It's on like Donkey Kong!!!

[t-billy]

31 Smallmouth and a pile of Rock Bass on Sunday afternoon at my local river. Fished about 6hrs. Went again this morning and caught 23 Smallmouth and nearly as many Rock Bass in 4hrs. Only a few females. Mostly just the males have hit the spawning flats so far. No bigguns yet. Biggest of the 2 trips was a 2lb 9oz'er. Lots of 12- 17 inch fish though. Water is 62. Those big girls should start showing up any day.
 Time to do some re-melting. I've nearly burned through my stash of MD3XLs in black & blue. ---Tim.

[Denny Welch]

You want me to pour some for you?  No charge.

[pjmcla]

Great to hear.  Post some pictures for us to drool over.  Mad Dad 3Xl  -->  fish catcher. 

[ctom]

I'm happy you go into fish. I drove into a mess this morning.

Last Thursday's 14" white washing is all gone and this morning at 5 am it was 45 degrees....too hot to sleep, to cool to work so I hooked up and hit the lake north of town thinking I could find a meal of crappies for Ma and I tonight. It was a fleeting though, trust me.

The lake was up about 4 vertical feet, not the 18 inches I had thought it might be. I launched from a parking lot, literally.

It was like fishing a whole new lake. Those fish had about nine miles of new structure and where they were last Tuesday they certainly weren't there today. The water temp took a 12 degree enema on me. Water color allowed for about 6 inches of visibility. I threw it all...large to small, bright to black. The fish were scattered all over deep water areas and nothing was on any kind of wood. I mamanged some dink crappies and some white bass....enough to smell like I'd been fishing. Basically it was not a real rewarding day fish-wise but I did get to watch some warblers chase bugs and a random pair of late-running loons swan by and talked at me. Turkeys were chatting everywhere.

The weather was nice and fishing in short sleeves again is certainly reward enough for this old fool. I got home in time to run the tiller up to our church garden plot, get our tilling there done enough so I could plant my potatoes and just kick back in the sun with Ma. Sometimes its not about fishing but as long as you did well, I'm happy for ya!   

[basskat]

Spawn is over here and the bass and crappie have moved back deep. This was the best crappie spring for us in quiet a while. I have over 200 in the freezer.  I through with the crappie until about November. Time to hit the bass hard. My son and I have fished five bass tournaments so far this year and we're having a good year. Finished first in two, second in two and bummed out in one. Can't complain, we're paying our way.

Wish we had more smallies here. Pickwick does have some big ones but they are few and far this year for me.

ctom.....we had a 1/2 inch of snow backFebruaryuary, shut everything down! 

[t-billy]

 Thanks for the offer Denny. That's mighty nice of ya, but I'm good. I still have 2 of the MD3XL molds. Hang in there Tom & Andy. Spring's coming your way. It's just running a little late this year.
 Well, I'm off to the river for a few hrs before work this afternoon. Have a good'n.---Tim.

[Billmo]

Yeah spawn has been over here for about 3 weeks..    Wish we could have seen some new spring molds come out.. Guess there is always next spring..   

Im fishing the transition areas now.. Calibama rigs(3.75 smokin shad) in the mornings and slow texas rigs(12 stump thumper) in the afternoon..

[t-billy]

 Things slowed down as the week went on. 11 smallmouth on wed. and only 8 on Fri. We had a cold front come through. Seems to have scattered them. 20-30 mph sustained winds kept me home this afternoon. The best is yet to come though. Nearly all the fish I caught last week were males. The big girls should be on the flats soon.---Tim.

[t-billy]

 The spawn is over here. The grass is getting near the surface and there are fry skipping everywhere. Water is 68-70. Only got 3 smallies over 3#. My biggest fish this spring was a river smallie that weighed 4lb 3oz. I had a largemouth that was MUCH bigger wrap me up on a limb and snap my 20# flouro. Grrr. No more of that. I'll be pitching trees with my big veritas and 65# braid from now on. That's two lost bigguns in two years using 20# flouro and a standard heavy action flippin stick.
 I picked up a 7' 9" veritas bama rig rod after losing that one. It's rated for 5/8- 3oz baits. It's great for flippin and pitchin IMO. It's got a soft tip with a TON of backbone. I skied a 3lb'er to the boat with it last weekend. Any sows I lose while using this rod won't be because I couldn't turn 'em.---Tim.