Post by djkimmel on Jun 13, 2005 23:52:39 GMT -5
Had part of the day Saturday available for some solo fishing so I zipped up to Lake Ovid to see how the bass are doing for our board event later this year. I wanted to get in some fishing before the afternoon storms blew in.
Probably because of these very storms coming, the Lake Ovid food chain was on the feed BIG TIME! I started fishing around 9 AM and noticed everywhere I looked someone was catching a bass or a musky. Big schools of bluegills were everywhere too and they were constantly jumping and shooting across the top in unison – most likely because they were being attacked by fish eaters like bass and musky. The lake was moderately crowded with all kinds of anglers (but no jet skis :-).
I motored over to a favorite small hump and saw a fellow angler fighting a large fish. I watched for a few minutes and then offered to take a picture of the fish once he landed it. The other two anglers in the tiny boat mentioned they already had a keeper musky on the stringer from shortly before. I snapped the following photo of the three with their 43 inch and 38 inch muskies just before they released the smaller one.
Another thing I noticed was the water clarity. I hadn’t seen such clear water since late last fall. I could see bottom in 5 to almost 6 feet – quite an improvement over the last two times I’d been on Ovid this year.
That’s how I was able to see my first two bass strikes right after I started. I tried topwater because of the tremendous amount of splashing gills and even some boils from larger fish. I didn’t get any takers, so I switched to a Bomber Square A in parrot. I burned it across the thick weeds and saw a really good largemouth engulf the fat bait with two sharp trebles.
I pulled the hooks right out of the large bass’ mouth. The lure shot 6 feet ahead and was viciously pounced on by another quality largemouth. I again pulled the bait right out of the bass’ mouth. Darn!
It was fairly breezy and I made the mistake of drifting too close and spooked a small school of nice largemouths. I’m not used to having a visual spooking problem on Ovid.
I was unable to get them to bite so I headed to a small depression from an old foundation. I could hear anglers on shore talking about seeing several bass on beds on the inside weedline so I knew a few were on beds still, but I was hoping for post spawn and presummer mauraders. I did pop 4 small bass quickly out of a hole in the weeds near the foundation, but only 2 were small keepers.
Even though I could see surface activity all over the lake, something didn’t seem right. I moved into a small trough and despite witnessing an explosion right in the middle ahead of me, I got no takers on flukes, spinnerbaits, a jerkbait or the crankbait. I actually watched a keeper bass swim over a stump right after I had worked the fluke by.
I took a hint and switched to a Texas-rig finesse worm ala cameraguy last year. I ‘pulled’ my worm from a couple weeds right in the middle of the trough before I realized that bass were biting the worm and then letting go as soon as I put pressure on them. Despite what turned out to be a bunch of bass in a small area 6 to 8 feet deep, they were really sensitive to feeling me on the other end of the line. I had a heck of a time pitching and then hooking these bass.
I thought they were all small, but after experimenting with timing I started to hook and land the bass. I boated 5 mostly solid keepers – a couple dinks – from the area before they seemed to catch on to me.
I decided main weed line bass might be easier so I moved out to a weed line out from a spawning bay nearby. Casting a Power worm into an inside turn in the weeds, I caught 4 really nice keepers in a hurry. That spot petered out then, but I only had to move about 100 feet to a small weed point and found a heck of a school of bass.
I kept tossing the various worms in there and kept getting whacked by 13 to 16 inch bass – mostly keepers from a small area. The wind had shifted directions and was blowing right into this weed line now. When these bass slowed a little from my pressure, I only had to cast about 50 feet farther along to a small depression in the weeds and started whackin bass from another school of mostly keepers.
I was havin’ fun now… but no really nice ones much over 17 inches. I decided I needed to break in my new All Star Titanium Carolina riggin’ rod, so I made a few casts with a Firetire Xtreme Bass tube. I had 3 bites, but all I got was a balled up tube 3 times back.
Not sure why, but they were getting the tube good. I didn’t want to wait too long because many of the bass were trying to swallow the various worms I was using. So I decided to switch to a black blue Power lizard. My first cast right to the weed wall in the indent was met with solid resistance. What a way to break in a new and really nice rod – I landed my best bass of the day – a belly fat female of close to 4 pounds. I caught 3 more bass quickly on the Carolina-rigged lizard.
I switched back to some smaller plastics as these two ‘schools’ slowed and quickly caught several more bass although only the last one was a solid keeper. I was hearing a lot of rumbling by then and my wife Angie called and said it was time to get off the lake and go home.
Forgot about the last weed point I hit. I was having hard time making myself leave. I motored to this weed point and went too far too fast right into the weeds. I killed the Yamaha and flipped a Power worm over the back deck behind the motor. I stood up and pulled on the worm finding it 'snagged on a weed.' Only the weed started going the other way. Ended up being a 2+ bass. I tossed towards the outside edge on my way back out and caught another 2+! THEN I decided I could leave happy!
