Lake Ovid 7/1/06 with the Eastside Bass Club

[djkimmel]

Challenging is the way to describe today's 'action' on Lake Ovid. I heard at least one person seriously questioning my claims about the quality of the Lake Ovid largemouth fishery midday, but in the end I had an okay day with a few fun moments.

It looked like it would be an awesome day when we arrived at the ramp before 6AM. With reports of storms later, I expected a good bite with maybe some bonus buzzbait bass first thing. It didn't take long to see that was not going to happen.

PoorBoy, Fishon1219 and I met 10 guys from the Eastside Bass Club at the ramp (including 2005 DK Open Champ Revtro, yukonjack2, sensai steve, Rev's wife Jill, O, Shane, Tom, Tony, Mike and I'm missing someone...(I probably have someone else's name wrong too, but they did get me up real early)?

We had 6 boats total. Eastside Bass Club is a learning club (run by committtee) that does not bring fish in to weighin. They just try hard to have everyone catch some fish and learn something.

I paired up with sensai steve for the morning session ? the club does talk on the water, but they have a midday gettogether to discuss results, patterns and ideas, and sometimes partner swapping.

I knew we might be in trouble after pulling up on the first hump and seeing no activity at all anywhere. There were a few scattered gills away from the weeds, but we seemed to be the only thing scaring them. There was a light breeze and the skies were much clearer and blue than I expected. No action on topwater ? it was like dead water. We did toss worms and such in for a few minutes too and I thought I had one on that dropped the worm right away ? a theme that would repeat itself often this day.

Since I?ve fished the lake more than anyone else there, I had gone over the map a little with everyone before we launched. I talked particularly about the big point and the big humps. Many anglers went to those spots along with a handful of other boats ? the lake was not very busy today.

We fished a couple other spots without much action and then I headed for the big point. Only one boat was working it now and they were way in. I took us out near the end. I have to also say at this point that the weeds have gone back quite a bit from where they were 3 weeks ago. They look more like mid-September form than July ? that also was not a real good sign.

Sensai steve got the first solid keeper on a deep diving crankbait tossed up on the point near the thick weeds, still kind of shallow. A few minutes later, I got its twin on a Carolina-rigged Brush Hog in watermelon candy. The breeze was starting to kick up now and I noticed a couple small blasts in gills out from the point. We tried, but failed to do anything with this, but I did pop another solid keeper on the C-rig further out that looked like it had spent a few minutes in a muskie?s mouth (I still had not seen a musky, which was definitely strange).

Again, I had several bites that did not hang on and failed to hook two solid fish I thought I had on. For a few minutes there were scattered splashes out around the point in the gills as the wind kicked up a couple notches and after a short time, things went quiet again and we got no further bites.

I headed for a river channel edge and woodpile next. We tried the weed edge first and I lost one on a Texas-rigged worm. I had two more bites in the same spot without a hookup. I then tossed a Fat Free Shad and immediately after bouncing of a deep log, I got hit? but it was only a 12-incher. It hit where and how it was supposed to. It just forgot to be a hog! PoorBoy did pull up to the weed bar and caught a small one on a worm, so someone got a hook into those sneaky little bass.

Then we went to the big humps/bar and both caught a dink at the tip, sensai on a drop shot and me on a Texas-rig? but that was it? Odd.

We then tried a small, isolated hump with nothing to show for the effort. Not long after that, we all met in the north end and talked results. As I figured, not much to tell (yet) for anyone. Then we did go through an on-the-water fishing partner swap. I got possible EBC new recruit Tony Hansen as my afternoon fishing partner and off we went to see if we could figure something better out. I did share that the big point was holding bass that had had one period of activity so far and I saw that several boats went that way. I found out later that yukonjack2 caught a nice one there.

I no-waked Tony and I south towards the upper, shallow end of Lake Ovid. I went right to a well-known, but lucky wood pile in the old river channel. Picked up the ugly parrot/flake Bomber shad crankbait. The first cast that bounced of the wood produced a hookup, but the bass pulled off. Felt solid. Now, the wind was blowing pretty good and from southerly directions, which is also the direction of the water flow to the dam (from the Little Maple River I believe) so that may have helped ? I was bringing the crankbait back with the wind/current direction).

