Today’s posting is the second of three catch up fishing reports to get things up to speed while I await my next outing (maybe this weekend). As reported last week, my initial 2017 outing on March 4 produced only one bite but it was a good one to kick off the year and my Top 5 at just over six pounds. For trip two I was looking to fill my Top 5 and hoping to fool a few more big ones.
Stats
Date: March 26, 2017
Location: Little John Cons. Club/Snakeden Hollow
Time: 10:15am-1:15pm/2:15pm-3:45pm
Weather: Overcast/windy/occasional drizzle
Air Temp: 52F
Water Temp: 51-52F
Totals: 6 bass, 1 crappie
Lures
Jig & Pig (black/blue) with #11 pork frog (black/blue) – 4 bass
Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 1 bass
Ned Rig (electric shad) – 1 bass
3/8 oz. Underspin (white) with 4” Keitech Swing Impact trailer (electric shad) – 1 crappie
Top Bass: 1-15 Strike King Red Eye Shad
Top 5 Weight: 7-7 (1-15,1-12,1-10,1-3,0-15)
10:36 am First bass, Top 5 entry #2, 15.5” 1-12 Jig & pig
11:57am Top 5 entry #3 15.5” 1-10 Jig & pig
12:10pm Top Bass, Top 5 entry #4 16” 1-15 Lipless Crankbait
Notes & Nonsense
Conditions – While the forecast looked halfway decent when checking the weather on the previous night, it never quite lived up to the prediction. Instead, it wound up cooler, windier and wetter than what was offered up by those in the know. Fortunately, the drizzle never amounted to enough to actually get wet, I packed an anchor to beat the wind and I never lost feeling in my fingers despite hauling that anchor up at least half a dozen times. A handful of decent bass always make the weather better as well.
First Stop – Not surprisingly, I started my morning at the Little John lake where I landed my lunker to kick off 2017. Interior road conditions were iffy and water clarity was more stained than usual so it seemed that the area had received a fair amount of rain. Apparently the rain originally slated for my neighborhood wound up materializing more to the south, which is just fine, regardless of what it does to my fishing holes. No heavyweights to report on this day but quite pleased with my haul of four solid bass to fill out my Top 5 as well as a bonus crappie as the first fish ever landed on an Underspin lure.
11:25am Bonus 11” crappie, first fish to fall to an Underspin lure
Second Stop – After a lap around my starting point I drove by a couple other Little John fishing holes and found the water clarity left a bit to be desired so I elected to head for a pair of early season Snakeden producers that are reliably clearer. These spots that I refer to as The Craters were the sites for my first bass each year from 2012-2014, the latter of which was the last time I had paid a visit to these fishing holes. These are walk-in spots with the upside that they do not lie far off the beaten path so just right for having about an hour and a half left of my fishing day. The downside is there are only about half a dozen spots where an angler can get close enough to the water to cast and even then you’ve got to watch out for weeds and branches as you load up to cast, suits a spinning rig much better than a baitcaster in most spots. Anyway, two of my spots gave up a bass, both in pretty cool fashion as described in the final two notes to follow.
Consider, Commit, Caught – My first Snakeden catch came on the North Crater after I cast my jig and pig as best I could in the limited casting space out beyond some overhanging bushes. I had worked the lure most of the way back when I spied a decent bass cruising just under the surface pretty much directly over my jig which remained out of view in deeper water. Concealed by a barrier of cattails in front of me I gently gave the jig a few small twitches and saw the bass turn as if considering lunch. Another light twitch brought my jig into view in about 4’ of water and the bass nosed down to take a look. One more short drag of the jig talked the bass into committing as I watched my line and the fish move off to my left. A hookset confirmed that the jig was also moving along with the fish and I wound up with a pretty cool catch.
Ned Rig – 1/16 oz. Arkie DeD Stand-Up Finesse Head (green pumpkin) with the tail end of a beat up Senko for a body (electric shad). A bit of contrast in the colors but the only damaged Senko I had and too cheap to rip up a new one. It is a cool concept though to get some more mileage out of the Senkos as they typically rip in the middle leaving the end in good shape for this rig. In addition, I purchased some cheaper knockoff wacky style worms for this purpose but accidentally forgot to pack them, maybe next time.
Meet Ned – I’ve been reading the magazines and viewing some internet videos that give high marks to an unassuming setup called the “Ned Rig” (named for the fellow who made it popular). As shown above, Ned cracked the starting lineup today and came through as what I would call a follow-up bait, kind of like a pinch hitter or pinch runner, I suppose (Manny Mota or Herb Washington, perhaps). Originally, I had worked a jig along a laydown and had a bass follow up until the point that I was running out of water a couple feet shy of the bank. The fish seemed to lose interest and disappeared back into deeper water out of sight. However, I suspected that he was still around as a possible Ned candidate. I left my jig in the water as is customary when not using in order to keep the pig moist and cast Ned well beyond where I estimated my target was looming. Letting the rig settle to the bottom I slowly began to drag it back and right on cue got the bite where it was supposed to be. Only an 11” bass (smallest of the day) but first on the Ned Rig and always a treat when the bass make you look like you know what you are doing.
12:31pm Top 5 complete 14” 1-3 Jig & pig
3:21pm 12.5” 0-15 Jig & pig, no boost to the Top 5 but a fun catch and about as close to sight fishing as I get as detailed above. The surroundings also give a bit of a feel for the somewhat confined casting space on the bulk of the North Crater.
A good day on the water in my estimation and while no early season lunkers got fooled I was certainly happy to land some quality fish to complete my Top 5. Of course, plenty of room for improvement with my second largest bass at 1-15, but that’s all part of the fun as the year progresses. Think about it, who would want go out and catch a limit of five-pounders the first time out and then struggle the rest of the year to boost your weight?
Well, maybe…
This outing wrapped up my March fishing and it was a couple weeks until I got to take shot number three at the bass. Got that report headed your way tomorrow to get us all caught up for the year. Talk to you later. Troy