Today I welcomed repeat clients Jim and Shena S. aboard. Jim and Shena are a neat father/daughter pair that just love one another and enjoy spending time out in the Creation with one another. We got an opportunity to fish together back in the Fall, and then missed a trip in December due to illness, so, it was good to be reunited today.

Jim holds a nice 3 lbs. largemouth we found mixed in with a school of bottom-hugging white bass

Shena held her jigging technique together very well and was very consistent the entire 9 hour trip and was rewarded with a good catch of white bass

If I may brag a bit — I HAVE GREAT CLIENTS!! — this was a homemade batch of shortbread cookies made just for me. Thanks, Shena!

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 4:15pp

Air Temp: 54F at trip’s start

Water Surface Temp: 49.9F

Wind: Winds puffed from the SE at 4-7 all through the morning, then picked up to a sustained 10+ from 12:30pm on

Skies: Skies were leaden grey and heavy the entire trip with a cool mist falling through 11:30am.

I was very optimistic as we met and launched out in the morning, as I’d just come off of an 88 fish day yesterday, and the weather forecast was calling for more of the same kind of weather we experienced then. Upon arriving in advance of the trip, however, I realized this was not to be. The wind was nearly slack before sunrise and the skies were very heavy with mist falling. Once the wind did begin to move, it just puffed lightly and with an easterly component to it. The bottom line is that we struggled all morning in shallow water and deep, in clear water and stained, uplake and downlake. By 11:20am, we’d boated only 3 fish and had missed one other (a crappie and a white bass at Area 314, and another white bass off Area 100). But, knowing that winter fishing even under good conditions, can consist of brief flurries of activity, I had asked Jim and Shena to pack a lunch so that if we didn’t do well in the morning we could press on into the afternoon.

We broke for a shore lunch, and over that time, the skies brightened, the winds warmed, and the breeze got some velocity and direction to it. By 12:30 we were back out after fish with a renewed sense of optimism.

I went back to basics and focused on wind impacted areas first, and, the first such area we hit literally lit up with both bait and gamefish, both suspended, over about a 32 foot bottom. These fish were holding off a breakline, so, I motored over the breakline hoping more active fish relating to bottom would be there, but, we found none. So, we returned to the suspended congregation of fish and began to work them over with a “sniping” approach. I landed one fish this way after the three of us had been refused by perhaps a dozen or more other fish previous to my hooking that one — but, the lid was cracked! We hung in this area, and, as it continued to warm and the wind continued to build, the fish slowly eased into a feed. At this area, Area 536 (BA: 3L, 3HG, 2T) we rode out the entire bell curve of the feed here from ramp up, to a brief peak, to the tailing off, and were rewarded with a total of 27 fish coming off this area in about an hour and fifteen minutes’ time.

It was now mid-afternoon, we’d just seen a good bite develop and then shut down, but, I had good people on board, who were enthusiastic, friendly, and eager to learn, so, we went and checked out 3 more areas with sonar just in case that wind was stirring up other fish as it impacted bottom features. We picked up two quick fish — a white and a crappie — at Area 537, but never saw a school of fish nor bait.

Finally, we revisited Area 595 (BA:3L, 2HG) and found active, albeit stubborn, fish here in 17 to 24 feet of water on top of and down the face of the breakline. I say these fish were stubborn as 1) they refused to come more than 4-6 inches off of bottom, 2) despite a great number of fish being present here, we only had 2 or 3 instances where schoolmates would chase a hooked fish for ANY distance off bottom, 3) the fish would not respond to an “easing” tactic, and 4) we often had to hold our baits still for extended periods to provoke a response. Regardless, we added 22 fish to the tally here including 2 largemouth, both caught by Jim, a drum, and 19 white bass, all of which were solid, healthy, fish right at 11.75 to 13 inches. Once this bite died, I knew we’d seen the best of it and we called it a good day by day’s end.

TALLY = 52 Fish, all caught and released

***For a complete listing of gear and lures used, please go to the “About” tab, and click on the “About Your Guide” page on the drop-down menu.