Post by Brian on Oct 13, 2010 14:12:36 GMT -5
We put in at Benson Landing yesterday (10/12) at the bright and early hour of 11:00. Not bad for us pillow heads. The water was a bit higher than last week (96.8) and considerably cleaner, about 1.5' visibility pretty much everywhere. Saw pretty constant water temps 56-57 whether close to the bank or in the middle of the channel.
Started out at the two spots that worked best for us last week. Caught 3 bass at one and none at the other. Conditions had changed, hmmm, must be Champlain. Luckily the wind was light this time, or so we thought. It was just a tease. By noon white caps were blowing down the lake. Didn't really matter as we were just covering water, not trying to stick on specific spots. Caught LM bass here and there on spoons, chatterbaits, crankbaits and one on a TX. All the while waiting for some heavy clouds to move out.
Once the sun was shining brightly we went to a back water bay hoping to catch a Master Angler pickerel (needs to be 24", last week I had a 23.5"
). There we spent several hours of enjoyable shallow water dummy fishing. Just cast and retrieve, nothing fancy. Had a lot of action but couldn't conjure up the big pickerel. Around 5:00 bait fish were moving and fish were breaking here and there. Decided it was time to head back up lake and try the buzzbaits again. Fishing the grass flat where we left the bass last week. I couldn't rent a bass there, never had a hit, but Diane had three blow ups and caught the days best bass. Alright! By the time we quit at 6:00, between us we had caught and released 10 LM (no dinks), 8 pickerel and 1 pike.
While pickerel fishing this 33" thin pike hit her 3/4 oz. Johnson spoon right next to the boat. Good thing she had stout tackle, never had to reel at all (we don't need no stinkin' drag). Fish wasn't even hooked, just had terminal tackle wedged it it's maw.
18.5" tough old bass. Had some old hook wounds, looked to have been caught and released at least 4 times (counting this time
.
A 3 lb 5 oz. super bass. Short on length, huge girth. TX rig Tubecraw in 4' milfoil. Di wanted me to turn the boat for a foliage shot...
Started out at the two spots that worked best for us last week. Caught 3 bass at one and none at the other. Conditions had changed, hmmm, must be Champlain. Luckily the wind was light this time, or so we thought. It was just a tease. By noon white caps were blowing down the lake. Didn't really matter as we were just covering water, not trying to stick on specific spots. Caught LM bass here and there on spoons, chatterbaits, crankbaits and one on a TX. All the while waiting for some heavy clouds to move out.
Once the sun was shining brightly we went to a back water bay hoping to catch a Master Angler pickerel (needs to be 24", last week I had a 23.5"
). There we spent several hours of enjoyable shallow water dummy fishing. Just cast and retrieve, nothing fancy. Had a lot of action but couldn't conjure up the big pickerel. Around 5:00 bait fish were moving and fish were breaking here and there. Decided it was time to head back up lake and try the buzzbaits again. Fishing the grass flat where we left the bass last week. I couldn't rent a bass there, never had a hit, but Diane had three blow ups and caught the days best bass. Alright! By the time we quit at 6:00, between us we had caught and released 10 LM (no dinks), 8 pickerel and 1 pike.While pickerel fishing this 33" thin pike hit her 3/4 oz. Johnson spoon right next to the boat. Good thing she had stout tackle, never had to reel at all (we don't need no stinkin' drag). Fish wasn't even hooked, just had terminal tackle wedged it it's maw.
18.5" tough old bass. Had some old hook wounds, looked to have been caught and released at least 4 times (counting this time
.A 3 lb 5 oz. super bass. Short on length, huge girth. TX rig Tubecraw in 4' milfoil. Di wanted me to turn the boat for a foliage shot...
