Spring is here! At least in the South

[bassinfool]

Well everyone, I went out last Friday (the day before an Alabama Bass Trail event) on my home lake and was sharing the waters with nearly everyone in the state or at least it seemed that way.  After fishing for a few hours with nothing to show for it and frustrated by sharing every spot with 3-5 other boats I decided I could be more productive at the house.  Fast forward to yesterday and I decided I needed to go out and prove to myself I still knew how to catch a fish.  I got to the lake late, around 1030.  Temps were around 57 but quickly climbed to around 67 with clear blue skies and some wind about 5mph with gusts up to around 15.  Put the boat in and ran up the lake to some dirtier water and started cranking a shallow flat.  My boat was sitting in anywhere from 12-25 feet of water casting into probably 2-4 feet.

I found a hard spot after a few fan casts and proceeded to absolutely load the boat with fat spotted bass.  I wish I would have kept the first two or three I hooked into because my final five would have looked a lot more impressive.  It was one of those moments where I wish I could afford the Ultrex so I could put on spot lock and just worry about fishing!  Best baits of the day were some custom painted wiggle wart crankbaits that I had made up in a pattern called TVA shad and black back shad.  Something about the way those baits displace water was key because I broke off the TVA shad pattern and tried a Strike king in a similar color and couldn't buy a bite.  Swapped over to the black back pattern and immediately started catching fish again.  After that spot died down I headed to a small creek a little closer to launch and picked up a couple more on the crank and another 2 on a fluke worked quickly near the surface.  All in all a great day with more than 15 fish caught in about 4 hours.

[bassinfool]

A couple more, these are the black back shad.

[Bamafan2277]

Nice haul! Was you on Guntersville? I was down there last week and the boat ramps were pretty full Friday so I figured they were getting ready for a tournament. Me and my Dad went to check out Madison County Lake and DeKalb County Lake. I am in love with those 2 lakes now and am coming back down in a couple weeks for a long weekend so we can fish them for some Crappie. They have been catching some nice 3-6lb bass out of DeKalb.

[MT204]

And mean while in northern Montana........Sure would be nice to be there with ya!

[bassinfool]

Nice haul! Was you on Guntersville? I was down there last week and the boat ramps were pretty full Friday so I figured they were getting ready for a tournament. Me and my Dad went to check out Madison County Lake and DeKalb County Lake. I am in love with those 2 lakes now and am coming back down in a couple weeks for a long weekend so we can fish them for some Crappie. They have been catching some nice 3-6lb bass out of DeKalb.

I was on Lay lake.  We have a lake house on Waxahatchee creek so it's my home lake.  I haven't fished Guntersville this year, but I have a friend who won a tournament there two weeks ago with a little over 26 pounds and then came in 9th in the FLW Choo Choo series last weekend.  Biggest I've put in the boat this year is a little over 4 pounds; I missed one on a swim jig last week that was well over 5.  Blew a 3 foot whole in the mat I was swimming across.

MT, you can have all that snow!  My southern blood can't tolerate those temps!

[Muskygary]

Very nice! Thanks for showing that color pattern. I think that would work on most lakes that have shad.

[bassinfool]

Very nice! Thanks for showing that color pattern. I think that would work on most lakes that have shad.

That TVA pattern with the green back imitates both the smaller shad and the bigger gizzard shad quite well. They were absolutely hammering it. I was just reeling down and cranking along until I felt the bottom change to the hard spot and I would slow it way down and let it slowly dig the bottom and they would hit it so hard you never even had to lean into them they were hooking themselves. A load of fun.

[olsarge]

I'd say you have them dialed in.  Nice report!

[WALLEYE WACKER]

Bassinfool nice fish were going to have 3”-6” tonight

[bassinfool]

Bassinfool nice fish were going to have 3”-6” tonight

Yours will be white and ours will be wet and muggy.  They're talking about the possibility of severe weather down this way over the next couple of days.  Hopefully nothing too crazy, its still a little early for all that stuff in my mind but you never can tell with this crazy Alabama weather.

[brandx112679]

 Nice haul, if you don't mind telling, where did you buy those blanks?  It seems that there are several wiggle wart blanks out there, and I would like to buy some that I now are good ones.
 I live in Kentucky, and we have flooding here, big time. I'm thankful that I'm up out of the water, and am not cut off from the roads around here, but alot of people aren't, I feel for them.

[basscatlildave]

Nice catch. Thanks for sharing. Those Coosa river spots are mean dudes.

[Lines]

Sure are giving me the itch bassinfool. Very nice haul.

[Lamar]

  I still have a month of cold weather and three weeks till my new boat comes in. You guys are killing me.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

http://www.sheltfishingtackle.com/images/ops%20lures.jpg

Not a wiggle wart but might work.