Oct 22 2021
David Felton
Slot Fish
Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
113
Reservation Number : 30055
Property Name : Kickapoo Lake
Reservation Date : 10/21/2021 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 18 Bass, largest 2.75lb, 9 culled
Lures Used : Wacky Rig, Chatterbait, Tx Rig Worms, Swim Jig, Lipless, Frog, Whopper Plopper, Paddle Tail w/ underspin
Conditions: Partly cloudy, calm winds in the morning up to 5-10mph after the sun came up. Water temp started at 69 degrees up to 76 by afternoon, stained water w/ 3-4 feet of visibility. Still a lot of green grass submerged in the shallow areas of the lake, but was not catching fish out of most of it.
Caught 2 fish before sun up on plopper from the bank before loading up the boat (including first cast of the day). Had a couple more hit the topwater but miss before putting it away. Fished the rest of the morning up till 12:30 or so without finding any pattern or groups of fish. Would catch one here and there on a different bait (lipless-1, Swim Jig-1, Tx Rig -1) all around the lake. After a break for lunch, I finally found where they were and what they wanted. I anchored in 17 feet of water and fished a 50 foot arch around the near corner of the dam with a wacky rig, and got pretty steady “bites” almost every cast, but they were “weird” bites. They would peck at it constantly like little fish, then if I tried to set the hook...nothing there. They would jerk hard, or pull on it, but if I set the hook...nothing there most times. I tried waiting longer, pulling lighter, etc but still managed to miss way more than I caught. A good number I did catch would tap or pull, then nothing till I decided to reel my bait in for another cast, and there would be a fish on the line...not moving a bit. These were the least agressive/commital fish I’ve ever seen, and they were all crazy skinny too like they didn’t even want to eat anything if they didn’t have to. The “keeper” sized fish were all 2.5-3lb potential based on their heads, but only actually weighed around 1.5lbs or so. I did break off a couple of nicer fish that would likely have bested the 2.75 I managed to land as the largest fish. It was a great day to be out there on the water trying to figure these fish out.
Oct 22 2021
Joshua Massoud
Keeper
Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
485
In late summer, I adhere to the 1/3 rule – 1/3 shallow, 1/3 suspend, 1/3 stay deeper – the deeper bass will sit and not eat unless somethign actually comes by. They get pretty stressed by early fall before the bass generally move up shallow to feed before winter. See this at almost every lake I’ve ever fished (always exceptions), especially ones that are sunfish forage based. Saw this same patter at timber at a similar depth. Most people think it is because there isn’t enough forage, but it mostly a behavior thing.