BK86bass Posted April 13, 2016 Posted April 13, 2016 On 4/11/2016 at 10:07 PM, ljd1971 said: Went out to Melvern Sunday afternoon while the wind died down a little. I saw water temps up to 59 in the creeks and mostly 53-55 elsewhere. All the recent wind has stirred the algae up most places so the water was pretty stained. I was only able to find three spots where I could pull out more than 3 smallies and none where I could get 6+ like I've been able to do on some of my other trips this spring. Ended up with 30, 20 of those were smallmouth. The biggest was 18" and 3.5 lbs. I caught three others that were 16-17". Slow moving baits (tube, hula grub, Ned) were all that worked. Most were shallow but I did catch a few a little deeper today than I've seen in awhile-- probably 4 to 6 FOW. Have the Smallies started to spawn yet? Quote
Ondrejka Posted April 13, 2016 Posted April 13, 2016 55 minutes ago, BK86bass said: Have the Smallies started to spawn yet? Usually when a full moon coincides with upper 50s is when they'll start. I have a guide trip there Sunday, expecting to have a pretty solid day. Will be targeting bigger fish a bit deeper, because generally speaking the bigger the bass, the deeper and earlier they may spawn. But it's still very early on Melvern yet, just the beginning. Quote
BK86bass Posted April 13, 2016 Posted April 13, 2016 19 minutes ago, Ondrejka said: Usually when a full moon coincides with upper 50s is when they'll start. I have a guide trip there Sunday, expecting to have a pretty solid day. Will be targeting bigger fish a bit deeper, because generally speaking the bigger the bass, the deeper and earlier they may spawn. But it's still very early on Melvern yet, just the beginning. Which baits do you suggest for targeting the smallies this weekend? any areas you would suggest checking out? Quote
Ondrejka Posted April 13, 2016 Posted April 13, 2016 1 minute ago, BK86bass said: Which baits do you suggest for targeting the smallies this weekend? any areas you would suggest checking out? As far as moving baits, it's hard to beat a spinnerbait this time of year. Jerkbait will probably do the trick too given the temps. Had good success on a 3.8 or 4.3" Speed Shad two weeks ago. Otherwise my go to's are always dragging a tube, or the Ned. There's really not a bad spot on Melvern, to be honest. Fish everywhere. Short of giving away my milk run where we'll be on Sunday. 1 Quote
ljd1971 Posted April 14, 2016 Posted April 14, 2016 6 hours ago, BK86bass said: Have the Smallies started to spawn yet? I haven't seen any evidence that they've started spawning. 5 hours ago, Ondrejka said: As far as moving baits, it's hard to beat a spinnerbait this time of year. Jerkbait will probably do the trick too given the temps. Had good success on a 3.8 or 4.3" Speed Shad two weeks ago. Otherwise my go to's are always dragging a tube, or the Ned. There's really not a bad spot on Melvern, to be honest. Fish everywhere. Short of giving away my milk run where we'll be on Sunday. Agree with Brian-- especially the part about the Ned. Some guys here have also done pretty well on a lipless crank at the 'Vern this spring. Not so much for me, though. I have just started catching them on a tube-- maybe it just took a while for the tube bite to get going this year but it seemed to turn for me when I rigged it with a jighead on the outside, not inserted in the tube. Rigged this way, it doesn't spiral down, it falls more straight. But I'm going to keep rigging it both ways to see which way they like each day. As far as spots go, I have done the best on secondary points so far this spring. Some of them are gravel, some are sand/mud, some are chunk rock and some are bigger rocks. Some of them look textbook and others look like nothing. So like Brian says, the best bet is to cover a bunch of water. I don't know about Brian, but my experience this spring is that if you find one, there will be more around. Good luck. 1 Quote
BK86bass Posted April 14, 2016 Posted April 14, 2016 thanks guys, going to give em hell for two days so hopefully we do alright. Hard to beat some smallie fishing that's for sure. Appreciate all the input. 1 Quote
BK86bass Posted April 15, 2016 Posted April 15, 2016 Kingman SFL : Got to the lake around 5 and fished til 830ish. Pretty windy out which kept me out of the area I prefer to fish. Ended up catching 16 total fish. The fish are very healthy and look like footballs. Water temps ranged from 60-64. Fish were definitely pulled up shallow and caught majority of my fish in 1-2'. Caught two that had already spawned out. Caught 5 keepers which like I assumed would be in that 2# range. Biggest of the evening was 2-4 . Stuck a pig in a brush pile and got her up once and she dove straight back down and wrapped me up and ended up pulling off. My best guess was lower 6 type fish. All in all a successful Thursday afternoon outing. One guy fishing off a rock Jedi was using cut perch and I watched him catch a 30" Northern Pike. Unfortunately it went into the Basket. Another gentleman was fishing near the south ramp and caught a few channels. nothing big. 2# fish. I'd say two years time and this lake will be back to the way it was in 2011 with a great population of 4-6# fish 1 Quote
