Barrett report July 8
Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 8:45 pm
Hi all,
Got on the water at 0420 today. Slight wind making a small chop on the water then. Pedaled over to Hauser and Becky's cove for the first light, which took a while. Whole lot of nothing. Zip. Nada. Of course on my first cast I had a boil that almost pulled my kayak in, so then I was determined to catch whatever could have done that. Needless to say, sometimes determination needs to know when to quit. In my case I played in that area for an hour too long.
Finally moving along and down that coastline, I picked up a few along the way with the popper. No interest in jerkbait, crankbait or jigs. I didn't try finesse. Got back in the back of hauser and things really started to happen. Of course, now that I am a popper convert, I had quite a few takers on the popper. Same method, plop, plop, pause, and something happens on the pause. Here's something I noticed and would like others thoughts. If you move the popper at all ( reeling to remove slack or something) you will not get bit, if you leave it perfectly still, that's when you get bit. Each plop, plop resets this method too.
I tried a new lure today also. I have been casting a headbanger spitfire for the last couple sessions and cannot get any interest. The lure looks amazing (to me), but so far the fish have not been impressed. I untied that today and tied on a Heddon Crazy Crawler. It's a funny lure that makes a lot of movement in the water. It has two wings that make it wobble and look like I don't know what. In any case, this lure produced the angriest strikes I have seen. They seem to sip the popper, this thing they are annoyed by. I attached a picture of a bass in the net with the lure, so you all believe me that it works. Looking at this lure, I know I'd need to see a picture to believe it. Quality of fish was great, most in the 2 pounds range, with a few pleasant upgrades. Score card was 11 poppers, 9 crazy crawlers, 2 crankbaits. One very large and very committed bluegill on the popper too. Water temp ranged from 75 in the early AM to 79 when I left at lunch time. Wind wasn't as bad at 1200 as it has been, maybe 5-10kts and the gusts were a little more. It was calm all morning until 0930 or so. Sky was clear all day and the temp wasn't too bad. Zoom in on the last picture under the tree and you'll see a deer in water. I think that's pretty cool to have an audience when you are fishing.
Got on the water at 0420 today. Slight wind making a small chop on the water then. Pedaled over to Hauser and Becky's cove for the first light, which took a while. Whole lot of nothing. Zip. Nada. Of course on my first cast I had a boil that almost pulled my kayak in, so then I was determined to catch whatever could have done that. Needless to say, sometimes determination needs to know when to quit. In my case I played in that area for an hour too long.
Finally moving along and down that coastline, I picked up a few along the way with the popper. No interest in jerkbait, crankbait or jigs. I didn't try finesse. Got back in the back of hauser and things really started to happen. Of course, now that I am a popper convert, I had quite a few takers on the popper. Same method, plop, plop, pause, and something happens on the pause. Here's something I noticed and would like others thoughts. If you move the popper at all ( reeling to remove slack or something) you will not get bit, if you leave it perfectly still, that's when you get bit. Each plop, plop resets this method too.
I tried a new lure today also. I have been casting a headbanger spitfire for the last couple sessions and cannot get any interest. The lure looks amazing (to me), but so far the fish have not been impressed. I untied that today and tied on a Heddon Crazy Crawler. It's a funny lure that makes a lot of movement in the water. It has two wings that make it wobble and look like I don't know what. In any case, this lure produced the angriest strikes I have seen. They seem to sip the popper, this thing they are annoyed by. I attached a picture of a bass in the net with the lure, so you all believe me that it works. Looking at this lure, I know I'd need to see a picture to believe it. Quality of fish was great, most in the 2 pounds range, with a few pleasant upgrades. Score card was 11 poppers, 9 crazy crawlers, 2 crankbaits. One very large and very committed bluegill on the popper too. Water temp ranged from 75 in the early AM to 79 when I left at lunch time. Wind wasn't as bad at 1200 as it has been, maybe 5-10kts and the gusts were a little more. It was calm all morning until 0930 or so. Sky was clear all day and the temp wasn't too bad. Zoom in on the last picture under the tree and you'll see a deer in water. I think that's pretty cool to have an audience when you are fishing.