Lake Raven 3 March 07

[betursweetbass]

Yesterday, we went to Huntsville State Park, the wind was 15 - 20 MPH, the air temp was around 60, the water temp was averaged about 58. We tried using some cranks but had no success. We where able to catch close to ten nice ones using plastics on texas rigs. Here are some pics.

[texasbasser]

nice bass!

[scrap]

i am jealous. lol. glad you all got out. up north here, we will have to wait awhile longer. thanks for sharing the photos.

[dampeoples]

Killer! Been windy as all get out here too, and I'm ready for either March to go out like a lamb, or for me to get over being sick!!!

[adamgambill]

Bet and Mrs. Bet, glad to see yall are able to pull 'em out on Raven-glad somebody can .

Bet you know somebody (cough JB cough) will be altering this

[betursweetbass]

Raven can be tough at times, I think it's due to the pressure mainly. I don't think JB has seen this post....let's try to keep it that way....

[dampeoples]

/me PM's JB

[ToPwAt'R GuY]

Nice fish.

[JRL]

Those are some chubby bass. Lot of deep water there?

[brushhog]

Originally Posted by scrap

i am jealous. lol. glad you all got out. up north here, we will have to wait awhile longer. thanks for sharing the photos.

Maryland is north??? Man, you'll be fishing months before us. I shoud have moved south when I was young. Central New york ,where I am, is still under 3 feet of snow and temps below zero this week!

[Adebisi485]

my goo dbuddy lives right next to the lake, i spoke with him this last night and he said the fishing's been pretty good. He's been doing well, fishing slowly with a jig and an Ika. He said it's slow but worth it.

[betursweetbass]

Originally Posted by JRL

Those are some chubby bass. Lot of deep water there?

I think the deepest I have seen on my FF is about 35, but, we catch most of our fish in 10 feet or less. All the fish in the pictures above where caught in shallow water using T rigged plastics.

[JB]

ROFLMAO....I just got back to the pc on my crane and saw that picture steve...awesome!

NICE FISH you two!

[betursweetbass]

Sometimes I just get so excited after landing a nice one, I can't emagine what posessed me....

[bassintxlady]

i can tell you what possessed him....he was mocking me that he caught a bigger fish than i did.....it was just luck that i snapped the picture at the most oportune moment to catch that face.....hehehehehe....and i warned bet that you would have a field day with that pic jb.....hehehehehehe.....but we had a great time fishing that day .....can't wait until next week a new adventure......more bass to be caught....and possibly more oportunities for jb's photoshop skills....

[JB]

what i noticed at first glance at all the pictures was the skies in the background...a mix of bluebird skies to clouds to clouds..it looks like it started out cold and heated up nicely..did this change in weather make the fishing better?

[bassintxlady]

it was a very gorgeous day on that lake....it was a tad bit windy for my tastes....but as bet taught me to put the boat nose in the wind and we let the trolling motor keep up stable on drifting along the shoreline.....as long as you were in the sun it was very nice.....the winds were about 15-30.....i think what made the fish bite so well is according to bet the night before we had the full moon.....because it surprised us both that we started catching fish within the first 30 minutes of starting to cast our lines.....but of course i caught the first and the last fish...... ......

[betursweetbass]

I can't say what the lake is like at 6am, I've never been there that early, so it could be we're missing some fantastic fishing. The few times we have gone early, we didn't do any better than what we usually do say at 8am.

For us, Raven seems to be consistant all thru the day, but it is definately, slooooooow around 12:00 noon, until about 1:30pm, then the bite usually picks up again. If there is a best time to fish Raven, it is after 5pm. We have gone there and gotten skunked before, but only once or twice. The bite can be slow at times, but we usually do alright.

If you ever get a chance to fish Lake Raven, fish the heavy weeds that encompass almost the entire shore line. The bass will usually hit your presentation if you can manage to drop your lure right off the edge's of the weeds. It would be even better if you can get it to go under the weeds back towards the shore. (like that flying lure.... )

There's very little structure in the lake itself, aside from a few dead trees, although there are some areas that have drop offs, I've never seen fish on them. I'd say Raven is also a very seasonal "pattern type" body of water, if your on the right pattern, you could get bit all day long, but ploppin plastics on the edge's of the weeds, remains a dependable way to boat a few nice ones on each outting. I've seen guys tossin blades for hours with no strikes, and others cranking with nothing to show for it, but I know they must do well with them at times, cause we have.

There are several huge patches of lilly pads back in the coves, that hold some really big toads (like the one I caught in April), if you work them slowly with jigs or plastics your liable to find yourself fighting a double digit monster, just use some good strong line in them thar lillypads. Raven is also a catch and release lake for Bass, no bass are allowed to be taken from the water.

On the downside, raven is small and a "no wake" lake, idle speed only. It is very popular with the locals due to the new boat ramp installed in early 06. It gets alot of weekend warriors like myself out there and the pressure is high. The water is up high in the summer and the bite really slows down due to temps in the mid to upper eighties towards the end of May.

And as a final note for Lizards, there are some huge gators in Raven, dont be taking a tube out there....

Bet

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by betursweetbass

And as a final note for Lizards, there are some huge gators in Raven, dont be taking a tube out there....

Bet

The last time I was in a tube was in Indiana recreational boating rotfl. I get nervous in my boat sometimes when the gators are bigger than it is

Lizards

[Wishing2BFishing]

Originally Posted by brushhog

Maryland is north??? Man, you'll be fishing months before us. I shoud have moved south when I was young. Central New york ,where I am, is still under 3 feet of snow and temps below zero this week!

Brushog, I know how you feel. Last weekend I got up early and went to my local lake. I was sure that the "ice out" fishing would be happening. Generally, I will pick up a few in the open spots that are not frozen. Unfortunately, the entire lake was frozen over. I thought about going on the ice but could hear it cracking from underneath. I drove to another lake which had some open spots but I was skunked.

[bassintxlady]

i have some great pics of some of the gators at raven....they were sharing the water space close to our boat.....as i have instructed bet....don't be askeered of a gator.....i won't let it get him.....sheesh......

[adamgambill]

Bet, mrs Bet yall up to takin lizards down to brazos bend sometime? I think we'd see a grown man cry.

[bassintxlady]

i say hop on in.....let's get em......

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by adamgambill

Bet, mrs Bet yall up to takin lizards down to brazos bend sometime? I think we'd see a grown man cry.

Originally Posted by bassintxlady

i say hop on in.....let's get em......

Now I must say the bass appear to be bigger in Florida, and I know from experience the gators get over 16'. And after being down at Stickmarsh and seeing the brazillion of them at once, I can say without a doubt I wouldn't cry. I would however keep my distance, and really, really watch lipping any bass The net would probably be used constantly for the bass, or at least flip them up on the boat with the rod. I assure you I wouldn't be comfortable sticking my hand in the water to get the bass I do not have the true fear of gators I do of snakes, it's more of a real healthy appreciation for what they and their teeth can do to a man/woman

Lizards

[bassintxlady]

well heck.....i guess i won't let em get you neither lizard...sheesh....a woman's work is never done...