Warmer days = bass biting

[CowboyRam]

We had trolling reals with leaded line, but most of the time we didn't really fish all that deep; we would only go out two or three colors. Spin casting real for bate fishing. Once at Jackson Lake there was a guy that only had nylon line, and he put weights on, but he just couldn't get down to right level. We were pulling them in one after another, and he could not catch anything.

 

[coachg]

Lake Weiss has been called the " crappie capitol of the world". It is a shallow lake that warns up fast. And so much structure. If you don't know the lake, you better not run your boat outside the channels. I don't know of anytime that I have fished there and didn't catch something. Good bass lake, too.

My first cousin , my aunt and I were fishing Weiss years ago . Before all the fancy electronics. We did have a depth finder . One minute we were in the channel in 20+ feet of water and the next 2-3 feet and hit a stump . Knocked the cover off the motor! . It went sailing by my aunts head in the middle of the boat and landed at my feet in the front of the boat . Think after we calmed down we caught a 3 person limit !

 

[SDM]

I have never fished for bass or crappie; I would not know the first thing about catching those types of fish. Mostly trout, and a few bullheads with my grandfather. We fished Jackson Lake quite a few times, always wanted to take the boat to Yellowstone lake and fish it, but never got that done. I finally convinced dad to sell the boat last year, we just don't have time to take it out.

About 20 years ago when I came to the flatlands here I had the same situation. I could catch a stocked trout with a #10 hook and a can of niblets, maybe a rooster tail on the creeks I was used to. Came here and it's mostly pond fishing. How do you know where the fish are, it all looks the same? I expect I'd struggle with a Wyoming sized trout stream too.

 

[coachg]

One more Weiss lake story . Back in the 70's Weiss was the crappie hotspot ! One Easter weekend we got out of school for Good Friday. My uncle and my cousin I mentioned and his little brother were camping and fishing on an island at Centre. My dad , my older brother and I joined them . My dad carried two coolers of crappie ice down home on Friday. We caught and sent 4 home on Saturday and was supposed to go home with my dad , but we stayed . My mom was some kind of mad because we missed church on Easter Sunday! Don't remember how many we caught on Sunday. Only time I've ever got tired of catching fish .

 

[Warren Allison]

My first cousin , my aunt and I were fishing Weiss years ago . Before all the fancy electronics. We did have a depth finder . One minute we were in the channel in 20+ feet of water and the next 2-3 feet and hit a stump . Knocked the cover off the motor! . It went sailing by my aunts head in the middle of the boat and landed at my feet in the front of the boat . Think after we calmed down we caught a 3 person limit !

Back in the 80's I went with my son, a nephew and my pa-in-=lay. Me and my son were in my boat. He was about 10 yrs old. He would go about every weekend with his grandpa and cousin to Weiss. He wanted to drive, and he said he knew the channels where we were going. Our boat was in front by a long ways. I was sitting up in the bow chair, hands behind my head, abut half asleep, when I suddenly found my self about 20 feet in front of the boat, head and shoulders buried in mud. I stood up and the water came to my shins! We stayed there a while til another boat came by, so I'd know which direction to push! We pushed for about 40 yards before the water got waist deep! When pa-in-law and nephew came by, I followed them as close as I could! Had I not been letting him go fast enough to be on plane, we never would have gotten that far out of the channel onto the mud flat! My boat had an old Johnson Seahorse on it, so I had to do was replace the sheer pin. And back then, I kept Ford f 150s with the 300 in-line sixes in them. So between that and the Seahorse, I never, ever had to do any kind of mechanic-ing!

 

[CowboyRam]

About 20 years ago when I came to the flatlands here I had the same situation. I could catch a stocked trout with a #10 hook and a can of niblets, maybe a rooster tail on the creeks I was used to. Came here and it's mostly pond fishing. How do you know where the fish are, it all looks the same? I expect I'd struggle with a Wyoming sized trout stream too.

We had a fish finder, and it kind of helped. Mostly once we caught something we then go right back over that same spot. Most of the time we would catch fish there every time. I have been wanting to get up in the mountains and fish for some brookies. We kept all of our fishing gear when we sold the boat. Still not sure what I am going to do with all the trolling gear, I maybe should sell it in a the yard sale my sister and I are going have next summer.

 

[coachg]

My fishing buddy caught 4 bream and a bass this afternoon. Making memories !

 

[bird dog]

I still chase the bass dream. I don't golf so its about the only sport a old guy like me can compete in. I fish the low level bass club tournaments. I like the competition. They get me out and on the water regardless of the weather. I love the camaraderie. Money is not the the reason to fish. Winning only gets you closer to break even.

Its fun competing against the young hotshots in their $75,000+ boats. I fish solo. I don't like distractions. I can hold my own....most of the time. They all run around the lake from spot to spot. I stay in one area and make as many accurate casts as I can to fishy looking cover. For me its a good diversion to life's everyday problems. When your out there you have only one thing on your mind if you have any intention on winning....... or at least not zero'ing.

And yes its a addiction and any small amount success makes it worse.

 

[greybeard]

CoachG, is that a famous Zebco 33 that I see on the other end of that spinnerbait?

 

[greybeard]

I don't golf so its about the only sport a old guy like me can compete in

Thank Gawd!!!
(Fred Arbogast approves of this post)

 

[SmokinM]

CoachG, is that a famous Zebco 33 that I see on the other end of that spinnerbait?

