Kopper Live Target Bluegill water test .

[Garry2Rs]

My buddy was on Honey-Do chauffeur duty until about 10:30, so we got off to a slow start this morning.

 

I was quite anxious to hit Mittry Reservoir, because the main forage there is Sunfish.

 

Yesterday, UPS delivered an order with an assortment of new Kopper Live Target Bluegill and Pumpkinseed crankbaits. How many baits are there? Okay, there are two patterns, and two sizes in each pattern, and two finishes, gloss and matte, in each size...That's 2x2x2x2=16 possible choices...I have a budget, so I ordered four Sunfish. Two of each pattern, one of each in shallow and mid-range models, but only one, a mid-range, was in the smallest size, and only one also a Bluegill was in matte finish.

 

I reasoned that it's almost always sunny in Yuma, so a gloss finish would be most useful. Also, Sunfish spawn after Bass do...That would be April in Arizona and July in the Kawarthas...So, it might be next September before I see an tiny sunfish. There will be plenty of time to order more of these small baits if I need them.

 

There's no doubt these baits look great, but today would be the official "water test."

 

We stayed on the shallow side of the lake, where the sub-surface weed beds and flotsam left by 100's of Coots made it hard to use a crankbait. We stuck it out because we didn't want to blunder into our prime area and splash it up while we were still getting a feel for these new baits.

 

The baits are quite heavy and cast nicely. Both models and both sizes ran true, out of the box. The water here is muddy, but the medium diver must have a head-down attitude in the water because although it hit the the shallow weeds, it doesn't pick-up many. The shallow model appears to be a more horizontal running bait. It swam over shallow beds without touching.

 

I tried straight cranking, stop and go, and ripping. The baits didn't spin-out and remained happy whatever I did. The shallow-lip bait will fish as a jerkbait, but in the muddy water it was hard to really see the action...I will take them to the river, where it is clearer, soon.

 

When we were ready, we had to wait for another boat to clear the area we felt was prime. We found a spot on the lea side of the channel and waited for the spot to rest and settle down again... Finally we positioned the boat for a drift down the main channel with the wind behind us.

 

My friend was using a spinning rod, so he took that small glossy Bluegill.

 

 

I threw the larger matte shallow model on one casting rod and a large mid-range Pumpkinseed on another rod.

 

 

On his first cast Kelly hooked-up with a two pound LM Bass.

 

My camera decided that it wouldn't work today, so I shot a couple of frames on his digital.

If I can borrow Kelly's memory card tomorrow I will add a photo to this post.

 

After this great start we were sure this would be a big day, but while we had been waiting, the wind had gone from medium to heavy, the birds stopped moving, and everything seemed to shutdown at once. The wind is very strong tonight. If it doesn't blow itself out overnight, it will be Monday before I get another chance to work with these lures. I don't like to fish on the weekend when the water is crowded!

Garry2R's