Another great weekend of fishing...

[WatterBoy]

It's been a bit of a crazy week here, but I finally have a few minutes to share some results from being up at the lake a week ago.

Friday night, September 16:
Kaye and I arrived at the lake on Friday evening with just enough time to get out in the boat for about 2 hours of fishing before it would be dark. It was a very cold and blustery night (temps in the upper 40s with 15-25mph winds and gusts into the mid-30s), but Kaye was adamant that she wanted to go out fishing with me. Even when her hands got so cold that she quit fishing and put gloves on, she wouldn't let me take her back to the dock because the fish were really biting, so she toughed it out while I kept fishing until dark.

Kaye got us on the board first within the first 15 minutes using a Zoom Speed Worm to land a couple of LM under 2 pounds. I added a small pike on a spinnerbait a short time later, but I just wasn't getting the action I was hoping for with the spinnerbait. I switched over to a jig & pig, something I had never tried or caught a fish on until about 6 weeks earlier, and that turned out to be a great move. I boated 4 LM and a nice Smallie in the next 30 minutes, with all of them being over 2 pounds. Here are pics of the best two.

3lb 12oz, 18.0" SM - 3/8 oz PB&J jig with a Green Pumpkin Super Chunk Jr. trailer



2lb 12oz, 15.25" LM - 3/8 oz PB&J jig with a Green Pumpkin Super Chunk Jr. trailer



Kaye also caught 3 more fish (2 smallies, 1 pike) in that same 30 minute time frame, with this 2lb 5oz, 15.5" Smallie being the biggest:



Once the jig bite seemed to die down -- no bites in 20 minutes -- I switched over to a Rapala Clackin' Rap and caught 5 LM (biggest was 2lb 10oz) and 2 pike on that in the next 45 minutes, at which point it was dark and we headed in for the night. 19 fish total between the two of us (me-13, Kaye-6) in just over 2 hours. Wow, it had been a great night!

Saturday morning, September 17:
I went out Saturday morning with a buddy of mine who also happened to be up at the lake that weekend and we had our best outing in a long time...maybe ever! We were out for 3.5 hours and caught 27 between the two of us...14 for him (8 LM, 5 pike, 1 Rock) and 13 for me (7 LM, 6 pike). All 13 of my fish came on the same jig & pig I had been using the night before. My buddy caught the first 4 fish of the morning, but then I proceeded to catch 11 of the next 12! After the first 5 or 6 of my run, I had him digging through his box for a jig & pig combo he could start throwing, but he could never get any bites on what he found to use, and I was still nailing 'em! After a while, even though I was still catching fish in that spot and felt like I could all morning, I suggested we go to a new spot so maybe he could catch some also. I caught a couple more on my jig at the new spot, but he started having really good luck on his crankbait and I was happy he finally started catching some also! We had declared "no bass pics" unless we caught something over 3 pounds, so there are no photos to share as his 2lb 15oz LM was the biggest bass of the morning.

Sunday morning, September 18:
We woke up to rain on Sunday, so the morning outing was delayed until mid-morning when it quit briefly. I was the only one who wanted to go out in the cold and fog, so a solo outing it was! It was slow going at the first spot I tried. The only thing interested in my jig there was a pike. Unfortunately, it decided to make a meal of everything, so I was left holding a rod and 30 lb braided line with nothing attached to end of it. Dang. And that was my only PB&J with a football head on it. Oh well, let's see how black and blue does and let's go back to the spot I fished Friday night and Saturday morning. Bingo! I landed 9 LM and one pike, all on the black & blue jig. Several of them were decent ones, for this lake anyway, with 3 of them between 2lb 10oz - 2lb 14oz and 3 more being over 2 pounds. It was cold, windy, foggy and misting most of the time I was out, so I only dug out the camera for the first one, which also happened to be the biggest.

2lb 14oz, 15.75" LM - 3/8 oz Black & Blue jig with a Green Pumpkin Super Chunk Jr. trailer



It was starting to rain pretty hard by the time I caught the last fish, but I decided to keep at it anyway, even though I didn't have any rain gear on. Then it happened again...those darn pike! This time I didn't even get a chance to set the hook, just a big "thump" and everything was gone. I took that as a sign that I should head in for awhile since it was really pouring at that point. It was kind of a cold, wet 15-minute boat ride back to our dock, but I didn't care. It had been another great outing!

Sunday afternoon/night, September 18:
The rain finally stopped around mid-afternoon, so Kaye and I headed out to see if the fish were still biting. It was still a bit cloudy and windy, but the longer we were out, the more the wind died down and the sun came out and it became a gorgeous afternoon & evening for fishing! It didn't take long for me to nail the first fish, a 3lb 7oz pike that came on my second cast, and is my first fish ever on a jerkbait. See this thread for more details. I tried the jerkbait a bit longer, but with no more success, so I switched to the newest jig & pig I had tied on. This time it was a Watermelon jig with the same trailer. Kaye was using a 5" senko wacky-rigged on a dropshot setup. The action was not fast and furious, but it was fairly steady for the 3 hours we were out. Kaye was thrilled to outfish me, 7-6, by catching 6 LM and 1 SM while I landed 4 LM and 2 pike. On top of that she set a new PB for Largemouth with a 3lb 6oz, 17.0" brute that give her a real battle on her 6 foot "light" rod and 6 lb test line! She also caught a 2lb 13oz LM a short time later and those two are fish are shown here:



