Bartlett

[The Desert Rat]

After 17 beautiful days/nights on the lake,camping at SB Cove, the TNF Manager politely Told me to pack it up---Short of the long---found the slabs in Alder Cove ( lasted for a couple of days )--then---BINGO---Cat Bay-Cat Bay -Cat Bay----trolled ,using Split Tail Rappala"s --shad colored--most slabs measured 17 inches +/- a few centimeters--no tricks,no magic,trolled and trolled---18 feet of water to 28 feet of water--Kinda strange behavior--More times ( days) then not, started fishing at 5:30-6 am---NO Crappie--then--wham !! right around 8 am the schools moved in  following the shad balls--the feeding would typically last until 11 am---and pick up again around 5-6 pm---temp 72.x degrees today---I lost several split tails and reverted to deep running shad lures---hard time keeping the Bass and occasional Flathead off--
one boat bagged a few using Roadrunner with BBC---the biggest producer was the Rappala---I tried many days using the usual BBC, Acid Rain, watermelon, tipped and minnows naked--- nothing---
hope to see you at the next meeting---Larry, I may need a new Stainless Steel bowl

[CaptainMorgan3]

Nice!  Graphing fish in other coves?  Or just in those two?  Also were you graphing fish when they weren't biting? 

Good work and thanks for the post.

[Fishless]

thanks for the report, nice to see the lake stable even if it is still a little low for another month?

[OneBlade]

Thanks Desert Rat - might make it there for some night fishing in June.

[Stevert]

What is a split tail rapala? 

[The Desert Rat]

Crappie Graph--In Cat Bay---no signs of Crappie until the shad balls show up--then --BAM!!! Crappie Galore, following the shad---I graphed a few off of other Coves , usually at the entrance--usually in 30 feet of water and NOT biting---Lots of fish along the North wall just south of Quartz Mine Cove ( fist Cove N of Rattlesnake Cove)---
The lure---A Rappala Split tail , Shad colored ( some call it the jointed tail)--deep diver, 15-17 feet, $5.96 at walmart
---I believe any shad colored ,medium to deep diver will get the job done---the slabs were full of shad--

[menrats]

ths david. any night fishing action or when does the five to six  bite go to. a lot of fun to have them banging that crank at that size. good on you. whackin a treble hook fish on! even cuz larry wont lose those babys half way back to the boat.

[The Desert Rat]

The 5pm bite---I don't have a clue as to how long it lasts---I'm old    I am back at camp by 7:30----However, the Bite is more frequent in the early morning---they were attacking the lure like a Flathead !!! BAM !!!! really hard and fought like a small mouth Bass and sometimes like a catfish--had to pull many up from the depths----

[WheatThin]

Used a Lucky Craft Bevy crank and had similar success this morning.  And om my god do they hit like tanks and fight hard.  I thought I had a few monster bass, stripping drag on my medium bass rig like it was nothing.  Same technique also produced a few nice bass.