Lake Varner Report

[Randall]

I have been on some good fish for a few weeks at Varner. The water is starting to warm up and is in the fifties all over the lake. The numbers of fish caught wasn't way up there when the water was colder a couple of weeks ago but most of what I have been catching have been quality fish in the three to six pound range. The best five have been around 15 to 25 pounds most days. Just a lot of good quality fish being caught with no real giants to speak of. My biggest have been a couple of eight pounders. The past few days we have caught over twenty fish a day. There have also been a couple slow days. Last Friday was tough. We caught one good three or four pound fish and had just a few bites all day. But the fish are biting most days and late Feburary has always been one of the best times of the year to get numbers of quality fish.

There are really two differnet bites going on right now for me. The active shallow fish can be tough to find but once you find them you can often get more than one fish from a small spot. On the flats and points we have been using jerkbaits and rattletrap type baits. If you catch one work the area again and you usually get a few more since the fish are bunched up this time of year. The fish aren't scattered out much and seem to be just using the sweet spots near deeper water to feed. At times a jerkbait with long pauses can also be used to catch inactive fish suspended in deeper water near the flats and points.

My best bite right now for larger fish is in 10-20 foot range. These schools of fish are often huge with a lot of fish in them and you can see them bunched up on your depth finder. My best three baits for these fish have been a big deep diving crankbait, shakey head and a jig. Alot of times I am finding the active fish with the crankbait and then slowing down with the jig and worm to catch all I can out of the school. If you find a big active school you should be able to sit in one spot and load the boat with fish for the next couple of weeks. Last Sunday we caught twelve fish up to five pounds out of a good school in about an hour from one small spot.

I am just glad to see some warm weather. Nice to be able to fish and feel my hands and toes all day. :)I didn't take many photos this past week but Clipper took this one. The photo here is Bass Resource member Clipper's son and a couple nice fish from our trip last Saturday.