Barrett Report June 22

[Early release]

Good day on the water at Barrett for Saturday. Got out dark and early which is my favorite. Water was already at 74F and the air was probably about 60 F. Slight chop from that evening wind. What was fun was the moon was so bright it almost was light enough. See first picture, that's not a sun, that's the moon. Pedaled over the bays of Becky's cove and got my first taker on my first cast on a popper at 0436, which might be my earliest fish there. Tried also using a whopper plopper imitation from Googan, it doesn't spin as fast as the whopper plopper, and I think that instant motion after the initial cast is important to the fish. Cut that lure off and put on a legit whopper plopper. Two more casts and another fish in the kayak. Not as big, but it's picture #3 because I thought the morning was so pretty. The morning pretty much went like that. Popper, Plopper and stick bait. The trick on the stick bait seemed to be inaction. When I let it sit until the ripples subsided, the next twitch was when the fish couldn't stand it and hit it. At this point there were fish busting in the deeper parts, but I can't leave shore pounding even for a sure thing. So I kept at it going along the edge. Got to the one rocky point at Becky's cove right before you curve around to the main part of Hauser and had one of those fun casts where there were weeds everywhere but my lure and a sewer cover size hole in them.I twitched once and got the blow up I wanted. Long story short, picture #4 is a 5 pound 7 ounce fish, now my personal Barrett best, and I brought in roughly half of the weeds on the bottom of the lake. Played around a little bit after that in the same area. Casted at some busters with average success and then decided to go to Pine and work jigs. Pourboy was teaching me how to fish jigs recently and I know it's a great technique, but I haven't had the patience. Picture #5 is my first Barrett jig fish. Thank you Chris for your patience in teaching.

Saw some surface activity and chased those fish down. Got the tried and true #7 Rapala out and compared against the Megabass x70. Not even close. I wanted the Megabass ( it's a little heavier, so it casts better) to do well, but after 1 hour the score was 8 for Rapala, 1 for Megabass.

That was enough happiness for one day. Wind started up and I hit the dock. Water got up to 79F in some of the spots. I am not sure my truck temp gauge is accurate but it claimed 102F. I'll say it was hot and pack your waters. Tight lines,all.

[Seaway]

Nice report... thanks //

[JWall]

I always thought you need instant motion with the whoppers and choppers to keep them on the surface but Pourboy’s success the other day with intermittent sinks has me thinking.

[Pond_prowler_619]

Now thats a nice moon shot.... great report bud

[Early release]

I always thought you need instant motion with the whoppers and choppers to keep them on the surface but Pourboy’s success the other day with intermittent sinks has me thinking.

I think it's always good to mix it up on topwater. What I didn't like about the imitators is that the blade portion didn't start spinning as soon as you moved it. The Whopper Plopper throws water right away. I haven't tried a Berkley Choppo yet, but I don't think I will bother, since I am satisfied with what I have.

[Dannicus]

Awesome report brother!

[DarkShadow]

What I didn't like about the imitators is that the blade portion didn't start spinning as soon as you moved it.

It's kinda like chatterbaits. I see the cheap ones take a while for the blade to start vibrating. It's no wonder why the Jackhammer is the standard.

[Pourboy]

Great job out there and excellent detail on the report. Cheers!