Another good one

[bluebasser86]

Chris and I fished Osage State Lake in the beautiful weather Thursday. We had white caps all day, 38 degrees at the ramp, 39 when we left. It drizzled on us until it started sleeting. The fish didn't seem to mind though. Water temps ranged from 47.9-50.2 and was fairly stained but not muddy. Neither of us had ever fished the lake so we just went on what we normally fish on small lakes early in the year. Most of our fish were on a wart or spinnerbait with quite a few on jerkbaits, and a few on jigs, tubes, and shakyheads. Lots of little fish but a few bigger fish to keep it interesting. This lake would be a blast with topwater when the water warms up and I'm excited to go back when it gets warmer out. Lots of rocks, brushpiles, shoreline weeds, stumps, and fishing piers. We caught over 50 bass and 2 wipers. I had the biggest one of the day 30 minutes after we got there on a tube next to a brushpile and she popped it and pulled really hard before I grabbed her. She went 5.22 pounds and was really happy to get back into the water and out of the cold air

[kennethdaysale]

Dang. Whenever I used to think about Kansas all I could see was endless flat wheat fields and tornadoes, I NEVER thought of water or bass fishing.
Now I am knowing.

BTW at what point will your local water temps be in the 70's at sunrise?

[MallenManson]

great lookin bass, blue!!!

[joedog]

Clayton your posts never cease to amaze.
The jerk bite coming on long pause or are you using short slight twitch presentation?
Still slow but a little more action then jerk and dead stick?

I for one admire your skills blue!
I have to ask, do you ever get skunked?
When was the last time?

[WatterBoy]

That's a beauty, Clayton! Congrats on a great day of fishing despite the frigid temps.

[lilmule]

ABA fishes Kansas every month of the winter due to warm water steam plants keeping the lakes open and large fish congregated.Stand a better chance in cold weather catching a large fish than later.Havnt a clue if that small pond does or not but typical 48-50 f water and air temps in the 30s.
We have several here old hickory and over on the cumberland river one can catch an atlantic needlefish state record there,as that is where its currently held,and a ball as fish are stacked.As the water warms not so attractive.
Apparently you had a nice outing.

[bluebasser86]

Originally Posted by kennethdaysale

Dang. Whenever I used to think about Kansas all I could see was endless flat wheat fields and tornadoes, I NEVER thought of water or bass fishing.
Now I am knowing.

BTW at what point will your local water temps be in the 70's at sunrise?

At the rate we're going we probably won't have water temps in the 70's until June. Normally it's more like mid to late May. Our fish should be spawning right now but lots of our big lakes still have water temps in the 40's.

[bluebasser86]

Originally Posted by joedog

Clayton your posts never cease to amaze.
The jerk bite coming on long pause or are you using short slight twitch presentation?
Still slow but a little more action then jerk and dead stick?

I for one admire your skills blue!
I have to ask, do you ever get skunked?
When was the last time?

I've actually been getting them on fairly brief pauses, 5 seconds or less, with pretty aggressive twitches. A lot of the fish have just been there when I go to move it again (partly because of the constant wind we've had making it tough to feel) but some have really been popping it.

I do get skunked once in awhile, usually during short trips early in the year. Last time I can think of was last winter at the same power plant lake I catch so many big fish out of every winter. They had shut down the plant for some reason and the water temps had dropped 10 degrees overnight. That combined with Florida strain bass equals no bites. I did catch some big buffalos and white bass but no largemouth.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by bluebasser86

At the rate we're going we probably won't have water temps in the 70's until June. Normally it's more like mid to late May. Our fish should be spawning right now but lots of our big lakes still have water temps in the 40's.

While our bass aren't normally spawning now, but like your lakes, ours are unbelievably cold for this time of year. We even had snow and sleet yesterday. It's going to go from a LONGGGG winter to summer overnight! Our forsythias bushes started blooming yesterday and I can't remember seeing snow falling on the blooms before. Nice looking fish though, which makes the cold temps tolerable!

[bamabassman]

blue.....yet again oyu show us how to do it man. awesum......