Spring is here - and then it is gone again. The difference of one day can never be overestimated when bass fishing - or as I often like to call it, lure fishing. There are anglers who strive to catch nothing but largemouth, and big largemouth. I am not that angler; I love to use lures, and big mouth bass are my theoretical target, but the lures I use are chosen to optimize fish caught. In general, these fish include largemouth, crappie, white bass, black bass, rock bass, bluegill - and believe it or not, catfish and carp.
These last two are fish you don't expect to see striking at lures, and yet here they are! And may I say - sometimes a net is just a mess waiting to happen, especially when there are crankbaits involved!
But, after the crankbait was freed, the fish quickly followed - fisherman John Thompson did an excellent job removing the hooks; catfish are never easy with treble hooks, but a nice pair of long nose pliers helkps tremendously.
This is a ncie sized cat - note the lure John used to catch this channel cat, a small red and brown Rapala in a crawdad pattern. The fish was caught on a sloping shelf off of a shoal at 10 - 12 feet on 4-21-2014 at a slow troll.
This one was caught on the same day a few minutes later with a soft, green and brown Super Fluke swim bait on a weighted hook.
There were schools of cat's swimming around the shallows - only after we came in did I realize that it was schools of males chasing larger females; the ones we caught were not in the chase yet, or had already completed the yearly urge.
Just a few days before, on similar crankbaits and slighter lighter green swim baits the day was much faster - like many days, it happened when I was alone on the water; such days are much more enjoyable with company, but alas, the fates of fishing are not friendly to our schedules - they come and go with no predictability.
Fortunately, a slow day in Spring is usually a few fish over a few hours, as opposed to the winter time, when a slow day is no fish and a lot of cold to boot. On a good day, about five or six days before the catfish, I had about 6 fish in 2 hours, and a good mix at that.
The water on that day ws a bit warmer - around 65 - 67 degrees. This one was caught with a Carolina rig in 8 - 12 ft of water - in fact, all the iswh below were caught at the same depth.
The largemouth above was caught around the semi-submerged bushes against the bank. I have now way of knowing, but I think the fish followed the softbaits about halfway to the boat and hit the bait during a 'slowing' retrieve.
This one was caught on a segmented, suspending crankbait:
As you can see here:
against a field-stone wall. which sloped away from about 1 foot deep to abut 12' deep where the boat was, about 40' away from the wall.
This one was a bit smaller:
Caught around these docks - there was a much bigger fish there I could not entice at ALL!
And, of course, the day would not be complete without some white bass
and a really nice Rock Bass, about . . .
fifteen inches long, and caught next to a dock with the softbait pictured above - this was a very nice fish that I really wanted to deep fry, but I did set him free, and then saw a neat little turtle. Maybe he was good luck - I have a nice boat, access to good waters, and the time and seasons to enjoy long, lazy days floating, fishing, thinking and talking. And what more could a man ask for?
The answer is not much - not much at all!
At least some of the lures inn this article were purchased at a a pawn shop Gastonia NC residents, Hunters and fishermen have relied on for years! For fishing gear, rifle scopes and more check our Gaston Music & Pawn!
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