is to find a ditch running through a flat. This has been very productive at times and we are working this with weightless Texas rigs and light Texas rigs with Berkley's Power Craw and Critter Craw, Stanley's Itzabugs and Sidewinders. We are also working these flats with Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps and Wedge Plus spinnerbaits. Trap colors include white crawfish, Toledo Gold, blue/silver and Rayburn Red. I am also starting to catch bass on a wacky rigged Gulp! Sinking Minnow and 5 inch Senko.
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.
