Post by djkimmel on Jul 13, 2005 22:31:27 GMT -5
No fishing yesterday (another funeral - 3rd in just over a month and 4th this year - I'm hoping there are no more for a while...) so today I ran up early to Lake Ovid to squeeze in 2 days worth of fishing.
Got there to find over 20 boats ahead of me - a small tournament and smattering of early risers. No big deal since the Ovid is complex, the weeds have been changing a lot the past couple weeks and I wanted to try some different stuff today.
Most boats were in the lower end of the lake near the dam/north end as usual so I headed south to the upper end of the lake –shallower than the north. Most of the upper end is usually a big weed mat in the summer, but not right now for some reason. Most of the large middle flat is open water with sparse clumps.
I don’t believe there’s a lot of wood all over that end so I figured I’d hit what wood I know of and stay near the old river channel. I caught a dink and missed 2 bites pitching a flipping worm to sparse weeds near the channel edge after cranking a small woodpile and tossing a buzz bait to the thick shallow weed edge. I noticed some small gills in schools just outside the weed edges, and schools roaming the flats too.
I moved out on to the big flat (5+ to 8 foot) and started casting a Bomber Square A in blue/chartreuse to any weeds I could see. I cast towards a school of spooky gills and caught a 2-¾ pound bigheaded largemouth. It just swam up and grabbed the lure with hardly any force. Nice bass though.
Thought I was on to something, but only managed another small one. I tried a few other things with no takers. I headed towards a small hump mid-lake, surprised no one was on it. Same nervous gills although I wasn’t actually seeing anything obviously busting them.
I made a quick pass around that with a couple bites on the worm, but no hookups. Kind of like last time I was out, way more bites than actual fish. They would drop the lure very fast, especially if they felt any pressure. Didn’t matter even when fishing Power worms, even the new extra strength. No, I didn’t try Gulp!
I was near my favorite ditch and couldn’t pass it up. The deeper weedline I’d love to fish was mostly gone now, but some of the ditch was open in the thick weeds. I caught a 5+ on a small jerkbait there last year so I tried to relive that. I had a dink smack it in the middle. I think (not sure) a hog swam off the same stump I caught the big one off last year. (I may have been hallucinating – too much sightfishing strain will cause that.)
I was working toward another stump when a small keeper glided up within 6 feet of the boat and ate the jerkbait when I paused it. I think I set the hook too quick because after a 15 second close quarter battle, the bass pulled off. No other bites.
I did see one decent boil up in the algae slop – something I don’t see much of on Ovid for some reason. The algae is really bad right now, tons of slime everywhere, I’m guessing because of the nutrient load change with all the big weed beds died off. I wasn’t ready for slop-fishing yet wanting to hit some deeper stuff looking for summer schools.
I had several bites on the flipping worm pitching it a few feet outside of the thick weedline that still exists in 5 to 7 feet – normally 9 to 12 feet. I only landed 1 not quite keeper off a point that was hot for a few weeks previous. I had several quick bites on the flipping worm and missed them so I switched to a 4 inch finesse paddle tail worm. I tossed in to the same spot as the last missed bite. Waited a few seconds and got the bass. This time. Still, I missed two more bites on the small worm.
My real target was a ridge I haven’t fished much that comes up out of deep water off the point. I saw sparse weed beds on it last time out and maybe some small brush. I fished this ridge hard. The weeds were very sparse, almost nonexistent. I couldn’t feel much wood. Maybe a piece or two. The spot looks promising, but I had no real bites despite fishing it for half an hour or better. I won’t write if off just yet, but it’s shelved for now.
I hit the end of a long curving secondary point next. The weed clumps were a little better on it. I tried cranking off the tip first and was hoping to locate a school, but had no bites. I started tossing the small worm and quickly caught 2 bass – 1 keeper. But, I missed two more bites in the same area before the bass got somewhat wise and I moved on.
