The water temp is slowly creeping towards 60 deg and some smallies were making beds in shallow water. We had tough fishing on Fri as we found a few fish in both deep (8 to 10 ft) and on the banks. Sat became dangerous with a fast moving front bringing in 25 mph NW winds and 4 to 6 foot swells. Many a wet fishermen made their way into 2nd landing from the sloughs but one unfortunate boat did get swamped. My understanding is the two fishermen were rescued but a great lesson in respect for the big water. Things turned around on Sunday when I guided John Newland and friend Rod Otzenberger. They are up to fish for 2 1/2 days and decided to hire a guide for the first day to see what the best patterns were. We did catch a bunch of smallies in an area they stated they never would have thought of fishing. I really like those kind of spots! We did well fishing in 4 to 6 feet of water and managed to catch smallies including 2 over 20 inches on a variety of baits. Hot colors were in order for shallow running crankbaits and lipless crankbaits. We also did well on Mango jigs tipped with Baby Paca Craws and YUM craw papi’s. Here are a couple pics of beautiful pre spawn smallies. Back out tomorrow and the fishing should get better each day into June. Good luck and be safe!
Chris Beeksma
Get Bit Guide Service
May 23, 2006 at 4:52 am
#1223164
