Post by djkimmel on Sept 21, 2005 22:53:30 GMT -5
Went fishing today with long time friend and bass catchin' man - Dan Launstein. We decided to give Half Moon Chain a try since we could choose from several connected lakes of different types and it's not too far from home.
Neither of us had been there in a while - I hadn't been there in several years - some of the lakes did look different to me. We launched at the shallow ramp on Bruin Lake before dawn having made great time without getting our deer. (Dan actually drove smooth and steady on the way just like he drove his 361 Ranger Boat around the lakes - a great choice for those shallow connecting channels.
We hopped over to Half Moon and immediately were pleased to see a whole lot of surface activity. Yes - many where carp doing what carp do, but every now and then we saw the unmistakable signs of bass eating small creatures.
There were lots of minnow schools up on the shallow flats, off the first drop and even swimming out over deeper water. And scattered everywhere were bass attempting to eat them.
We started with various poppers, a little crankin' and jerkbaits and did have much action. Dan, being the bass catchin' man he is tried a Texas-rigged worm and started catching a few small bass. We found the bass cruisin' the shallows would smack flashy spinnerbaits here and there too. We were picking up a few, but seeing more.
Occasionally we were able to throw to busting bass, but the sun must have been in my eyes (what a postcard morning it was) because my timing was off more than on. Dan had a few smack various lures, but there were not hitting topwater well for some reason. I threw a newer fluke-like lure and that seemed to actually scare them.
We caught mostly largemouths until I popped an eight inch smallie on a spinnerbait. I then tried to donate a moderately expensive jerkbait to a small pike. Dan showed some remarkable expertise in leaving the pike for me, but I really only had that one (it raked the back of my hand and drew first blood) and a bite-off in some deep wood later in the day.
We fished about half of Half Moon and part of the connecting water popping a bunch of largemouth along the way, but only a couple may have been keepers. On one point/drop, Dan popped a side burning 'brute' of a fish on a finesse worm that he let me shoot - well it was a heck of a nice gill for anyone...
I talked Dan into giving Blind Lake one more try (not his favorite) and we popped a few largemouths out of cabbage. I had my best one of the day come up and grab a pretty War Eagle spinnerbait, but I jumped the gun and pulled away too quick.
We fished some deep deep wood and popped several skinny smallies and one deep lost little largemouth (Dan worked this one) in 27 feet of water. That's also were my bite off came on a finesse worm. We threw various finesse worms, tubes and grubs. After convincing Dan that Blind Lake could be a little better than just a place to get bit off by pike (only one isn't too bad), we decided to finish off the day in Bruin.
I forgot. Dan used his great sixth sense ('I see bass fishes') to spy out an interesting corner on our way out of Blind and we actually had several respectable keeper-sized bass chase his jerkbait with one grabbing my little tube after it sank away. We never landed any other them before we wizened them up. We did follow through and catch several more pretty pale aggressive largemouths nearby. Apparently I forgot how to catch 2nd followers because I missed several opportunities to do so.
I landed my best smally off a sand point that was almost… maybe… a squeaker keeper on my little flashy finesse tube. We popped a few more largemouths - all small off cabbage/weed clumps and I said okay we can go when I caught a hard-smacking largemouth on my last cast.
We caught very few keepers and no whoppers, but a lot small bass that made the day very enjoyable and low pressure - a really nice day with great weather. We had no real wind until the end of our day. We did see a whole lot of 'pleasure' boats after about 12:30 which was odd for a work weekday.
Another thing we noticed was a lot of scrawny bass in parts of Half Moon, while some areas had fat, healthy looking bass. We saw a little mix of this in the other lakes too although more of the bass seemed chubby. Many also fought pretty hard for little guys, which was nice.
Another great day on the water.
Neither of us had been there in a while - I hadn't been there in several years - some of the lakes did look different to me. We launched at the shallow ramp on Bruin Lake before dawn having made great time without getting our deer. (Dan actually drove smooth and steady on the way just like he drove his 361 Ranger Boat around the lakes - a great choice for those shallow connecting channels.
We hopped over to Half Moon and immediately were pleased to see a whole lot of surface activity. Yes - many where carp doing what carp do, but every now and then we saw the unmistakable signs of bass eating small creatures.
There were lots of minnow schools up on the shallow flats, off the first drop and even swimming out over deeper water. And scattered everywhere were bass attempting to eat them.
We started with various poppers, a little crankin' and jerkbaits and did have much action. Dan, being the bass catchin' man he is tried a Texas-rigged worm and started catching a few small bass. We found the bass cruisin' the shallows would smack flashy spinnerbaits here and there too. We were picking up a few, but seeing more.
Occasionally we were able to throw to busting bass, but the sun must have been in my eyes (what a postcard morning it was) because my timing was off more than on. Dan had a few smack various lures, but there were not hitting topwater well for some reason. I threw a newer fluke-like lure and that seemed to actually scare them.
We caught mostly largemouths until I popped an eight inch smallie on a spinnerbait. I then tried to donate a moderately expensive jerkbait to a small pike. Dan showed some remarkable expertise in leaving the pike for me, but I really only had that one (it raked the back of my hand and drew first blood) and a bite-off in some deep wood later in the day.
We fished about half of Half Moon and part of the connecting water popping a bunch of largemouth along the way, but only a couple may have been keepers. On one point/drop, Dan popped a side burning 'brute' of a fish on a finesse worm that he let me shoot - well it was a heck of a nice gill for anyone...
I talked Dan into giving Blind Lake one more try (not his favorite) and we popped a few largemouths out of cabbage. I had my best one of the day come up and grab a pretty War Eagle spinnerbait, but I jumped the gun and pulled away too quick.
We fished some deep deep wood and popped several skinny smallies and one deep lost little largemouth (Dan worked this one) in 27 feet of water. That's also were my bite off came on a finesse worm. We threw various finesse worms, tubes and grubs. After convincing Dan that Blind Lake could be a little better than just a place to get bit off by pike (only one isn't too bad), we decided to finish off the day in Bruin.
I forgot. Dan used his great sixth sense ('I see bass fishes') to spy out an interesting corner on our way out of Blind and we actually had several respectable keeper-sized bass chase his jerkbait with one grabbing my little tube after it sank away. We never landed any other them before we wizened them up. We did follow through and catch several more pretty pale aggressive largemouths nearby. Apparently I forgot how to catch 2nd followers because I missed several opportunities to do so.
I landed my best smally off a sand point that was almost… maybe… a squeaker keeper on my little flashy finesse tube. We popped a few more largemouths - all small off cabbage/weed clumps and I said okay we can go when I caught a hard-smacking largemouth on my last cast.
We caught very few keepers and no whoppers, but a lot small bass that made the day very enjoyable and low pressure - a really nice day with great weather. We had no real wind until the end of our day. We did see a whole lot of 'pleasure' boats after about 12:30 which was odd for a work weekday.
Another thing we noticed was a lot of scrawny bass in parts of Half Moon, while some areas had fat, healthy looking bass. We saw a little mix of this in the other lakes too although more of the bass seemed chubby. Many also fought pretty hard for little guys, which was nice.
Another great day on the water.