I made some quick passes along some familiar weed lines and points. Still nervous gills, but not a lot of obvious big fish feeding. With all the musky around now, I’m slow to throw any good jerkbaits around main weedlines. I decided to trade off between various worms and crankbaits instead.
I went to an old hotspot ridge near the main river channel and noticed more nervous gills at one end. This time, it actually looked like something was eating them. I was anxious in the back of my mind since it looked suspiciously like what Derek and I saw the other day with not bass, but toothy creatures.
I put on an old wood crankbait and started tossing it just outside the weedline on the ridge. On the 5th or so cast, I saw movement as the crank started up to the boat – it stretched out and DARN – sure enough - a musky! Lucky for me, I didn’t set all the way and it pulled off. A pesky mid-20’s incher that seems to be like fleas on an old junkyard dog right now in the lake.
I moved out into the channel to hit some of the big brushpile/logjams. I hit them with several cranks, worms and a heavy Carolina rig with nary a bite. I’ve heard rumors guys are getting good bass on the deep wood, I just haven’t had much luck this year yet, but I know earlier in the day, the tourney guys were swarming over the lower, dam end of the lake too where the best wood is.
I switched gears again and went to a small hump I don’t see a lot of guys fish. Unfortunately, not many weeds here again. No bites, but I saw some real nervous gills along the weed point of a nearby well-known hump so I zipped over there to see if bass were doing any of the eating. I tossed a Fat Free Shad in my favorite Ovid color out from the weed edge and got slammed halfway back to the boat. Thought it was another musky, but it turned out to be a long decent bass instead that was just an overachiever.
No more crankbait bites, so I followed up with a worm. Another hard bite, but no hookup. These bass were spitting fast. The bass tourney guys were gone and the lake was much less crowded now as the morning shift went home. I noticed the gills were coming up on top much more and seemed to be getting flared more too. I figured some bass would have to get more active along the weed lines, but I wanted to fish deeper too.
Some of the main weed lines were still thick with muskies. I tried a topwater for a bit to see if the fish making the gills nervous would come after it (still too nervous about the jerkbait). No bites on the topwater. I saw one spot were an approximately correct sized fish kept chasing gills, so I got brave and broke out a jerkbait. Second cast and I look down to see another close to 30 inch musky right behind my nice jerkbait. Well, that’s enough for the jerkbait.
I pulled out from the weeds to the edge of the river channel and noticed a small hump I hadn’t seen before. I picked up a Carolina rigged lizard and tossed it to the upper edge of the channel. Tap-tap and slam the hooks home. More like it – a bass about 3-½ pounds this time. I must be on to things. But 20 minutes later going around the area and only 1 bite that I missed. Well, the spot warrants checking later.
I want to catch a few and the gills are really active on the weed edges now. I go back to the point of the well-known hump I popped the keeper on the crankbait from earlier. I get its twin on a finesse worm in the same spot. 1 more bite and I miss it. I see some serious activity on a secondary weed point and zip over there. First cast with a crank and I immediately hook a keeper. It gets off at the boat (woulda been a ‘netter’).
Next cast with the finesse worm and the line picks up speed immediately as it sinks – an almost keeper. Next cast and the line stops sinking at a 2-count. Set the hook – a dink. They got a little wise after that, but I did miss a couple fast bites.
The next batch of gills looked like a musky was eating them so I just passed on by. I decided to see if bass were still using a small hump Derek and I caught a few off of the last trip. I know it’s a popular spot so it probably took a pounding earlier in the day. I pulled up near it and saw a couple bassy looking boils. Then a decent bass came right out of the water and back down on something unlucky. I had seen a 12-inch or so bass earlier in the day doing this on an inside weedline over and over as tons of mating dragonflies flew back and forth overhead. That bass was quite the persistent and entertaining acrobatic jumper.
Last time out I probably missed a dozen bites on this hump. Today, I pitched the finesse worm in and let it drop on a completely slack line. I must have hit the right hole in weeds because the line moved off immediately. Set the hook through the worm and I’m into another respectable largemouth over 2 ½ pounds. Managed one other small one from the spot and no more bites I felt, so off to another spot I haven’t checked in several years.
