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Posted

Hey everyone,

 

Glad to see that most people had a good opening weekend for bass!

I happened to be one of the fortunate ones who also had a great outing for my favorite species!

 

My wife and I hit Stoney/Clear lakes at 5:30 a.m. this morning. I didnt have a good feeling about it while I was making the run in the boat, because it was pretty chilly!!

 

But luckily my feelings changed after about 3 mins! :thumbsup_anim:

 

I pulled into a nice big bay with stumps, islands, weed and rocks, and started throwing topwater to target the aggressive fish.

 

Within 3 mins had a bass explode on the bait:

Bass-Season-2007-027.jpg

 

And about 5 seconds later, found out what it was!

Bass-Season-2007-028.jpg

 

A nice chunky 2lb smallie:

Bass-Season-2007-033.jpg

 

Needless to say I was excited about starting the day off with a decent fish!

 

I continued to search for the aggressive fish, and within minutes had another explosion on my Chug Bug, but the fish missed it. So I automatically picked up my other rod (rigged with a Senko type bait), and threw to the spot where the bass had hit, let the bait sink for about 10 seconds, and THUMP....set the hook, and ended up with a nice largemouth:

Bass-Season-2007-014.jpg

 

I then kept on working my way around the bay, and I noticed a stump that was sitting about 30 feet of the point of one of the small islands in the bay, so I threw to the log, made 2 "blurps" with the Chug Bug, and BAM another explosion. I leaned back and set the hook:

Bass-Season-2007-035.jpg

 

Ended up being a monster largemouth (5lb 1 oz, biggest fish of the day):

Bass-Season-2007-018.jpg

 

Bass-Season-2007-020.jpg

 

Needless to say, I was pretty pumped about getting a fish like that so early in the day!

Since the topwater bite was so hot, I just stuck to the Chug Bug all morning long!

 

Another nice bucketmouth:

Bass-Season-2007-043.jpg

 

I ended up getting 18 fish in 3 hours all but one being on a Chug Bug.

I put my 5 biggest fish in the livewell, to bring back to the cottage to show the in-laws!!

I weighed the 5 fish, and the total weight was 15 lb 9 oz. A pretty decent limit of fish! Too bad I wasnt in a tournament, that might have got me in the money!

 

Here are the shots I took of the bag of fish back at the cottage:

Bass-Season-2007-050.jpg

 

Bass-Season-2007-052.jpg

 

Bass-Season-2007-053.jpg

 

Bass-Season-2007-055.jpg

 

All in all, it was a great morning (3 hours) on the water. We caught a total of 21 fish in 3 hours.

 

I have to throw this in, (because my wife said so), but she lost a MONSTER smallmouth about 10 feet from the boat. She was also using a chug bug, and I heard this HUGE explosion, turned around just in time to see this MASSIVE smallmouth airborne about 30 feet from the boat. I immediately DROPPED my rod, and ran to the back of the boat ready to lip this trophy. Unfortunately with smallie's being the acrobats they are, it threw the hook on another jump just 10 feet from the boat. :wallbash:

 

Speaking of her though, I want to thank her for getting some AWESOME action shots of all my fish! hahaha. :thumbsup_anim:

Guest Johnny Bass
Posted

Nice! Nothing beats top water action!

Guest mistyriver1
Posted

Some great Bass there, great report.

Posted

Ya, it was perfect weather for topwater!

Very overcast, and even a sprinkle of rain for about 30 seconds.

 

It was lovely!

Posted

That one was a nice bucket, nothing better than the top water bite thats for sure. Walking the dog is preety much the best technique and the most enjoyable thats for sure.

Posted

Wow, what a great report. Can feel the excitement of the topwater right through the screen. Catching the explosion on film was great, kudos to your wife. I'm Heading up to Stoney this friday, if you've got any tips I'd love to hear 'em :)

Posted

90% of the fish I caught, were in 6-8 feet of water, with weeds going about half way to the surface.

They seem to be sitting on whatever cover they can find right now because of the cold front.

With the weather we are going to have this week, they might start to open up by the weekend though.

I didnt get to hit some of the bays I wanted to hit (with lily pads), so you might want to give them a try as well.

Start with a "noisy" topwater in the morning, and if you don't get action almost right away, put down the noisy and throw a weighless Senko, worm, etc.

You should pick up a few fish this way.

 

Good luck, and let me know how you make out!

 

Cheers!

Posted

Thanks. I was sure happy with the outcome thats for sure.

The colour I was using is a discontinued colour (has orange and yellow on the belly, with a frog pattern on the top & sides), but the current colour that most closely resembles it would be the "Hot frog" colour.

Current chug bug colours

Posted

ha ha ha, yes I should be getting commission for sure!!

especially when 60% of the bass I catch every year are on Chug Bugs!!!

 

They are the first thing I throw pretty much EVERY time I go out. I cant get enough of them. I have a whole plano box FULL of them.

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