Sat 3-27- Priest....

The lake continues to be tough for me. I launched at Hurricane Creek, mid-lake. headed uplake about 3 miles to fish some spawning coves, and staging ares with moving baits. had one small fish on a crankbait early, but with the clear skies, the fish didn't seem interested in chasing.

I regrouped, and headed back towards the lower end, and I decided to slow down and move out a bit. I hooked a 3 lb smallmouth on a grub just inside a large cove near LHSP in about 6 ft. Unfortunately, the fish jumped and threw my grub back at me. I worked my way back in the cove, but there was nothing doing.

I worked back to the point and around the corner on a main lake flat heading back down lake. I picked up the C-rig, and moved the boat out to 10-2 ft. On the third cast, I hooked a good 3 lb largemouth. I stayed in the area and caught a 2 lb smallie and broke off one more. That was it for that spot.

I jumped across the lake to the end of a bluff wall where the bank transitioned to gravle / mud and scattered rock. this is where I caught the 4 1/2 lb smallie two weeks before. I picked up the jerkbait and worked the bait in 3-9 ft. I caught a noce 12" Spot, but no more takers.

From there, I headed under the bridge to check several shallow spots and a few deeper transition points. It was a waste of time.

Moved around near Four Corners for another hour or so, but the wind got so bad that it was nearly impossible to fish slowly. Loaded the Bee up, and I was home by 2 pm.

Water temps ranged from 47-51 degrees all day. The fish are still not ready to move up on the spawning flats in any numbers, so i continue to struggle. In hindsight, I have spent way too much time downlake the last few weeks. I probably should have joined the crowds in the warmer upper end.

Live and learn.

Later,

RBK

Weak start to Club season JPP 3-20-10...

Boy did I struggle today! My deeper jerkbait bite never materialized at all. We caught around 8 small fish all day, and the only way we could catch them was shallow, and most came on the little shad rap.

Good news is the boat ran great, so there's that. Winner had 9+ lbs, so I've got some work to do at Center Hill in April.

Until next time,

RBK

Boat problems.....Weekend Seies 1- JPP 3-13-10...

Made it down to my first stop on time, and had 3 short fish in first two hours. Went to crank the motor, and it would not turn over.

Had to get towed back to Long Hunter State Park. We fished around for a couple of hours, and I caught a nice 20" smallie on a jerkbait. That was it. I had to leave my co-angler at Long Hunter, and bag my fish up. I jumped on board with a friend, and he took me to weigh in.

The fish weighed 4.79 lbs, which was good for 17th out of 50 boats. Not bad for fishing half the time allowed.

Back to the dealer, again.

RBK

March 6th-cold water....

Headed out to scout for my first Weekend series event next weekend. We stayed down lake all day, and the water was ranging between 39-44 degrees all day. The fish didn't cooperate at all. We fished deep, shallow, and in between (flats, bluffs, 45 deg banks, you name it). Finally, around 1 pm I bumped into the nice largemouth pictured here. She crushed a jerkbait on my favorite 45 degree bank near the bridge. One fish in 8 hrs!

As it turns out, that fish would have possibly gotten me a check in the BFL. Only took 7.9 lbs to win it.

Wow, is it ever tough!

RBK

Bait colors somewhat simplified.....

There are sooooo many darn bait colors out there, but if you keep it fairly
simple, you can really limit what you need IMHO:

Crankbaits- three basic color patterns:
shad, chartreuse, and craw (I only buy the craw patterns in Spring time baits-
Shad Raps, Bandits, etc. On my Summer deep cranks it's either shad or chart,
depending on water color).

Spinnerbaits / Chatterbaits- white and white / chart

Topwater hard baits- pretty much shad colors here, and same basic colors on
buzzbait as with spinnerbaits above.

Jerkbaits: basic shad or gold back seem to work in most cases.

Jigs: I could really limit it to two colors- green pumpkin / brown and black /
blue, although I really like green pumkin with some blue in it, if I can't
decide.

Plastics: if forced to limit it to two basic colors, I would choose on dark and
one green; probably black/ blue flake and green pumpkin. With either green
pumpkin or watermelon, you can die the tail / pinchers to add a splash of color
if needed. Jig trailers follow the same rule; one green and one dark (black /
blue).