I do love a good trigger spin like that. A Zebco 33 was the 30-30 of the fishing rod world. Many a fish has been hauled to shore on one. You were serious about your fishing when you stepped up and got the Johnson Country Mile 10!

 

[kenny thomas]

I do love a good trigger spin like that. A Zebco 33 was the 30-30 of the fishing rod world. Many a fish has been hauled to shore on one. You were serious about your fishing when you stepped up and got the Johnson Country Mile 10!

I still use a 33. Have several of them.

 

[Hpacres440p]

About 20 years ago when I came to the flatlands here I had the same situation. I could catch a stocked trout with a #10 hook and a can of niblets, maybe a rooster tail on the creeks I was used to. Came here and it's mostly pond fishing. How do you know where the fish are, it all looks the same? I expect I'd struggle with a Wyoming sized trout stream too.

Explain the stocked trout/canned corn thing. Is that what they're fed at the farms? We tried fishing a stocked pond once with eggs, lures-nada. A dude sat next to us with a can of corn and had 10'in an hour.

 

[4hfarms]

We always used corn for carp and catfish back in Chicago. Billy McCann(?) My brothers friend from down the block, took me fishing, when I was like 5yo, in a pond and we caught perch. We gutted them and cooked them on a fire while catching more. I was "Hooked". We were in the city so archery for salmon and brown/rainbow trout in a creek that split off from the little calumet river while growing up. And sometimes carp out of bordom, why else would we walk through a waist deep factory muck run off...
I did a lot of fishing in Florida, of all kinds. Have a small pond now and fished TN River a few times. Not impressed, sold the boats years ago. Wish I would have kept the aluminum for my pond.

 

[greybeard]

Yep, whole kernel corn for the stocked trout waters. Texas wildlife used to stock the North Concho where it ran thru San Angelo and encouraged everyone to catch their limit before hot weather set in and corn was the go to bait. I went down once and did it. LOTS of parents with their young kids all along the bank... Closest thing to shootin fish in a barrel I ever participated in and I never went back.
(That little river is impounded downtown with several small dams and makes an artificial bigger looking river. Without the little dams, it would just be a ditch since most of the time, Lake Nasworthy dam don't let enough water out for nothin.)

For carp.., a guy I ran into late one night after the catfish stopped biting below Twin Buttes dam in San Angelo showed me a bait that he said carp can't refuse. He was right. Wheaties and Big Red soda. Just mixed it up in one of those individual cereal boxes until formed little balls about 3/4"round and we caught carp till our arms were too tired to keep on. Fun as heck but no good to eat IMO.

 

[coachg]

CoachG, is that a famous Zebco 33 that I see on the other end of that spinnerbait?

It's a version of the 33 , it is a zebco and is an ultra lite trigger spin . I love them ! See my last post : get the grease hot . Caught on the same rig .

 

[Warren Allison]

My fishing buddy caught 4 bream and a bass this afternoon. Making memories !
View attachment 41326View attachment 41327

That's a nice bream! Nothing like a mess of these, that size. Best eating fresh-water fish there is!

 

[tsellars]

That's a nice bream! Nothing like a mess of these, that size. Best eating fresh-water fish there is!

You ever had fresh walleye out of water temps below 55?

 

[Warren Allison]

SO, when I was in high school, me and 3 buddies decided to take a road trip to somewhere upo in the Smokies, to campt pout one weekend. We were all 16-17 yrs old. Didn't have much money, but we got up a bag of good doobie ) $20 and ounce back then), 2 cases of Malt Duck( about $5 a case) , some beenie-weenies, potted meat, etc, and took off A $1 back then got you a gallon of gas. Smokes were a quarter a pack. Big maacks were a quarter. I think they each had $5 to $10 dollars left after supplies. I had a $20 bill, because I didn't drink or smoke cigs back then. Well, when we got up in the Smokies, we kept seeing these trout-fishing places on the side of the road. Moe ( because of the way he wore his hair) kept wanting to to stop and try it....so we did. Big mistake. This place had cement ponds behind it. The girl working there took us behind the store, to one of the ponds. They handed us cane poles with a hooh on it, and poure3d a little corn out on the ledge in front us. It was $2.50 per pound, and no catch and release. You had to [ay for what you caught. None of us had ever seen a trout that weighed a pound, so we figured we'd get one each ( once we saw you couldn't catch and release) , and cook it for supper on the camp fire. I baited up first, and as soon as my cporn hit the water, one swallowed the hook! I raised it up, she got it pff and p[ut it on the scale...6 POUNDS! Moe got one, and it was nearly 8! $35 in about 3 seconds, and I think we had $40-4$5 between us. We were panicking! Thank God, that girl was cool, a hippy like us. Talked her into putting Moe's back, and we paid $15 for mine, plus a nickel bag. The good thing was, she told me not to give her the doobie there, and asked us where we were camping. I said I dunno,,, we gonna look for a place, She told us about a spot about 2 miles away, and said she'd come over there that night after they closed, and get it then. She did, and man did she party! I am talking woke up that morning with 2 in the sleeping bag party! But, that cured me of trout fishing! She told me that night, that the 6 pounder I caught was one of the smallest in the pool we fished in. The other 3 ponds was where they grew them to 5 pounds, then put them in the fishing pond. That was a LOT of money in 1972!

 

[Warren Allison]

You ever had fresh walleye out of water temps below 55?

They have walleye in Carter's Lake now, a deep lake north of me...up where @Mountaintown Creek Ranch is. Yes, I have eaten it and it is good as well, but I'd still take bream or crappie over it.