Whipped another cast out. Bounced off the wood. The lure was grabbed. A solid keeper. Got that bass of and quickly got the crankbait back in. Bounced off two logs and the lure was grabbed again. Another really nice keeper. I got back with Tony and picked out a larger crankbait for him and tied it on. I tried to angle the boat so we could cast side by side to the wood pile.

Three or four casts later (every time we stopped for a few seconds to let? a fish go or tie on a lure, the wind blew us 80 feet), bouncing through the wood again and a quality bass inhaled the crankbait. It was pushing 3 pounds, so Tony held it for the obligatory web site picture. I told him it would probably be the biggest we caught (I was sincere too so you might guess what happens next). Here?s Tony Hansen with the 2nd biggest bass:


We drifted a good 140 feet this time, so back on the trolling motor and back to the woodpile. Whip the crankbait out a few times to get right in the woodpile? kind of drawing a vector with casts to find the sweet spot. No bites, but then the crankbait bounces over a big log and is inhaled. This time the hookset feels even more solid and for a few moments, the bass does not want to leave its jumbled home. But the 7-foot (warning, subliminal commercial message coming) All Star graphite crankbait rod is too much for it and the bass fights its way to the boat with the obligatory jump or two. A nicer bass over 3 ? pounds (I was sincere in my earlier statement, so the lake had to prove me wrong ? you can fake it). Nice bass! Here?s Tony Hansen with the big one for the day ? not a trophy maybe, but I?m feeling a little safer in my claim that Lake Ovid is one of the best largemouth bass lakes in Michigan now:


No more bites on the crankbaits now, so we both tie on plastics - the Carolina creature bait for me, and big Dead Ringer worm Texas-rigged for Tony. A few minutes later, I set the hook on a feeling and immediately think I?ve hooked a catfish or musky. The pull is much harder than the lethargic largemouths? and I haven?t caught a musky yet?

After the first few minutes of hard pull, the fight changes though and I see that the fish is actually another solid largemouth, but? I have snagged it on top of the back behind the dorsal fin. Ouch! That has to smart! I get it in and do my best to get the hook out without too much surgery. It?s a small barb hook so it doesn?t take to much work.

After that, the bass seem to be on to us. I try the finesse worm. Different angles. An upstream approach, but no more bites. I even tried one of my 4 new chatterbaits. Seemed like a good idea anyway. I did mention to one of the other participants that a wood pile was ?hiding? there and he tells me later he had a nice one on there, but lost it.

He had caught 5 keepers slop fishing though, so he was a happy. Here?s a long distance shot of that fishing stud with his best bass of the day, none other than our own Fishon1219:


I tried resting the woodpile and sneaking back, but the bass were definitely on to us now. We were running out of time now, so I went to a few bars along the big island. Whipped one out of the water on a Texas-rigged worm, cartwheeling through the air and off the hook (note to self: must remember not to set so hard with Power Pro), but it was just a 12-incher or less.

After Fishon mentioning the good slop bite he?d been experiencing, I picked up the old slop spoon I had tied on the night before and then mostly ignored. I saw some small fish darting around on the inside weedline on the island point. I tossed over to the opening and several ?monster? bass proceeded to fight for the various skirt strands (that?s all they could handle at their diminutive sizes). A ?slightly? bigger one blew through the algae scum actually causing a few of the skirt strands to fly about? okay, small, but you gotta love the heart of a future trophy bass who doesn?t know that he is basically still just a fish stick to many larger hunters (like the heron we saw eat one unlucky fish a little later).

A few casts later, just as my salad spoon reached the inside algae scum edge, a future trophy slop bass, high-backed and all of 12 inches, blew up on the spoon, and probably because I haven?t had caffeine for a few hours and it is my sleepy time of the afternoon, I hesitated long enough to stick the bass. A quick drag across the algae, a friendly thank you for biting my bait and back in the water it goes ? there?s nothing quite as satisfying as catching a slop bass.