The only two exceptions to the platics rule would be shad imitating lures
(flukes, trick worms, swimbaits, etc.)and big worms. The one color I would
choose for the shad imitators would be pearl white. On the 10" worms, I really
like plum or blue fleck.

The bait companies are smart. They know that the more variations of colors they
release, the more baits we'll buy.

But, if you're on a limited budget or just want to cut thru the confusion, stick
with white, white / chart, green pumpkin, and black n blue. you can fish in
pretty much any conditions and catch fish.

My essential tackle box...

If I had to start over with a tackle box, here's what I'd have to have to get the through the year:

Topwater:
- XCalibur Zell Pop in Foxy Shad
- Lucky Craft 100 Sammy in Shad
- Stanley Bull Ribbit in White and Catapilla
- Stanley Ribbit in same colors
- Cavitron Buzzbait 1/4 oz white with gold blade

Jerkbaits:
- 4 1/2 " Smithwick Suspending Rogue in Gold Shad pattern
- Lucky Craft 100 Pointer in Shad

Cranks:
- 100 Bandit (shad and craw)
- 200 Bandit (")
- 300 bandit (")
- SK Series 5 (sexy shad and chart sexy)
- Norman DD 22 (Sexy Shad and Chart / Blue back)
- Bomber Fat Free Shad #7 (Foxy Shad and Citrus)
- SK Red Eye Shad 1/2 oz.(chrome sexy, sexy shad, and red)

Jigs:
- 1/4 oz Bitsy Flip (Watermelon)
- 3/8 oz Arkie Style Flippin Jig (brown / green and black / blue)
- 3/8 oz Dirty Jigs Swim Jig (bream, black / blue, shad)
- 1/2 oz PJ's Football Jig (brown / green and black / blue)
- 3/4 oz PJ's Football jig (")
- 5/16 Eakins Finesse Jig (Wat / purple and Green pumpkin / orange)

Spinnerbaits:
-3/8 oz. War Eagle Spinnerbait (White and Wh / Chart)

Chatter type baits:
-Phoenix Vibrating Swim Jig (white and green pumpkin)

Plastics:
- 7" Culprit Worm (purple and red shad)
- 10" Zoom Ole Monster Worm (Plum, Blue Fleck, and Wat / Red)
- Zoom Super Chunk, Jr. (Wat Green)
- Davis Paca Chunk (Gr pumpkin, black / blue)
- SK Rage Chunk (Gr pumpkin, black / blue)
- Yum Craw Papi (4" Gr pumpkin)
- Baby Paca Craw (Green pumpkin)
- Roboworm 4"(Aaron's Magic)
- Zoom Finesse Worm (Watermelon)
- Zoom trick worm (Sherbet)
- Gambler Sweebo worm (peppergrass)
- GYBC 5" Senko (watermelon and blue pearl / silver flake)
- GYBC Creature (Black / red flk)
- Lake Fork Lure Craw tube (")
- Zoom 6" Lizard (gr pumpkin)
- Zoom 8" " (")
- Zoom Super Fluke (pearl)
- Prowler 3" Stubby Tube (Gr Pumpkin)
- 4" prowler flippin Tube (gr pumkin and black / blue)
- 5" Kalin Grub (watermelon)

Swimbait:
-Storm Wildeye Shad (pearl shad)

Spoons:
- 5" Spaits flutter spoon
- War Eagle 1/2 oz jiggin spoon (silver)

Terminal tackle:
too much to list, but weights, hooks, swivels, beads, shaky heads, tube heads, grub heads, etc.

11-13-09 JPP practice day...

Took a vacation day today to go practice for the Sat am tourney on Priest. My crankbait bite seems to be going the way of the topwater bite that died in October. After cranking three banks that have been good to me lately, i decided to go deep, slow down, and work a jig.

I caught the nice 15 1/2 inch smallie on the first deep spot. Then I moved to a down lake island with deep water near by. I threw the jig on a small rock pile point, and the jig took off to the shallow rocks. I normally don't like setting the hook the day before a tourney, but I needed to see what quality of fish were in some of these new areas. The fish came right to the boat, and in she came. It was the nice 6 lb Largemouth here. Two casts later, and wham, a 3 lbr. I got out of here as quick as I could.

I moved around on deep stuff the rest of the day and caught two keeper spots and about five short LM's. For the day, I had 4 keepers for around 11 1/2 lbs. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

RBK