4-24-2011

4-24-2011 Sun
4:30 PM- 8:00PM

Weather: S 6, clear, 55 ˚, 29.99 mb, rising

H2O: 11.13’, falling, 113 kcfs, clear, 49 ˚

Location : Mississippi R. Pool 7 (Upper mid-pool)

Caught: We caught lots of northern and bass, with the majority of fish being largemouth bass
Partners: Scot

Comments

Scot and I fished tonight after both doing the Family Easter dinner thing. The weather for fishing tonight was about as good as it gets. We had very little wind and the temperature was comfortable if you were wearing a sweatshirt and jacket. We have not had many warm days this spring, so it was even more enjoyable.
We did rather well fishing tonight, if I were to estimate the number of fish I would have to venture a guess in the low thirties. Most of the bass were fat and healthy with the biggest probably pushing the tape out to eighteen inches. The biggest pike of the night was somewhere around twenty-eight inches which is just a guestimate.
The majority of the fish came on spinner baits, with both of us using a tandem blade in a lighter color. I did catch a few using a Blue Fox buck tail. At the end of the night the fish just ignored our spinner baits, so I switched up and went to a Rapala Rattling Rap. I had immediate results; I think it was on my first cast I caught a nice large mouth. After a couple more fish Scot was convinced and he switched to a Man’s Baby -1, with almost immediate results.
With this early spring fishing and the shallow waters producing both largemouth bass and northern pike, I definitely recommend the use of a leader on all hard baits. I make my own leaders out of a piece of twenty-five pound fluorocarbon. I tie a quality swivel on my main line and then tie the fluorocarbon to the swivel, I then tie the fluorocarbon leader directly to may bait. I like to make the leader a little longer. That way if the line gets nicked by a fish; or if I want to tie on different bait I am able to do it with the extra line.

Observations

The water is steadily receding, but it still is higher than normal for this time of year. I have yet to mow the lawn, but unfortunately I think the time is quickly approaching. I have not observed any type of flowers blooming, except for the bulb plants and they are pretty much done. The aquatic weed growth on the lake has not started except for and isolated plant hear or there.