This is a spot cemented in my memory by a Labor Day years ago when my wife and I caught 55 bass without moving the boat with the biggest one going 5-13. We only fished 4 hours that day because of menacing storms fronts to the north, but caught 75 bass total and 2 tiger muskies. This spot is a small clean ledge outside the normal weedline before dropping into a large depression.
Unfortunately, the past couple of years, there’s been no weedline there to give the bass an ambush spot. I wanted to convince myself some bass wouldn’t use it for old time’s sake. Despite being offshore a ways, I found the spot quickly and saw very few weeds with light bottom cover inside of it. Never had a bite so I moved across the flat quickly only having one small bass slam into the Bomber Square A twice.
I made it all the way to the shore weedline and fished that a ways without any definite bites even on the worm. I came to an inside turn and did see a couple gill schools that seemed to be getting periodically blasted. One looked very suspicious, so I didn’t fish that spot hard with anything expensive. I did get one quick hard hit without hooking up.
I decided it was getting to be early evening and I should call it a day if I wanted to have dinner with Angie. But I hadn’t caught a decent bass in an hour and hate to end the day that way. I noticed 3 schools of gills around the sides of a nearby point that seemed to be getting blasted too so I worked through them fast.
I was actually getting tired of so much worm fishing so I picked up another Bomber Square A and began burning that through the tops of sparse weed clumps out from the weedlines. Just as I got to a particularly good looking inside turn on the other side of the point, a well-fed 16-inch largemouth ripped into the crankbait like an attacking musky. Now I could call it a day. Besides I was out of drinking water and it was pretty warm out there.
All-in-all, a slower, but still satisfying day with 7 decent keepers boated. I was curious how the tournament guys did, but I can probably find that out later. I have heard that at the last weekend tournament a couple weeks ago, big bass was over 6 and there were two 5’s weighed in also. I got to work over some more deep spots today, but I still haven’t caught anything over 4 pounds out there this year… yet.
Got there to find over 20 boats ahead of me - a small tournament and smattering of early risers. No big deal since the Ovid is complex, the weeds have been changing a lot the past couple weeks and I wanted to try some different stuff today.
Most boats were in the lower end of the lake near the dam/north end as usual so I headed south to the upper end of the lake –shallower than the north. Most of the upper end is usually a big weed mat in the summer, but not right now for some reason. Most of the large middle flat is open water with sparse clumps.
I don’t believe there’s a lot of wood all over that end so I figured I’d hit what wood I know of and stay near the old river channel. I caught a dink and missed 2 bites pitching a flipping worm to sparse weeds near the channel edge after cranking a small woodpile and tossing a buzz bait to the thick shallow weed edge. I noticed some small gills in schools just outside the weed edges, and schools roaming the flats too.
I moved out on to the big flat (5+ to 8 foot) and started casting a Bomber Square A in blue/chartreuse to any weeds I could see. I cast towards a school of spooky gills and caught a 2-¾ pound bigheaded largemouth. It just swam up and grabbed the lure with hardly any force. Nice bass though.
Thought I was on to something, but only managed another small one. I tried a few other things with no takers. I headed towards a small hump mid-lake, surprised no one was on it. Same nervous gills although I wasn’t actually seeing anything obviously busting them.
I made a quick pass around that with a couple bites on the worm, but no hookups. Kind of like last time I was out, way more bites than actual fish. They would drop the lure very fast, especially if they felt any pressure. Didn’t matter even when fishing Power worms, even the new extra strength. No, I didn’t try Gulp!
I was near my favorite ditch and couldn’t pass it up. The deeper weedline I’d love to fish was mostly gone now, but some of the ditch was open in the thick weeds. I caught a 5+ on a small jerkbait there last year so I tried to relive that. I had a dink smack it in the middle. I think (not sure) a hog swam off the same stump I caught the big one off last year. (I may have been hallucinating – too much sightfishing strain will cause that.)