Advantage Posted April 17, 2016 Posted April 17, 2016 Miola bass were not cooperating yesterday but the wiper and walleye were! 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted April 17, 2016 Global Moderator Posted April 17, 2016 Man, what a weekend. 8 Quote
Super User kickerfish1 Posted April 17, 2016 Super User Posted April 17, 2016 Very impressive Flatheads, especially for bass gear! Nice job fellas! 1 Quote
Super User gardnerjigman Posted April 17, 2016 Super User Posted April 17, 2016 Morrels popping yet? Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted April 17, 2016 Global Moderator Posted April 17, 2016 14 hours ago, gardnerjigman said: Morrels popping yet? Where's your little P fish at? I saw a picture of literally a truck bed full of them a couple days ago. 1 Quote
conorsixtakc Posted April 17, 2016 Posted April 17, 2016 41 minutes ago, gardnerjigman said: Morrels popping yet? OMW down to our place in N Buck as we speak, I'll let u know if I come across any Quote
aj88kc Posted April 18, 2016 Posted April 18, 2016 I just want to say thank you for the advice on the milford smallies. I ended up catching 17 most in the 1-1.5 range with the biggest being 2. All but one came on the ned. I had one on a spook which was fun watching him blow up on that. I threw a bunch of other stuff but they would not touch it. Ned was the ticket. 3 Quote
Super User gardnerjigman Posted April 18, 2016 Super User Posted April 18, 2016 1 hour ago, aj88kc said: I just want to say thank you for the advice on the milford smallies. I ended up catching 17 most in the 1-1.5 range with the biggest being 2. All but one came on the ned. I had one on a spook which was fun watching him blow up on that. I threw a bunch of other stuff but they would not touch it. Ned was the ticket. Smallies on a spook has got to be the closest thing to heroin without the jail time. Once it happens, good luck going without it. Lol 2 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted April 18, 2016 Global Moderator Posted April 18, 2016 Like usual, I didn't get our last 2 keepers because it was right at the end of the day and I missed several fish catches or the clips were too long and take forever to upload. Also left out the flathead video and just made it separate to keep this on reasonable. There's a pretty good story behind my Biffle quote at about 2:17, but unlike the guy we crossed paths with, I'm not a giant turd so you'll have to hear it in person if you want the story behind it. 2 Quote
RangerDanger Posted April 18, 2016 Posted April 18, 2016 22 hours ago, gardnerjigman said: Morrels popping yet? Something was popping landing the wabuansee flathead, didn't know you were a plumber. 9 hours ago, gardnerjigman said: Smallies on a spook has got to be the closest thing to heroin without the jail time. Once it happens, good luck going without it. Lol You do love that spook. 2 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted April 18, 2016 Global Moderator Posted April 18, 2016 11 minutes ago, RangerDanger said: Something was popping landing the wabuansee flathead, didn't know you were a plumber. Youtube video editor sucks, I did the best I could with my limited skills. 2 Quote
Ondrejka Posted April 18, 2016 Posted April 18, 2016 Took bradco to Melvern yesterday and it was tough. Well, tougher/slower than what we're used to at least. We grinded it out though. There was, as per usual, a big tournament going on. What can ya do. On another note.............ONLY TWO DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR LOZ FOR THE BASH!!! 4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said: but unlike the guy we crossed paths with, I'm not a giant turd so you'll have to hear it in person if you want the story behind it. I'm on pins and needles. Bradco and I have a similar story about some tournament turds we crossed paths with yesterday. They were a real treat. 1 Quote
Jond6236 Posted April 18, 2016 Posted April 18, 2016 Is Lone Star gong to be open by this weekend or will killing the weeds take longer? Quote
Ondrejka Posted April 18, 2016 Posted April 18, 2016 Just now, JayhawkKU said: Is Lone Star gong to be open by this weekend or will killing the weeds take longer? I wouldn't recommend fishing it until next week. 1 Quote
Super User gardnerjigman Posted April 18, 2016 Super User Posted April 18, 2016 If I happen to show some crack while I'm grabbing a 65lb kitty I think I get a day pass. Lol. 2 Quote
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