It's tough in all the lakes. I fished a little up in the lake at Pickwick on Thursday looking for some Smallies off of a point that they stay on most of the year...nothing. There was no Smallie or large mouth action either day in generator hole one below the dam. That is very unusual to not catch both specie when whites are in there. Just tough all over for bass.



Regards

I also tried the lake point today, nothing. Did see a 3 lb lgmouth caught in the generator hole though.

Got back out late this afternoon and fished until just before dark. I should have gone back to Fall Creek area but since I got started late, I went to Hamilton Springs since that's a much shorter drive. Got this nice 16.5" Smallmouth on a crankbait I used for the first time. Ordered it last week upon my wife's recommendation of "Ohh that's a pretty one" haha. High five for her judgement!

I also got a little largemouth on a fluke and missed about 7 more on the fluke. That's usually a pretty productive method for me in Fall and Spring but I was definitely rusty today. I wasn't paying enough attention and detecting bites too late. I'd set the hook and the fish was already gone.

Saw giant schools of shad way out in the middle of the lake so I paddled out to investigate and in about 30 feet of water I'd see on my graph some very long, thick lines grouped together never far from the schools of shad. Saw no action on top at all but I have a good guess as to what those lines on the graph were. Sadly I didn't have any crankbaits to dive deep enough to them or any swimbaits or anything else that could get to them :( Next time I'll make sure to be prepared.

Nice fish Jimmy. These lakes are just tough now.




Regards

I ran out of Hamilton Creek yesterday as well. As I pulled into the parking lot, ran into Jad2t while he was getting ready to launch his kayak. It was good chatting briefly with you Jimmy. Glad to hear that you got into some fish. Sounds like I shoulda pulled out the fluke, I had left mine at home. Jealous you got a smallie, I haven't caught one since last spring and I'm craving to do battle with one.

I fished a point for a while, fishing it from different angles. During my previous visit, I had found a small dropoff on the point and marked fish on top of it. Ended up with three short LM on a black/blue jig. Than I decided to head over and try a bit of a strech of shoreline that Jimmy told me about. I caught 4 more short bass, but they were all spots this time. Was catching them on a spook in over 15 feet of water. Never had called up fish to a topwater in water that deep before. Everytime, they'd roll at the bait, as if they were checking it out, and than come back a second time and take the bait. Great fun! I didn't stay out as late as jad2t did. The clouds rolled way and the wind died down, so I called it at 5:30.

Jimmy, next time you mark those schools, put a jig head on your fluke and let it sink down. Or I know you are not all for this, but net some of those shad, put on hook with a weight and drop down....and hold on!

I don't have a casting net or I might have tried it. Next time I'm bringing weighted heads for the flukes and some swimbaits and I'll venture out there again in hopes of finding them.

Alpha, the lakes are tough and I'm surprised. I was expecting a good weekend with Fall finally kicking in. I guess I need to be patient.

Man I tried a walk the dog lure for a while and got nothing, nice work! It's always fun to see them blast a topwater even if it's a small bass!!

It's hard for me to put down the Spooks, even when the conditions are not ideal. It's addicting! I started throwing it shallow. But noticed on my depth finder fish below where I was sitting. So I backed the boat out and caught those fish in deeper water.

I'm have that same problem with a buzzbait

I wish I would have just went and fished Sunday, my golf game was rough. It does sound like you guys had fun. I think I will try and get out this weekend again and see if I can find some fish.