I was working toward another stump when a small keeper glided up within 6 feet of the boat and ate the jerkbait when I paused it. I think I set the hook too quick because after a 15 second close quarter battle, the bass pulled off. No other bites.
I did see one decent boil up in the algae slop – something I don’t see much of on Ovid for some reason. The algae is really bad right now, tons of slime everywhere, I’m guessing because of the nutrient load change with all the big weed beds died off. I wasn’t ready for slop-fishing yet wanting to hit some deeper stuff looking for summer schools.
I had several bites on the flipping worm pitching it a few feet outside of the thick weedline that still exists in 5 to 7 feet – normally 9 to 12 feet. I only landed 1 not quite keeper off a point that was hot for a few weeks previous. I had several quick bites on the flipping worm and missed them so I switched to a 4 inch finesse paddle tail worm. I tossed in to the same spot as the last missed bite. Waited a few seconds and got the bass. This time. Still, I missed two more bites on the small worm.
My real target was a ridge I haven’t fished much that comes up out of deep water off the point. I saw sparse weed beds on it last time out and maybe some small brush. I fished this ridge hard. The weeds were very sparse, almost nonexistent. I couldn’t feel much wood. Maybe a piece or two. The spot looks promising, but I had no real bites despite fishing it for half an hour or better. I won’t write if off just yet, but it’s shelved for now.
I hit the end of a long curving secondary point next. The weed clumps were a little better on it. I tried cranking off the tip first and was hoping to locate a school, but had no bites. I started tossing the small worm and quickly caught 2 bass – 1 keeper. But, I missed two more bites in the same area before the bass got somewhat wise and I moved on.
I made some quick passes along some familiar weed lines and points. Still nervous gills, but not a lot of obvious big fish feeding. With all the musky around now, I’m slow to throw any good jerkbaits around main weedlines. I decided to trade off between various worms and crankbaits instead.
I went to an old hotspot ridge near the main river channel and noticed more nervous gills at one end. This time, it actually looked like something was eating them. I was anxious in the back of my mind since it looked suspiciously like what Derek and I saw the other day with not bass, but toothy creatures.
I put on an old wood crankbait and started tossing it just outside the weedline on the ridge. On the 5th or so cast, I saw movement as the crank started up to the boat – it stretched out and DARN – sure enough - a musky! Lucky for me, I didn’t set all the way and it pulled off. A pesky mid-20’s incher that seems to be like fleas on an old junkyard dog right now in the lake.
I moved out into the channel to hit some of the big brushpile/logjams. I hit them with several cranks, worms and a heavy Carolina rig with nary a bite. I’ve heard rumors guys are getting good bass on the deep wood, I just haven’t had much luck this year yet, but I know earlier in the day, the tourney guys were swarming over the lower, dam end of the lake too where the best wood is.
I switched gears again and went to a small hump I don’t see a lot of guys fish. Unfortunately, not many weeds here again. No bites, but I saw some real nervous gills along the weed point of a nearby well-known hump so I zipped over there to see if bass were doing any of the eating. I tossed a Fat Free Shad in my favorite Ovid color out from the weed edge and got slammed halfway back to the boat. Thought it was another musky, but it turned out to be a long decent bass instead that was just an overachiever.
No more crankbait bites, so I followed up with a worm. Another hard bite, but no hookup. These bass were spitting fast. The bass tourney guys were gone and the lake was much less crowded now as the morning shift went home. I noticed the gills were coming up on top much more and seemed to be getting flared more too. I figured some bass would have to get more active along the weed lines, but I wanted to fish deeper too.
Some of the main weed lines were still thick with muskies. I tried a topwater for a bit to see if the fish making the gills nervous would come after it (still too nervous about the jerkbait). No bites on the topwater. I saw one spot were an approximately correct sized fish kept chasing gills, so I got brave and broke out a jerkbait. Second cast and I look down to see another close to 30 inch musky right behind my nice jerkbait. Well, that’s enough for the jerkbait.
