How To Fish The Spawn!

From March to the end of April, in some lakes it could last into June, big bass spawn on shallow, sandy beds. 

Fishing - Lake Murray 5/16/09

Fished Lake Murray last Saturday. Launched the boat at 6:00 am w/line on the water at 6:15 am. Started out throwing crankbaits but no luck. Switched to dropshotting roboworm and got 1 right away, small but good fish to start the day. Ended the day at 1:00 pm with only 3 fish with 2 of them over 3lbs. and 1 dink. Caught them all wit a Roboworm margarita mutilator color on a dropshot. Caught some casting out next to the tullies and caught the biggest out deep. Weapon of choice: Diawa Exceler (EXC1500) spinning reel w/6lb flouro on a Fenwick (HMXS70M) medium-action rod. Lure: Roboworm (margarita mutilator color).

Tournament Schedule

Tournament director John Cassidy has announced the preliminary dates for the 2009 San Diego Saltwater Bass Showdown. The dates are not finalized yet, as Cassidy is inviting anglers to bring forth concerns of conflicts before firming it up.

Unfortunately, I did not get to fish any of the tournaments last year because of schedule conflicts. I sure hope that I get to fish at least one of the tournament this year. My buddy Doug and I fished it in 2007, the tournament that had a 5 bass limit in the combination of spotted bay bass, calico and sandbass. Although we did not win, we caught our limit with some nice fish and it was a lot of fun.

So once the schedule is finalized, I'll work it out with mine & my teammate's schedule and will look forward to the competition.

Lake Barrett Opening Day!

My congratulations goes out to the approximately 100 anglers that got to fish Lake Barrett on opening day this past weekend. The first anglers of the 2009 season to have a chance to fish for those fiery northern-strain largemouths.

Fishing reports are out on sdfish.com and looks like an epic day on the opener. I was reading reports on 2 anglers in a boat catching & releasing over 200 fish. It sounded like the anglers who were fishing on boats were averaging over 100 fish a boat. I have not read the reports from the float tubers but I'm sure they did well.

Anyways, I was not fortunate enough to get a ticket for opening day, not even the opening month. I guess I'm just not skilled enough with the touch tone phone or just plain not lucky enough. But hopefully I can get a reservation for June, tickets for that month goes on sale on May 12th so can be sure I'll be on that phone at 7:00 pm.

Again, congratulations to those fellow anglers who got to fish opening day. I can't wait to get back to Lake Barrett again and hopefully I will next month.

Lake Murray With The Boys!

Got out to Lake Murray yesterday with a couple of fellows at work, Mate (Graeme) & Steve. I got there at 5:45 am to find out that they have already lounged and they're lines on the water, but they were nice enough to pick me up at the boat dock. 

We started fishing the shallows for spawning fish, but the water was stained and skies were cloudy, so we couldn't really see under water. So, we all switched to the dropshop, not too long after, Mate & Steve got double hook ups. I got kinda worried cause I didn't catch my first fish till a couple of hours later, but ended up the day with the most fish. We fished from 6:00 am-1:00 pm and managed to catch 8 fish between us. Final fish count: Me=4, Mate=3, Steve=1. Most fish were caught on a dropshot and also caught some on the weighted Fluke. 

It would have been nice to catch more fish, but it was a great day to hang out with the fellows. Thanks guys, for the fun day.

Catching Bass After The Spawn

After the female bass has deposited her eggs in the nest, the male will stay near the nest to protect it for about a week after spawning. During this time the male is not a feeding fish, however, he can be provoked into attacking a lure which is presented very close to the nest in a defensive effort. After spawning both the male and female become active feeders again.