Spring Cold Front Flood Bass

Spring Cold Front Flood Bass

It is May, the temperature is 43 degrees and falling (Beardhead weather to be sure), wind is 20 mph and we have seen more rain then we have in a few years. Everything in my body was saying, stay on the couch and binge watch some Netflix. The problem was I was bored out of my skull. 

So I figured I would just make a fast run over to a local lake. This lake I fish often when I have little time. It use to be great but after years of no management and poachers it is just the shell of it's former glory.

I knew the fish before the storm were building beds. But now after all this water and cold where did they go and were they even thinking of feeding again?

When I decide to go on a quick trip I usually grab one or two rods and one or two presentations. I like to see if I can guess a pattern before I leave my garage. Sometimes I am right on and other times I am the Mayor of Skunkville. So I grabbed my swim jig rod and a worm rod, both armed with new Ardent Reels. I brought a Shur-Set Tackle Shimmy Jimmy white and blue bladed Jig with a white swim tail and a shaky head with a 7 inch black worm.

My hope was the fish put the feed bags back on and moved in close to shore to get the yummy morsels the flood water was bringing into the lake. But lets face it with a major cold front, rain, and dropping temps, bass having a case of lock jaw was just as possible.

So I threw the blade bait along the shore as tight as I could and moved it fast looking for reaction strikes. It paid off big. I landed 4 of 6 of my fish on the Shur-Set Bait. This bait will SHUR be a go to from now on. I picked it instead of a standard chatter bait because the Shimmy Jimmy's profile was broader and its wiggle was wider. I added the largest swim tail I had to make the bait more visible and put off a wider wake n shake in the chocolate milk I was fishing in.

Whenever I came to brush or even a stick in the water I flipped the shaky head black worm combo. I like black in any situation but most of all in stained water. This presentation scored me two more fish and one lost.

It just goes to show no matter how crazy the weather you can still have an awesome Angling Adventure. 

Shur-Set Tackle can be found here: http://shur-set.com/
Ardent Reels can be found here: https://ardentoutdoors.com

Basappie Bite!!

We had a warm front come in from the south and dump some much need rain. In the early spring and fall I shift my attention from a bass pipe bite after a rain to a crappie pipe bite. The cool thing about a crappie pipe bite is you can usually spend a day at just a pipe or two when the bite is on. Schools of golden freckled goodness pull right into the current breaks giving out ultra light fun by handfuls!!

The warm front seemed to draw the crappies to the end of the current caused by the rain. They were not right in close or in the big numbers I expected. However someone sent a text to the bass and gills that the bite was on today. What resulted was a chex mix of fishing fun.

I used minnows and a ice jig/micro nuggie combo for the lion's share of hits. I did manage a couple fish on a castmaster spoon.

I missed several fish. (bast-rds) 

An older gentleman came up and scared the crap out of me since i was concentrating on the fast action and I jumped like a school girl. He was surprised to see me in his spot he said and asked if he could join me. That is class. He did not just come right up and park next to me. He was cool and he slammed several large gills on a red and white tiny tube jig. The gills were in droves and we scored a few really nice fish. I ended the day with about 8 bass as well. It was a great day to shoot the sh-t in the wind and rain.