Nitrosmike M.

Here is the backstory. 3 years ago I got sick with cancer. During the process of fighting off the disease and recovering my boat was parked for the three years. Thank god I fully recovered and I am able to use my boat and fish again. I had to totally go through my boat. Update registration, insurance, and various stickers. I replaced all four batteries. Make sure I had all my safety equipment, life vest,throwable life preservers, flares, whistles and such. Check the line on all my rods and reels replacing as necessary. Go through all my tackle and deal with rusty hooks etc. Take the boater safety course. It took me ten days to get everything together before I could hit the water safely.

I've been going fishing every three or four days for the last three weeks. Some days are better than others. It has been a relearning curve. I've forgotten many of the things we just take as granted when we go fishing/boating on a regular basis.

Three weeks ago I was catching many small males. I was swimming a small Keitech through schools of busting threadfin shad. I caught up to fifteen fish, all small. The next week I was fishing the same lure through the grass near the edge of the bank and throwing drop shot with margarita mutilator worm and slowly dragging it back through the grass. I caught at least a dozen small males. A few as big as two pounds. I've gone back to these same productive areas on different days and they wouldn't give up anything. I found areas in the back of creek channels with huge balls of bait. Sometimes I can throw an A-rig or a keitech through the baitball and pick up a couple but not as many as I would expect. On April 24th my best fish came off of a watermelon red brushhog thrown up to the bank and slowly crawling it back. That's when I caught a 5lb 11oz large mouth. She showed signs of spawning damage on her tail fin. That is the only fish over two pounds that I've caught in three weeks.

Friday May 1st I decided to try evening fishing on the full moon. I got on the lake at about six o'clock and hit many of my previously productive spots but the fish were not biting. I went way back up in Yorty, a popular creek. Around six thirty at night I started seeing bass breaking the surface here and there, not too many. Kind of funny because there were no shad breaking the surface, just bass. I started throwing a zara spook with a feather trailer on the hook. I was able to get six top water blow ups and landed four small moth bass and one nice crappie!. I headed back to the dock before dark and cranked about a dozen small fish off the rocky wall near the dam. Thank god I went back early because once the sun went down, the moon didn't come up until nine o'clock, and it was pitch black with a little bit of cloud cover and mist. I couldn't see the dock and it was only 1000 feet away.

WARNING. On the way back to the dock, there was an aluminum boat under power with no lights at all, cruising from the Warm Springs area to the public launch. Then out of nowhere two people in kayaks with no lights appeared in the water at the ramp. I couldn't see them until I was right on top of them. So dangerous. They have no idea. The guy in the aluminum boat picked up his friend with dog and they headed back out to their campsite. The kayakers pulled out their boats and called it a night. Dumb and dumber. Be safe out there. Tight lines!