It was a perfect night to be on the water! Why was it a perfect night, because I was on the water! It has seemed like forever since I had the chance to jump in the boat and fun fish. I hopped in with my buddy Josh as we planned to chase bass for a couple of hours. Fishing bass with flukes and jerk baits in ultra shallow water has always been my favorite, as most bass opt to go airborne!
The water temp instantly caught my eye as it read near 70 degrees. I was afraid a lot of the larger females would already have pushed out of the shallows leaving nothing but little males. It wasn’t the case as Josh went 3/3 on the first casts with the last being a healthy 4.5 lber. We volleyed back and forth with a number of really solid bass. All said and done we had boated 50 plus in the 2 hour stretch. The largest bass would hover around 5lbs.
The areas we were fishing was old pencil grass that had been chopped off at the surface, barely visible with the recent high water. Shallow was the name of the game. The weeds that sat in over 3 feet of water didn’t hold a fish. Anywhere from 6″ of water to 3 feet near weeds held fish. We bumped around the lake to a few identical spots on an eastern and northern facing bay without nearly the luck we had on the southern facing bays. The water temperature was a few degrees off but the fish that normally inhabit those areas were not as prevalent. Wind was another factor. The reed beds where wind blew in did not produce as well as the calm ones. The water clarity was much poorer in the wind blown areas, and our presentations seemed much less effective.
There were three lures that really shined. The white Spinnerbait, a clown #10 X-Rap and a Trigger X Minnow in Icicle.
Josh fished the Spinnerbait in front to cover a ton of water while I would fish either the fluke or X rap behind picking off the smarter ones or triggering a vicious reaction strike. A good cadence was huge and the pause even more so, as the majority of the larger fish wouldn’t hit it unless I had stopped the bait to let it glide for around a half second before erratically twitching the bait again.
All in all it was a great night on the water with a good buddy. This is such a simple bite to fish, accessible with very eager and willing bass! Repeatable on any bodies of water that has emerged weed beds!
Here are a few photos from the evening’s excursion!
That splash photo is sweet…
Excellent report, very detailed.
Very nice Ben, Growing up in Carver County I used to fish this same pattern over memorial day weekend as well. A half dozen lakes and dozens of spots for that matter come to mind after reading this report. We fished them before the days of the X rap so the #10 husky jerk was a go to as well as a 5 inch white fluke. Once the X-rap came around it was even more hookups. Keep catching. – QB