Following this morning’s half-day uncle/nephew trip, I took a break around mid-day and then returned with the lessons of the morning learned in order to try to ferret out some more fish-holding locations for trips to come and to continue to try to “get smart” on this post-flood, cold water situation we’re faced with right now.

This was the first largemouth I’ve found mixed in with white bass since before the recent flooding and drop in water temperatures.

Start Time: 2:30p

End Time: 4:35p

Air Temp: 54F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 48.9F

Wind: Winds were moderate from due S. at ~15-17 the entire trip

Skies: Skies were leaden grey and heavy the entire trip.

With limited time available to me this afternoon, I ran a lot of sonar and only quickly fished to test areas that looked promising. I focused on shallower, wind-impacted areas and found only one additional location that was really loaded down with fish. Of course, in cold water, and with a lengthy morning feed that occurred through mid-morning, it was asking for a lot to find multiple aggressive schools of white literally just hours later.

Nonetheless, in the vicinity of Area 149 in 26-27 feet of water, the classic “escalloped” bottom signature given off by bottom-hugging white bass was seen, and bait was in the area. With the wind coming in here strong, this was really looking good. As I let my slab down and got my depth adjusted, I immediately felt a thud. As I reeled in this hooked fish, the bottom sonar signal began to waver, indicating additional fish. I hustled my slab back down and caught another, then another. Soon, probably due to defecated or regurgitated chum now getting in the water on the tight confines of this spot, fish began to appear from bottom, upwards to 3-4 feet off bottom. I realized there were A LOT more fish here than I first suspected. I the span of 70 minutes, I boated exactly 45 fish including 44 whites and a nice largemouth bass. This bass was the first black bass that I’ve caught mixed in with whites since the flooding and cold temperatures in place for nearly a month now. By about 4:20 these fish began to settle down and then shut down completely. This was by far the most aggressive action I’ve encountered since even before the flooding — actually, since the temps. dropped out of the 50s. I hope we’re on the lead edge of a turnaround, but there is cold and rain forecast for the early part of the week ahead, so, time will only tell. Today was a good day — and I thank God for that.

TALLY = 45 Fish, all caught and released

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