Kent Lake - 5/22

[BNL]

Fished Kent Lake on Wednesday May 22nd.  I have really struggled on this lake the times I've fished it over the past several years, catching one or two fish each time out and many hours on the lake.  I live close to the lake and know it produces for lots of people and so I really wanted to try to figure something out on it.

Day started at 7:00am launching out of the east ramp.  Because I struggle out there the boat was full of rods and baits hoping to figure something out. Water temps averaged between 70 and 74 throughout the lake the whole day. Saw lots of beds, both bass and bluegill, but almost all were empty.

First stop was one of the big islands on the south end of the lake. Tried a couple of my typical search baits (swim jigs, vibrating jigs) as I worked the north side of the island heading into one if the big bays. No success. Worked my way back into a really weed filled bay and tried a frog with nothing. I pitched to few lays owns with a green pumpkin jig and black blue creature bait with nothing doing. Lastly,  I work around the other side of the island that ends in a nice looking point with a jerk bait, still nothing.

I then moved to an island near the east boat launch.  I decided to try a drop shot with a black senko style bait. Finally on the south side of the island I hooked up with my first fish, a 13.5 inch fish that still felt great just to catch something. Two casts later hook into another, that I lost when it jumped away from the boat. This was a much better fish. Bummed but still happy I found something. Caught one more short fish on the point before it quieted again.

I moved to the east side of the lake and drifted north fishing the channel and looking for more wind blown points and shores. Had a few hits and misses and was marking fish, but couldn't make it happen.

I moved across the lake in the center part to fish another weed filled bay. Could hear lots of fish activity in the weeds (popping noises) and decided to sit in there out of the wind. Tried running a vibrating jig along the edges and had a nice sized follower. Since I thought there were fish nearby, decided to try a frog again, and had a really nice blow up where a big fish showed itself, but I swung and missed. Ha, again this lake kills me. No other action on the frog.

Move further back south to the west shore and caught two more small keepers on lay downs with the wind blowing in, again on a drop shot with black senko. Follow this shore heading north and catch a 2lber on a 1/4 oz black blue swim jig with swimbait trailer. Felt good to get one on a swim jig.  Right along this same edge, I made a long cast to the weed edge with the drop shot and catch a 2lb 8oz fish. Fished some isolate weeds and stems nearby and after a pass through with the swim jig, I try again with a 1/2 vibrating jig black blue with black blue swimbait trailer and get a nice 2lb fish as I worked the baits through the weeds and stems.

Moved south to near the west boat launch and decided to fish more lay downs. First cast, a 2lb 5 oz fish on the drop shot. Fish along edge of the weeds and the shore and through the stump field with nothing. Make it past the stumps and plan to fish the whole bay alone the shoreline since the bay is choked with weeds. The weeds stays about 6 to 12 ft away from the shore along this whole long edge. With the wind it was a fun challenge keeping my boat safe and still moving along. Good thing for my new Deka batteries. :-). No lay downs in sight so I decide to try swim jig along weed edges. First several casts catch a decent sized pike. Finally get to some lay downs and worked the whole bay catching 8 to 10 fish with about half of them keepers, with biggest being 2lbs even. As I'm finishing the bay, I see my first bass on a bed, first one all day. A medium sized male that would be nice to catch, but between the wind, rocks shore and tight quarters, couldn't find a comfortable way to sit and fish the bed for very long.

Right past this area the shore comes to point and the weed edge opens into a circle about 30 feet across, almost perfectly round with defined clear weed edge and the wind was really whipping into this little pocket. It was about 6 to 8 ft deep. First cast into the little pocket, hooked up with 2lb 4 oz fish. Two casts later with the vibrating jig, I get my big fish of the day, a 3lb 1oz fish, which was sitting right at the weed edge on the wind blown side.  Three of four cast later caught another that went a little under 2lbs.  It was a nice little flurry of fish after a long day. Worked through the weeds back around to try to the pocket again 10 minutes later and couldn't get another bite.

I tried one last spot on the south side of the lake where I marked some off shore fish in 8 to 12 ft of water, but after the swimbait trailer was bit off my vibrating jig when I missed one on a short strike, I decided to call it a day. Which ended up being a good idea because the wind, which had been strong all day, really started whipping and a storm blew in. Got off the lake right before it got bad.

So that is the report on my day on Kent. I know this is a long report, but thought I would give my first attempt at a fishing report a good effort. Felt good to find some fish. Caught about 20 fish, with half of them keepers. Best 5 went 12lbs 1oz and while its not a huge limit, it was a really good day for me on a lake that I always struggled on. I look forward to some even better days on the lake, to finding and catching some deeper offshore fish and to finding a frog bite on Kent.



Thanks for reading.

[MSURoss]

Nice report!

[djkimmel]

That is quite the impressive fishing report. I like Kent Lake. Don't fish it much but there are some real nice fish of all kinds in there. Sounds like you had a much better day than most of mine out there. I do get some bigger fish (particularly if you add pike and dogfish to the mix ) once in awhile but I never really load the boat. Have had some pretty decent days bedfishing and a few years ago some real good frog fishing including some quality smallies North of Buno bridge one day! Who wouldn't love smallies in pads on frogs?!? Haven't repeated that one yet.

Sounds like you'll be repeating more catches (and maybe more fishing reports??) in the future!