This was my best fish of the evening, a 2lb 8oz, 14.75" LM:



As we headed back to the dock for supper, it was about 6:45 and Kaye told me I should go back out fishing for 45 minutes or so until it got dark and she would make supper while I was gone (wow, what a GREAT wife, huh?!?! ). I said "sure thing," and I dropped her off and headed out again. I pulled in to my spot at 6:55 and put on a Storm "Big Bass Square Lip" crankbait. On my very first cast I tied in to my 2nd biggest pike in the 3+ years since we've owned our lake cabin. It turned out to be 25.5" and 4lb 6oz. This is the best I could do for a picture since I was alone. It doesn't do justice to how "thick" this one really was.



Two casts later I caught a longer, skinnier one -- 26.5" and 4lb 2oz. I didn't waste time with another pic since it was already taking me several minutes to untangle all the treble hooks from the net each time and daylight was dwindling quickly.

About a dozen casts after that I got a nice fierce hit from a Smallie and he proceeded to jump about a half dozen times. Each time he did I expected my lure to come flying back at me, but somehow he stayed hooked until I got him into the net. He weighed in at a nice 2lb 14oz and measured 16.0" in length.



I caught 2 more LM and another pike in the next half hour (using the same lure) before it was time to head back in because it was so dark.

Monday morning, September 19:
I had time to sneak in a 90-minute outing before we headed back home on Monday. I caught a couple LM, had another pike break me off, had a decent LM break my line right at the boat (my fault for not re-tying that dropshot any time recently!) and missed a few jig bites. All in all, the action was good again that morning, but I just wasn't on top of my game enough to get many of them in the boat.

It sure was a beautiful morning to be out on the water though!



Thanks for bearing with me through another long post. I only have one more outing planned (weekend of Oct. 8-9) before we need to close up for the season, so the end is near.

[keithdog]

Wow, what a great weekend you two had! Love the photos. Those bass are very thick and healthy looking fish. Congrats! I'm curious as to what kind of retrieve your using with your jigs. Swim, drag or hop or a variety of both. Lately my jig strike have come while the jig was sitting still or slowly dragged on the bottom. Havn't gotten a single jig hit while hopping the jig here lately.

[BigBassin144]

Way to go man! Those are some great bass and a nice pike too.

I bet you're really getting a lot of confidence in jigs now too.

BB

[WaffleJaw]

As always WB great pics,and report!....Do me a favor,will you fed ex me some of those smallies so I can stock em here?...Its perfectly legal when no one knows.

[WatterBoy]

Originally Posted by keithdog

Wow, what a great weekend you two had! Love the photos. Those bass are very thick and healthy looking fish. Congrats! I'm curious as to what kind of retrieve your using with your jigs. Swim, drag or hop or a variety of both. Lately my jig strike have come while the jig was sitting still or slowly dragged on the bottom. Havn't gotten a single jig hit while hopping the jig here lately.

I'd say about 1 in every 4 or 5 bites was coming on the initial fall. All the rest were from hopping it back. I have a lot of confidence in the jig now, but I'm still a rookie at setting the hook at the right time. It seemed like I missed a lot of bites last weekend.

The fish were very aggressive that weekend, especially the pike. I had some vicious hits from some 2 pound pike, and in addition to the 2 jigs I lost to pike cutting me off, there were also several more where they inhaled the whole jig/pig combo and I had to re-tie because they had started to shred my line just above the jig head. I caught a couple of bass where they hit it multiple times on the way back to the boat. And I went through a lot of trailers from the pike snipping off one of the trailer legs. In fact, there was one cast where I got pounded, set the hook, nothing there, so I kept hopping it back, got another hit, set the hook, and nothing again. Got my jig back to the boat and BOTH legs of the trailer were missing right up to the hook!

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Awesome read to go the pictures AquaMan. I hope to find some confidence in a jig one day. I just need to put that TX rig down for a minute.

[bcklash]

Great report and pictures Dean. Awesome place.

[WatterBoy]

Originally Posted by Bubba_Bruiser

Awesome read to go the pictures AquaMan. I hope to find some confidence in a jig one day. I just need to put that TX rig down for a minute.

I had been meaning to try a jig for the last several years, but I just never made myself do it. I fish senkos and dropshot a ton and catch decent numbers/size of bass doing it, but I sure am glad I finally tried a jig. I'm addicted to it now (I'm sure it didn't hurt that I caught a 3+ pound Smallie within a dozen casts the first time I tried one! ) and am only sorry I missed most of the season before trying it. I guess that gives me something to look forward to for next year already!

You should try it sometime soon, Bubba!

[WatterBoy]

Originally Posted by WaffleJaw

As always WB great pics,and report!....Do me a favor,will you fed ex me some of those smallies so I can stock em here?...Its perfectly legal when no one knows.

Hey Waffle, your smallies should arrive sometime today. If you shake the box and hear a water-sloshing-around sound, you'll know it's them inside.