Round Lake again June 1, 2017

[djkimmel]

Wanting to check a few more parts of the lake for bass bedding spots I quickly returned to Round Lake north of Lansing again for another rowboat round up! I actually started on the outside edge of the weeds on a main point first. I then worked my way out onto the main point on the lake to check that out a little more closely yet, and see what I can come up with on the side I generally don't fish as much.


I alternated between tossing a Texas-rigged 7" greenpumpkin Power Worm and a wacky-rigged 4" Canadian Mist X-worm (Xtreme Bass Tackle stick worm) on a Kustom Kicker weighted weedless wacky rig hook. I was tossing to the inside weed edge along the point when this bass grabbed my little wacky rig on the drop. I was using the weight because once again a nice stiff breeze was blowing making it harder to keep in contact with the lure and get it right where I want it to go.

Working my way down the weedier side of the point as I got more towards the shore end I found a couple more bass on beds in the sparser, but slightly deeper weeds before the drop. One really nice bass was on another one of those beds that is hard to tell it is a bed without the bass on it. Being blown around by the wind as I was I kept losing sight of the bed and once again forgot to put a few small markers in the boat to help. The wind was also wanting to change directions (I know it seems crazy to act like the wind has a mind of its own, but...??) so that it would be blowing me into the place I wanted to fish making it difficult to fish quietly and efficiently... If I came from the other direction, the wind was blowing hard enough that I had a difficult time with my little trolling motor making headway, and the thick, break weeds would be between me and the fish too! So I did the best I could by moving  away and slipping back a lot. Worked sometimes. And other times I ended up getting too close and spooking the bass again.


I found another bass on a bed a little shallower and in slightly sparser weeds where I could actually approach it into the wind. I was able to quickly catch this decent bass on the Stevie Rig! Helped things a little...

I didn't mention that I replaced my old broken selfie stick with a new and improved model though it was giving me a little more trouble than I expected so my pictures were a little iffy... it has a Bluetooth switch and I'm just getting used to how that works and keeping it linked... I was thinking for part of the day that I might need a 3rd hand to do all this correctly.

A more troubling thing... losing bass?!? I had tossed the wacky rig downwind into the weeds near the drop weed clumps. Something didn't feel right so I set the hook. Good, solid weight on the end!! Turns sideways, shaking its head! Feels big! I'm thinking it's the bigger bass I saw on the hard to make out bed. Suddenly, the bass is just gone...?!? Not again!?!

I check another flat for awhile and find a few more beds scattered across it. Many are empty but I catch a couple smaller bass. Later I return to the big point and check the weed patches out off the tip near a big patch of bluegill beds. I'm tossing the Texas-rigged Power Worm on braid. Feel a bite. Set the hook!! Nice bass!! It's pulling hard, jumps once then turns back towards deeper water again... and my braid snaps!?!

I was thinking that I should have retied earlier because my knot had gotten twisted around near the end of the hook eye... woulda, shoulda coulda... next time I think this, I'm retying! I shouldn't be breaking braid!?! The bass was maybe 2 1/2 pounds - fat and nice, but not huge!! When I reeled in I could see that the line actually broke right in the middle of my Palomar knot. Yup... I bet the sharp end of the hook eye had cut into the braid... I'm retying now after every time my line gets twisted around into the end of the hook eye...

I worked my way back in towards shore where I had lost the bigger bass earlier. I actually lost another nice bass on a jump as soon as I set the hook and caught 2 more nice ones just by randomly tossing the wacky rig into shallow, scattered pond weed leading to deeper, thicker weed clumps and the drop. I checked the areas and didn't see any beds though the breeze-ruffled water wasn't perfect to see through, but I think these were post-spawn bass coming in and out of the nearby panfish bedding areas.

I actually had found another shallower big sand patch up on top loaded with more panfish beds, and while going around the back end of it I saw a really nice 3+ largemouth bass come out of nowhere (it was pretty shallow) and suddenly just slash into the bedding bluegills with not warning before it seemed to notice me, and it vanished somehow as quickly as it appeared. I'm always amazed how sneaky bass can be. I snuck up on this, and other similar panfish bedding areas many times often throwing fluke-like lure or stick worms hoping to pick off one of the shallow, marauding bass. Sometimes it works. And sometimes they see me anyways and spook... but it's always worth a try.

I then turned around from there and without having to move very far made a long cast with the weighted wacky rig again approximately where I thought the bigger bass was on the bed that I had lost earlier. I lifted up and it didn't feel right. It was kind of a long cast but I set the hook hard!! Solid!! This time I was sure I had the bass. I fought it for about a minute getting it halfway to the boat. Then it shot out of the water 3+ of ornery largemouth...!!! And threw the lure back at me almost clunking the size of the boat...!?! shoot... that was the last time I saw this bass. I looked later but it was getting windier and darker, much harder to see. I couldn't even find out exactly where the bass was anymore... haven't seen it since either. Oh well, can't win them all... sigh


Shortly after I caught another decent, though not quality bass again just tossing the little weighted wacky rig closer to the thicker weeds nearby. Helped a little...

I couldn't really see the deeper beds much and didn't catch anything when I fished around them. I tried to get into the shallower weeds again but every time I did the wind would double (I swear!!!) and I couldn't maneuver with the trolling motor getting tangled not having enough power to do anything but be blown in towards shore (and it didn't matter which shore I tried either because somehow the wind was blowing into ALL of them on the same day!!!).

I spent a long time out there and finally called it quits leaving more searching and checking for the next trip. Besides, I need to work on some tackle and figure out why I'm losing more bass than normal...

Of other notes, the dogfish are finally coming out. I saw several porpoise, had one hit at my Deposit Spin early in the day that I had hooked for a moment. Saw one other big one just sitting near the weeds, and had one more do their odd swim up to the boat to see what I'm doing (what I call it anyways).

[djkimmel]

One other important thing to mention... I saw the dreaded weed poisoning notice posted that they had treated the lake on 5/31/17. In recent years, they have bombed the lake hard and killed 90-some percent of the weeds leaving very few good weeds left - mostly brown, slimy, sickly looking pond weed, thin stringy grass with algae and a few strands of milfoil here and there. I was thinking my shot at good bass fishing might be over for a week or two...?