WolfyBrandon Posted March 10, 2016 Author Posted March 10, 2016 [ March 07, 2016] (Day 5) Well, it's been quite a few days since the last time I fished. I tried to do some calculations comparing the conditions from my 2015 fishing log to the current conditions this year. I came up with this year being 13 days ahead of last year, so I took the date I caught my first fish last year (March 20th) subtracted 13, and came up with 7. So I planned my next fishing trip for today March 7th. The weather has been constantly raining off and on almost every day since the last day I fished, so this day kind of crept up on me fast. When I realized it was the 7th, I missed the chance to leave early. I considered putting it off until the next day, but because I had planned on this day I pushed myself to go today. My expectations were not very high as the lows have been getting below freezing with frost at night, and I didn't think the moderate warm days were enough to increase the water temperature much (one reason why this day crept up on me fast). The area did receive a lot of rainfall during the day, so I figured that might increase the water temperature by a few degrees since the last day I fished. I headed toward the lake around 11:30am, and just before I arrived there - I spotted a group of turkeys out in a field... Can you talk to wild turkeys?... Because I Can. I arrived at the lake around 12:00pm, and was a bit surprised to see the lake had dropped about 2 ft (I figured if anything it would be high after all the rain and runoff)... When I checked the temperature and saw it was only 41 degrees, that told me they must be releasing a lot of water from the lake and the runoff being added to the lake is constantly keeping it cold. My equipment for today (which is very similar to my last trip as I was pressed for time). Seeing how the water is still 41F - I decided to start with the Blade Bait and Fish-Head Spin since they were already rigged up from my previous trip... The forecast predicted it to be mostly cloudy, but it turned out to be more overcast with a light very cold wind (frontal is a good word to describe the atmosphere). After an hour or more with no results I decided to switch baits, and try out the new Rapala Shadow Rap Shad. At first I was a little unsure how to work the bait, and I didn't know how it would respond to being twitched with the nose up profile. While testing it out in shallow water the bait seemed to respond very well... and had a nice nose up slow float to it. I counted that it took the bait around 3 seconds to change from a nose down profile while swimming to a nose up profile while paused. With the water still so cold... I planned to fish the Blade Bait and Jerkbait for most of the day. The Shadow Rap Shad also seemed to cast very well, allowing me to really bomb it out there. It has a nice darting action to it, and looks good in the water, I have high hopes for this bait when the water warms up. I fished the Blade Bait very slowly along the bottom, sometimes sweeping the rod and letting it fall, but still nothing... Later while fishing the Shadow Rap Shad, as I was about to cast it, my baitcaster's spool "free-spooled" on me causing a small backlash. (I'm not sure if it has a malfunction as this has happened a few times, or if I accidentally clicked the button without knowing because I was wearing gloves...) Anyway, on the very next cast after I cleared the backlash - the new Shadow Rap Shad went sailing in the wind... as the line had cut down in the spool. This is a problem I run into with Sufix Mono, if the line kinks badly from something like a backlash... it's only a matter of time until it will break at that spot. Luckily the Shadow Rap Shad floats... and I was able to recover it using the Blade Bait. It was now about 3:30pm, and I had just finished fishing the two baits through the entire marina... The wind was now starting to pick up a bit, and the day was was looking pretty gloomy. I decided to tie on the Wiggle Wart, and re-fish everything again to see if a bait change would help. While fishing with the Wiggle Wart for about an hour, I watched as the day completely changed from dark and frontal, to bright and mostly clear... I continued fishing for another half hour, and... Nada on the Wiggle Wart. It was now getting late and around 5:00pm, so I decided to call it a day. The drive home had a nice sunset, followed by a bit of rain...WolfyBrandon 2 Quote
Derekbass02 Posted March 10, 2016 Posted March 10, 2016 Maybe next time. When is your next trip? Its basically spring here. I'm not expecting the high to go under freezing until next winter. Unfortunately fishing season doesn't open til may 7th. Quote
Super User everythingthatswims Posted March 11, 2016 Super User Posted March 11, 2016 8 hours ago, Derekbass02 said: Maybe next time. When is your next trip? Its basically spring here. I'm not expecting the high to go under freezing until next winter. Unfortunately fishing season doesn't open til may 7th. Yeah I couldn't do that 1 Quote
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