What else could we have done??

[66KingFisher]

I'm thinking my fishin buddy Ron said it best-"We suck at fishing"!!

Yesterday we hit lake Ouachita hoping to find some big bass as we all do this time of year. This is only our 2nd time to visit this beautiful lake. Early clouds turned to bluebird skies that day with a 2-4mph wind. Air temps in the mid to upper 70's with water temps ranging from 61-65. The lake is at full pool with incoming water from recent storms. Water clarity was 3-5ft everywhere we fished. We worked coves and pockets all along the South Fork leg of the lake from about 9am till dusk.

Results were as follows. I caught more than a dozen bass ranging from 1/2-1lb. They all appeared to be small males. I caught one on a shad colored crankbait, while the rest came on hard jerkbaits...I used 4 different styles and color patterns over the course of the day and caught bass on them all. My fishin buddy Ron, whom is new to bass fishing, was shadowing my catches by changing to similar lures that he had, but he wasn't getting the same results. So he'd change lures and try something else....I think he tried about everything he had in his box, and wasn't getting bit. In fact I was quite surprised that his spinnerbaits and such didn't produce a thing...Just as the day was coming to a close he finally picked up 2 small bass. I say small, but they were both bigger then anything I caught...lol....but they were less then 2lbs.

All the fish I caught came off either a point leading into a small pocket, or midway back into cove or pocket....I never saw a fish bed of any kind all day, and I never heard or saw anyone else catching anything. We talked to a couple of guys in identical rigs to ours that were pulling out after fishing the early am bite, as we were unloading, and they said they caught a few dinks on a grape floating worm wacky rigged, and later we talked to a guy trolling for stripers that said he'd only caught one 7lb fish all day.

So in the end we weren't really happy with our results, even though we didn't get skunked...lol. Which brings up my question....What else could we have done different to find the bigger fish?

[bamabassman]

hahaha, well you COULD stop cathcing MY dinks man. hahaha, i dunno for real. but oyu had a good day on the water right? that's all that counts bud.

[MississippiBoy]

Sometimes you're the windshield of a Shelby Mustang, sometimes you're the bug that gets smashed at 120 mph.....

[66KingFisher]

Better make that 140 mph if its a Shelby...lol.

John, I'm gonna stop listening to you and see if I can get Kory to come down and give me lessons...

Yes, we had a good day on the water and I feel very blessed to be able to go with Ron as often as I do and subject him to my rantings about my cheap equipment, or my lack of ability to use it, or to know what I'm doing when it comes to fishing...hahaha

Its been 27 years since I set my PB....I sure would like to break that someday soon.

[joedog]

I can only say one thing, those pictures of the lake are beautiful!

Tree's are just now getting thier first buds around here.

[keithdog]

I don't know what else you could have done as your waters are probably quite different from mine, but I've been having similar results, except far less fish. The long cold winter and heavy rains, strong winds mixed with sleet have really put the kabosh on our bass. We finally warmed to above 70 yesterday. I've caught 3 bass that were around 3 pounds, and all of them came off jigs with craw trailers pitched right up against piers. I had one morning a week ago where I caught 5 dinks in 45 minutes on a lipless crank working weed beds from shore at the mouth of a bay. I've taken a few on jerk baits too, but not as many as I usually do. It's been a rough spring for most folks. Just hang in there. I havn't seen ANYONE catching much of anything around here. The pics are beautiful by the way. Looks like a very nice lake.

[lilmule]

Lizards and or creature baits draw bites hardbaits get some attention but mostly to shoo away not kill or eat as dont stick around.Nests are not always easy to see and bet your lake level is up a tad.Normally the pad area in paris landing is 2-2 1/2 ft deep (359)but due to the distance away from bank,pads and color to water cannot see any of them .Right now ky lake is 362 and they are now drawing water out,no pads showing I need it to be 360-61 come sat but who knows,as beavers have closed off the entrance.