Lazy fish at Lakeside

Nov 24 2022

David Felton

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
108

Reservation Number : 34370
Property Name : Lake Side
Reservation Date : 11/23/2022 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : Around 10 bass, 2 under slot, rest 1.5-2lbs
Lures Used : Ned Rigged Junebug Hula Stick

I always like to include my “wheels off” stories as part of my experience.  Maybe one day I can learn from them and misery loves company, right?  But first the conditions...Weather was high 40’s to high 50’s and full overcast with very calm to little breeze and intermittent light rain.  Water was stained with almost 2’ visibility and 52-54 degrees.  As noted before, the boat is small (so don’t bring ALL your gear like I did and fill that thing to capacity), and there’s no attachment point for an anchor unless you’re more creative than me.  It does have a slow leak, but I only had to stop to bail 3 times all day so I’ve seen worse.

The story...so on my first cast from the bank, I get my brand new crankbait stuck in the brushpile next to the boat launch.  No big deal, I’ll get it when I set out in the boat.  After bank fishing 15-20 minutes without any action, I load up and head for the brush pile.  I managed to break off 6-8 inches of rod tip poking around the branches...well crap.  I’m not losing that lure now, and I can see it 2 feet down there, but it’s tangled in some fishing line from the other suckers (fishermen) who also thought that was a juicy target.  So, I pull up and grab the branch to snap it off, then cut the tangled line...great, until the release of tension sends my broken rod and it’s reel overboard.  I could almost reach it as it is sinking, but I came dangerously close to tipping that fully loaded boat over, so I said goodbye to that combo in order to save my $12 crankbait.  Pretty expensive trip before it ever got started.

As for the fishing, I had more combos rigged than I caught fish.  I tried a Tx rig, a swim jig, a jerkbait, a drop shot, crankbait, lipless, spinnerbait, chatterbait, weightless stick bait, 3.3 swimbait on flashy swimmer, Ned rig, fluke, and maybe something I’m forgetting.  No bites on any moving baits.  Only caught fish on the Ned rigged junebug Hula Stick.  Two came along the dam, a few came from the large brushpile just south of the dock, and the rest came from around the dock.  I use the EWG heads to rig the Ned weedless but still got 3 of them hung up and broke off, or had fish bite and wrap me up in the brush (I can’t say for sure).  95% of the bites were crazy subtle.  They were not feeding aggressively and I had to watch the line closely to look for any slight indications.  Most of the fish also did not put up any kind of fight relative to their size.  It seemed like they were not in the mood to do much of anything and were just going through the motions to make sure I didn’t get skunked.  I appreciate that those 10 fish put in the effort to help ease my wounded pride.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  And here’s to the Black Friday sales cuz I need a new rod and reel...

Dec 01 2022

Chris Casner

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
220

if you fish long enough these things happen. Thanks for sharing. 

Dec 02 2022

Scott Quigley

Admin

Member Since :
2014
Number of Posts :
402

That’s a tough way to start a trip, but as you noted, could have been worse if you had fully tipped.  Hope you found a great sale and that the fish will reward you more aggressively next time out!  Thanks for sharing this story, you are right, misery does love company 😀