All in all, a great day on the water with a HOT bite going on even though they wouldn’t hit everything with reckless abandon. Lake Ovid is looking really good for the tournament this fall. I may have to get out there a few more times to ‘check them out’ for all of you. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Here’s my best one of the day.
Probably because of these very storms coming, the Lake Ovid food chain was on the feed BIG TIME! I started fishing around 9 AM and noticed everywhere I looked someone was catching a bass or a musky. Big schools of bluegills were everywhere too and they were constantly jumping and shooting across the top in unison – most likely because they were being attacked by fish eaters like bass and musky. The lake was moderately crowded with all kinds of anglers (but no jet skis :-).
I motored over to a favorite small hump and saw a fellow angler fighting a large fish. I watched for a few minutes and then offered to take a picture of the fish once he landed it. The other two anglers in the tiny boat mentioned they already had a keeper musky on the stringer from shortly before. I snapped the following photo of the three with their 43 inch and 38 inch muskies just before they released the smaller one.
Another thing I noticed was the water clarity. I hadn’t seen such clear water since late last fall. I could see bottom in 5 to almost 6 feet – quite an improvement over the last two times I’d been on Ovid this year.
That’s how I was able to see my first two bass strikes right after I started. I tried topwater because of the tremendous amount of splashing gills and even some boils from larger fish. I didn’t get any takers, so I switched to a Bomber Square A in parrot. I burned it across the thick weeds and saw a really good largemouth engulf the fat bait with two sharp trebles.
I pulled the hooks right out of the large bass’ mouth. The lure shot 6 feet ahead and was viciously pounced on by another quality largemouth. I again pulled the bait right out of the bass’ mouth. Darn!
It was fairly breezy and I made the mistake of drifting too close and spooked a small school of nice largemouths. I’m not used to having a visual spooking problem on Ovid.
I was unable to get them to bite so I headed to a small depression from an old foundation. I could hear anglers on shore talking about seeing several bass on beds on the inside weedline so I knew a few were on beds still, but I was hoping for post spawn and presummer mauraders. I did pop 4 small bass quickly out of a hole in the weeds near the foundation, but only 2 were small keepers.
Even though I could see surface activity all over the lake, something didn’t seem right. I moved into a small trough and despite witnessing an explosion right in the middle ahead of me, I got no takers on flukes, spinnerbaits, a jerkbait or the crankbait. I actually watched a keeper bass swim over a stump right after I had worked the fluke by.
I took a hint and switched to a Texas-rig finesse worm ala cameraguy last year. I ‘pulled’ my worm from a couple weeds right in the middle of the trough before I realized that bass were biting the worm and then letting go as soon as I put pressure on them. Despite what turned out to be a bunch of bass in a small area 6 to 8 feet deep, they were really sensitive to feeling me on the other end of the line. I had a heck of a time pitching and then hooking these bass.
I thought they were all small, but after experimenting with timing I started to hook and land the bass. I boated 5 mostly solid keepers – a couple dinks – from the area before they seemed to catch on to me.
I decided main weed line bass might be easier so I moved out to a weed line out from a spawning bay nearby. Casting a Power worm into an inside turn in the weeds, I caught 4 really nice keepers in a hurry. That spot petered out then, but I only had to move about 100 feet to a small weed point and found a heck of a school of bass.
I kept tossing the various worms in there and kept getting whacked by 13 to 16 inch bass – mostly keepers from a small area. The wind had shifted directions and was blowing right into this weed line now. When these bass slowed a little from my pressure, I only had to cast about 50 feet farther along to a small depression in the weeds and started whackin bass from another school of mostly keepers.
I was havin’ fun now… but no really nice ones much over 17 inches. I decided I needed to break in my new All Star Titanium Carolina riggin’ rod, so I made a few casts with a Firetire Xtreme Bass tube. I had 3 bites, but all I got was a balled up tube 3 times back.
Not sure why, but they were getting the tube good. I didn’t want to wait too long because many of the bass were trying to swallow the various worms I was using. So I decided to switch to a black blue Power lizard. My first cast right to the weed wall in the indent was met with solid resistance. What a way to break in a new and really nice rod – I landed my best bass of the day – a belly fat female of close to 4 pounds. I caught 3 more bass quickly on the Carolina-rigged lizard.
I switched back to some smaller plastics as these two ‘schools’ slowed and quickly caught several more bass although only the last one was a solid keeper. I was hearing a lot of rumbling by then and my wife Angie called and said it was time to get off the lake and go home.
Forgot about the last weed point I hit. I was having hard time making myself leave. I motored to this weed point and went too far too fast right into the weeds. I killed the Yamaha and flipped a Power worm over the back deck behind the motor. I stood up and pulled on the worm finding it 'snagged on a weed.' Only the weed started going the other way. Ended up being a 2+ bass. I tossed towards the outside edge on my way back out and caught another 2+! THEN I decided I could leave happy!
All in all, a great day on the water with a HOT bite going on even though they wouldn’t hit everything with reckless abandon. Lake Ovid is looking really good for the tournament this fall. I may have to get out there a few more times to ‘check them out’ for all of you. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. Here’s my best one of the day.
