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 :)
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.
thanks for the report, nice to see the lake stable even if it is still a little low for another month?
Thanks Desert Rat - might make it there for some night fishing in June.
What is a split tail rapala?
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--
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 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----
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.