That was about it. Time to go in and see how everyone did. Overall, not a lot of bass caught. It was definitely an off day. I always want to see people catching fish and enjoying themselves? but this is fishing. Some days you get ?em good and some days you go home scratching your head. As long as you try to always learn something from the day and remember all the less fun things you could be doing, it?s a good day to be on the water.

I hope the Eastside Bass Club guys don?t give up on Lake Ovid just yet and I appreciate them letting me fish with them for a day. There were some slow periods and the bite was hard work, but I had a fun day and always enjoy all the nice guys in that club. Very friendly and helpful to each other ? the way a club ought to be.

[Revtro]

Great report Dan.  I couldn't have said it any better.  My biggest hope for the day was that Poorboy and Fishon would catch a few and really enjoy themselves in the hopes that they'd join us for a day out on the water again soon.  They were great to hang out with.  After the day, we went to Smokey Bones and enjoyed all the post fishing festivities we could handle.  Can anyone say "food coma"? 

It was a great day.  The bite was slow, but who cares?  It was still a blast being with all the guys and like all of us fishermen always say, "a rough day on the water is still better than a good day at work!"  We really enjoyed having you fish the day with us Dan.  Join us anytime.

BTW - For the whole day, I kept telling guys that even though the bite was off, Ovid is an awesome lake.  I'm still a believer.  I had a ton of good blowups on the frog fishing in the slop.  Just like Poorboy was saying that day...they just didn't want to stay hooked up.  I had several good chances, but maybe the slop was a little too thick or maybe I needed a bigger hook.  Not sure what I could have done differently, but it was still a blast.  I just love seeing fish blow up on a topwater bait.  There's nothing better.

Great pictures of Tony.  I'll have to tell him to come take a look! 

[fishon1219]

I just wanted to thank the members of the eastside bass club for inviting me to partcipate with them. I really enjoyed meeting all of you. It wasent a steller fishing day, but I did manage to catch a few and enjoyed myself doing so. I hope the guys that fished with me were able to learn something about fishing. I think I threw every lure that I owned that day, but finally I figured out that they wanted the Horny Toad. I had a great time and look forward to fishing with all of you again.

[McCarter]

I had a blast, depite only landing one barely keeper for the day.  We had multiple blowups on the frog but just couldnt keep them on all the way to the boat.  There are some pigs under them there mats.

The best part of the day was after we pulled the boat out and i took a good look at the front and back deck.  It looked like i had planted grass seed and was trying to grow a yard.  I had a few comments about the mess, but you know what they say 'if your boat aint a mess, you aint fishin'.  Someone said that once i think.

I will definatly be there for Kent, and if you guys decide to switch the maceday event to Pettibone or Tipsico I will try to make that one as well.

Eastside Bass Club = Two thumbs up!

PB himself

[Troy Stokes]

Dan, sounds like you guys actually did pretty good at Sleepy, I had a tournament there last night and I only caught two keepers weighing 4.15 and that was 3rd place. I actually think my dad and I were out there fishing on Saturday also but maybe I'm wrong because I didn't see many bass boats. Anyways whenever I was there (fishing 5 days in a row) I also caught a couple nice bass off of the big point one pushing 4 lbs. As for the muskies my dad caught a good one last night on a crankbait off of the beach. The fishing has been off there for some reason but someone always gets them and yesterday someone was able to pull out 11lbs and win the tourny.

[djkimmel]

I guess I didn't do that bad then. But I have to thank that hot little wood pile (one of the piles you and your dad fish too - first boat there probably would have been the one to whack them). They were biting good for a few minutes there and I didn't have that luck on the other wood piles I fished.

There are definitely fish on the point, but I imagine they are seeing a lot of bait.

The one musky we did have follow our lures a bit was also in the weeds out from the beach (north a little). You guys can have ALL the muskies.

You might not have noticed us out there since there were only 6 boats in our group on Saturday. There were 4 or 5 other bass boats of various types and sizes wandering around too.