WOW! That was a stellar/enlightening day!
My dad, Mr. John (JKim), and I headed out to Barrett for our first trip of 2015. I'm sure you've heard this before but OH MY how LOOOW the lake is! At 5% capacity there is still a quite a bit of lake but definitely squeezing anglers close together. Ms. Laurie checked us in at a prompt 4:15 and we were off! No more waiting in line for permits! With the post storm front & cold front upon us we knew we were in for a tough day. Quickly our hopes were up as I caught one right off the bat on a square bill crank but instead we grinded for 3 hours or so for 1 fish on a deep crank for me and a healthy bass on a mini jig for my dad. We were puzzled as there were still shad everywhere!
(Photo creds to Mr. JKim)
The only action we saw on the lake was 4 anglers at the dock with what seemed a consistent 3-4 bass a piece so after they left at 8:30-9:00ish we blazed over
Using the same Wacky rigged senkos that we fished the dock with success in past seasons we all quickly hooked up and stayed hooked up almost until noon.
The Dock was absolutely buzzing with shad! Weightless flukes and Senkos by far out fished everything even catching the large Barrett bluegill! Although we didn't target them, there was a father and young son KILLING the bluegill on mini jigs. The grade of fish wasn't bad either with the average fish at 1.5-2lbs with several in the 3-4lb range.
After the bite really slowed at the dock, we decided to do a loop around the lake to see what was left. Well we saw a boulder that was sticking out from last season which was actually a nice looking rock pile so we got in position and anchored up. We made a couple casts with a deep crank and lost one so we were going to pull anchor but found my dad asleep...
Giving him a little needed rest I tied on a dropshot in theory they were still chasing shad but only off the shore a little suspended. Well we unfortunately interrupted him with a nice 3lber...
After that we had a 360 range of casting and we were consistently getting bit casting to the shore and working it out, working the Dshot from the mouth of the cove and back, to the rockpile, the whole 360 degrees! D-shotted, Hammer hooked 4" Roboworms with a 1.5' leader worked best for us in anything with a deep purple, green pumpkin, chocolate blue vein, etc. After a good 25-30 fish we went back to our original plan. We anchored in the only 150yd long Hauser Arm
to find shad and catch the only T-rig fish of the day
& jerkbait fish (nothing for me).
We motored to expect nothing in Pine and found about a 50yd long cove
...
It was SUPER shallow but we did manage to snag one of the many puddling threadfin shad. A nice example for the next lure paint job.
Nearing late afternoon and reminiscing old evening bites we headed back to the D-shot cove. We anchored up and WHAM! RE-bite! Again we caught fish 360 around us and FATTIES too! Especially on the "fantasy rockpile"
. Like earlier the bluegill were in full force as well as bass setting me back 3 packs of Roboworms and between my dad and I easily 2 packs of senkos
.
We Milked this spot with the same D-shotted 4" Roboworms and Senkos for a good 20+ fish. As the bite died we headed back for another shot at the dock. Fishing and loading up gear I landed the last 3 bass a nice 3lber and a schoolie.
OK I know it sounds like a repeated phrase but on my last flip my line ticked and sped up just a little. Giving it a good firm hookset it went completely solid and monstrous headshakes. A brief while later my dad lipped the kicker of the day...
(photo/landing props to my dad!)
The scale was in the car so using the finger lengths, fist, and IGFA bass calculator, this Phatty would be give or take around 5.12lbs!
We packed up with a total of 78 bass and 30+ bluegill. Another awesome day at Barrett with my dad and Mr. JKim! I can't wait for the 6th!
Thanks for reading!
Nicky