I pulled out from the weeds to the edge of the river channel and noticed a small hump I hadn’t seen before. I picked up a Carolina rigged lizard and tossed it to the upper edge of the channel. Tap-tap and slam the hooks home. More like it – a bass about 3-½ pounds this time. I must be on to things. But 20 minutes later going around the area and only 1 bite that I missed. Well, the spot warrants checking later.
I want to catch a few and the gills are really active on the weed edges now. I go back to the point of the well-known hump I popped the keeper on the crankbait from earlier. I get its twin on a finesse worm in the same spot. 1 more bite and I miss it. I see some serious activity on a secondary weed point and zip over there. First cast with a crank and I immediately hook a keeper. It gets off at the boat (woulda been a ‘netter’).
Next cast with the finesse worm and the line picks up speed immediately as it sinks – an almost keeper. Next cast and the line stops sinking at a 2-count. Set the hook – a dink. They got a little wise after that, but I did miss a couple fast bites.
The next batch of gills looked like a musky was eating them so I just passed on by. I decided to see if bass were still using a small hump Derek and I caught a few off of the last trip. I know it’s a popular spot so it probably took a pounding earlier in the day. I pulled up near it and saw a couple bassy looking boils. Then a decent bass came right out of the water and back down on something unlucky. I had seen a 12-inch or so bass earlier in the day doing this on an inside weedline over and over as tons of mating dragonflies flew back and forth overhead. That bass was quite the persistent and entertaining acrobatic jumper.
Last time out I probably missed a dozen bites on this hump. Today, I pitched the finesse worm in and let it drop on a completely slack line. I must have hit the right hole in weeds because the line moved off immediately. Set the hook through the worm and I’m into another respectable largemouth over 2 ½ pounds. Managed one other small one from the spot and no more bites I felt, so off to another spot I haven’t checked in several years.
This is a spot cemented in my memory by a Labor Day years ago when my wife and I caught 55 bass without moving the boat with the biggest one going 5-13. We only fished 4 hours that day because of menacing storms fronts to the north, but caught 75 bass total and 2 tiger muskies. This spot is a small clean ledge outside the normal weedline before dropping into a large depression.
Unfortunately, the past couple of years, there’s been no weedline there to give the bass an ambush spot. I wanted to convince myself some bass wouldn’t use it for old time’s sake. Despite being offshore a ways, I found the spot quickly and saw very few weeds with light bottom cover inside of it. Never had a bite so I moved across the flat quickly only having one small bass slam into the Bomber Square A twice.
I made it all the way to the shore weedline and fished that a ways without any definite bites even on the worm. I came to an inside turn and did see a couple gill schools that seemed to be getting periodically blasted. One looked very suspicious, so I didn’t fish that spot hard with anything expensive. I did get one quick hard hit without hooking up.
I decided it was getting to be early evening and I should call it a day if I wanted to have dinner with Angie. But I hadn’t caught a decent bass in an hour and hate to end the day that way. I noticed 3 schools of gills around the sides of a nearby point that seemed to be getting blasted too so I worked through them fast.
I was actually getting tired of so much worm fishing so I picked up another Bomber Square A and began burning that through the tops of sparse weed clumps out from the weedlines. Just as I got to a particularly good looking inside turn on the other side of the point, a well-fed 16-inch largemouth ripped into the crankbait like an attacking musky. Now I could call it a day. Besides I was out of drinking water and it was pretty warm out there.
All-in-all, a slower, but still satisfying day with 7 decent keepers boated. I was curious how the tournament guys did, but I can probably find that out later. I have heard that at the last weekend tournament a couple weeks ago, big bass was over 6 and there were two 5’s weighed in also. I got to work over some more deep spots today, but I still haven’t caught anything over 4 pounds out there this year… yet.