cold front lunker

[paul.]

hey y'all.  well, i was able to get out a while today with my good buddy tony.  cold front had settled in good and hard.  i think it was the coldest day i've fished so far this year.  temp barely above 40 and water temp not much more than that.  water was clear and slick with hardly any wind at all.  partly to mostly cloudy.  started with the black and blue jig i'd been whackin' 'em on in this particular lake - not a touch in the deep wood - even on the sweetest humps, ledges, and points.  switched then to my favorite jig - black, pumkin, and chartreuse (texas craw i think the color is called) with a green pumkin 3x trailer.  thought that might work a little better since it looked a little more natural.  but only got one keeper size on that.  with those 2 options shot, i decided to go shallow, thinking the cloud cover might have moved 'em up.  nothing slow rolling a spinnerbait.  2 more keepers for me on a bandit flat maxx i had doctored with some suspend strips.  no more takers shallow so we moved back out to a deep hole - 17' surrounded by 12' with plenty of wood.  even though this was a killer looking spot, my buddy only caught one fish, and missed another.  then i missed one.  it seemed they were just nipping at the jig like cold front fish tend to do sometimes.  nothing else there so we went back to the shallows.  i caught one more keeper on a smoke colored 4" tube rigged texas style fishing wood on a grassbed.  

according to my cuda, we were in the fish - both deep and shallow.  so it became pretty obvious that the fish just weren't "on".  i have learned from reading "fish chris" that sometimes it's all about the "when" with bass - not the just the "where" or the "what".  i told tony we were just gonna have to wait 'em out and hope they turned on.  

about 4:30, with only a half hour left till dark,  we went back to the deep wood.  i told tony that i hadn't come out on a miserable day like this just to catch little 'uns, so i was swinging for the fence for the rest of the trip.  for me, that means fishin' a jig and forgetting that the other rods are even in the boat.  i noticed 2 things that encouraged me - some baitfish activity on a big grass flat adjacent to the deep wood we were fishin' AND a marked lack of fish showing up on the graph out deep where they had been before.  i put these 2 things together and figured that finally the fish had "moved up" to feed on the flat.

well fortunately i was right, and first cast on the flat in about 7-8 ft. of water i got the bite i had been lookin' for.  no tick or thump, just saw the line twitch and lost contact with the jig.  (she was moving toward me when she hit i think).  cranked down on her and drove home the steel.  after a short battle and a good net job by tony, we finally had a good fish in the boat.  she was a thick and very healthy 8-11, and boy, was i happy to meet her after the cold tough day we had! ;D  well, like my friend says, sometimes it only takes one to make the trip worthwhile.  released her after a few pix.  a few more casts with the jig, crankbait, and spinnerbait went untouched so we just decided to pack it in thaw out a little.  at least we had finished well and salvaged a lunker out of a horrible cold front day.   hope y'all are catchin' some too.

details:

shimano cardiff reel.  berkley series one mh 6'6" rod.  powerpro 50 lb. test "camoflaged" with black permanent marker.  hoppy's "stroker" jig dressed with northland rattles (black, pumkin, and chartreuse).  green pumkin strike king 3x chunk trailer.  BANG attractant.  

[Under the Radar]

Great Fish HC. I know that must have warmed you up a bit.  

no1

as on no one

Nick

[FivePoundBluegill]

I guess your name is not "Hawg Caller" for no reason

You seem to post nice fish every few days. Your first post had a 7.5 LB bass, your second post had two 6 LB bass. This post has an 8 LB 11OZ bass. Those are some HAWGS.

[Catt]

Here fishy fishy fishy; Hawg Calling & it works  

[Jake.]

Great report, and way to figure them out HC.  

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

You are relentless.  Very admirable catching.

[roadwarrior]

WOW!

Great story. GREAT fish. OUTSTANDING PIC!

8-)

[Tin]

Nice report, nicer fish.  8-)    You said they were just nipping the jig, what size jig was it?

[paul.]

You said they were just nipping the jig, what size jig was it?

5/8 oz.  standard size bass jig.  skirt wasn't trimmed or anything.  i was using a bigger chunk at first.  strike king makes 3 sizes of the 3x denny brauer chunk i think.  i was using the big one, but then i went to the medium size one after after the nips.  

my buddy tried several jigs.  (he tends to switch baits and try to fine tune a little more than me)  he used a 1/2 oz. denny brauer pro model, then tried an arkie matrix, then settled on a booyah.  all those were 1/2 oz.  he used a paca craw for a trailer on all of 'em.

[Tin]

You said they were just nipping the jig, what size jig was it?

5/8 oz. standard size bass jig. skirt wasn't trimmed or anything. i was using a bigger chunk at first. strike king makes 3 sizes of the 3x denny brauer chunk i think. i was using the big one, but then i went to the medium size one after after the nips.

my buddy tried several jigs. (he tends to switch baits and try to fine tune a little more than me) he used a 1/2 oz. denny brauer pro model, then tried an arkie matrix, then settled on a booyah. all those were 1/2 oz. he used a paca craw for a trailer on all of 'em.

 We got tons of cold fronts, sometimes 2-4 a week in the spring time and early summer in New England. After a cold front on most days, the fish will just swim off with the 3/8 oz. jig, but they will just have it by the trailer, so you set the hook and you just get the jig or the jig with the trailer pulled down. Dont know if this is what you mean by nipping it or not. So the rule of thumb up here is stay the same size, just go to a 1/4 oz. for the slower fall. MUCH MUCH more productive. The slower fall aprears to make all the difference in the world. So maybe next time go from the 5/8 or 1/2 oz to a 3/8. It works up here anyway  

[Terry_]

Nice story, great fish! Keep the posts coming.

[Guest avid]

Cool story and great pic;

Keep em coming.

[.dsaavedra.]

great job paul.

wish i had some fishies to post.... not till spring. but once spring comes...im hopin to post a big ole fattie  

i see you camoflaged your line...i do that too...did i reccomend that to you?

[paul.]

i see you camoflaged your line...i do that too...did i reccomend that to you?

not unless i knew you in one of your former lives. ;D  i been doing it since i was in high school buddy.  that was over 20 years ago.  think i got it from a bassmaster article with doug hannon explaining how to do it.

[.dsaavedra.]

lol thats funny paul....guess great minds think alike.

i think i got that tip from a video i rented at the library.

[Bassn Blvd]

Dude.    u da HAWG CALLLLLLLER....

[fourbizz]

Very nice paul!

Big bass on a jig, good times!

I've been getting my butt kicked for the last few weeks and our water temps are in the 50's >

[Lightninrod]

WOW and kudos for a great BASS Paul!!!  What a fine report and a successful day!

Dan

[Hawg Bass Assassin]

Their you go again...Dynomite'n the lake again Paul ;D.

Another nice 1 Paul.  Congrate's.

H.B.A.

[X-Rap]

Great story and an awsome fish. Never give up!

[HookMaster]

Love the pic!  The Bass looks so shinny  

[rondef]

Nice catch

[Cory20]

I really admire how you put together the pieces and found the fish.

[paul.]

thanks for the kind words everyone.  i'm hopin' for at least one more good one before '07 is over.  best of luck to all y'all too.  

[Mrs. Matstone]

Great fish and report.