2nd 2017 bass fishing trip almost as good as the first!

[djkimmel]

I returned 3 days later for another visit to one of my favorite spring bass fishing lakes in Michigan, Lower Crooked. I started on April 17th the same way I did the first trip - in my favorite prespawn bay. But this time all I saw was some small pike trying to grab my lures, another big muskie cruising along and some panfish.

I decided to head to the back end again after testing one other prespawn bay without success. Things were different this day in that some bass were starting to cruise the main shorelines and I even saw a few fanned out places though only a couple small bass were actually on beds. I started catching some bass though they were more on the size of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds at first. Nice bass, but not the big ones I'm looking for!


I forgot to mention (but do I need to if you've been out this spring?) it was real breezy again making it hard to see much deeper than 2 or 3 feet. It made boat control and movement a challenge to but it was a nice sunny day until later unlike the other day when it was mostly cloudy. It was early afternoon when I finally got in the bigger bass zone this time. I pitched a green-gold Bullet Craw to a hole in a floating bog when this 4 pound bass shot out of the shadows and engulfed it! Felt good again to do the big hookset and feel something solid!


I moved along and kept catching more nice bass though not real big ones as the other day. Then I picked up the 2K Jigs Dock Monkey from the other day again and pitched it to a pad root-bog hump way offshore that had a big bass on a bed on it last year. This time I did not see a bass but I caught another one pushing 5 pounds off the edge of that same exact spot!! Glad I marked it on the GPS so I could find it again among all the stuff littering the back end of this lake!!


I stuck with the Dock Monkey for awhile catching a few nice ones and then popping this bigger bass to add to my 5 best for the day! Maybe 3 1/4-1/2 pounds!


The big bass were more sparse today and many of the places I caught them 3 days ago I was coming up empty or just small bass. I switched back to the bream Deposit Spin spinnerbait to start working though some of the newly emerging big green pad clumps (the lake is choked with smaller red pads with clumps of big green pads mixed in - I like to fish something different when I can). The first good clump I cast to I got thumped limb-shatteringly hard by this solid bass over 4 pounds!

There's not too many things more excellent then a solid big bass spinnerbait bite, right!?! I fished the spinnerbait for awhile catching a few more big bucks and some more little pike. Then I got flat out hammered by a big pike! I haven't see a big pike in this lake in a number of years but there's obviously one left. I also saw another big muskie but avoided donating any tackle.


I ended up with 17 keeper bass but not the weight I had 3 days ago for sure. I had stayed a little later pushing my exploration out - my common problem when I go fishing - and I was heading back with a very tired trolling motor battery. I made maybe my third 'last spot' stop at a bog closer to the middle of the lake with the wind blowing stiff! I made a tired and sloppy cast over a small bog patch to the edge of a bigger one thinking how great it would be to get one more big one when this 5+ tank pounded the old Dock Monkey jig!!

Sure was a good thing I had the heavy lumber in my hands because this tank of a bass ran into the back of the bog I had cast over and tangled me in the roots good!! I had to really lean into it to get it to swim out and come up over the small bog between us. If I hadn't been using the heavy casting rod and 50 pound P-Line Spectrex IV braid I probably would have lost this big bass to a break off or just pulling off while tangled in the roots!

I was glad to have it and realized happily that it pushed my days best 5 over 21 pounds!! Another great day of Pure Michigan spring bass fishing! The 2 downsides being my casting elbow was feeling a lot more than a twinge after having to power this bass over and through the heavy cover, and my trolling motor was about dead from fighting the wind so long, but hey! I got some needed exercise rowing the boat in the last 45 minutes! And I did have that warm fuzzy good day of bass fishing glow going (though some of it was just the flush in my redhead cheeks from all the rowing).

[djkimmel]

Interesting that I didn't get as big an overall catch but I caught about 18 keepers this day as opposed to only 15 bass my first trip counting some dinks too. I just think more bass had moved up wanting to start making some beds very soon!

[djkimmel]

One other thing - in most cases I was using 15 to 20 pounds test Fluorocarbon because of the bog edges, pad roots, pad stems and scattered brush but for some things, especially pitching the jig and craw I was using the superbraid. Did you notice my 'camouflage' trick? I don't know if it really helps but I think it does. I paint a length of line every 6 inches or so with a red marker to break up the visibility of the line. Underwater, the line looks less continuous that way. Maybe it helps?

[Jay-MadWags]

Wow those are some nice fish Dan!
Great report.

[detroit1]

I'm not a doctor, but I think you're lifting too much weight. You should fish with me for awhile until your arm settles down....

[21XDC]

I'm not a doctor, but I think you're lifting too much weight. You should fish with me for awhile until your arm settles down....

Very true.... But Mark, At your age, You should stick with smaller fish and leave the bigger ones for me to lift. 

[detroit1]

Hey...just because I fashion all my hooks from the bones of little critters, doesn't mean i'm old. (the gray and balding doesn't count either) My net boy brings in my big ones.....

[djkimmel]

Somehow... I will find a way to carry on...

I set the hook yesterday on a bass with some braided line and ouch! Felt another shot of pain in the tender elbow... but most of the day it was okay. I am a little whimpier lately about lifting heavy objects or pulling something that takes a lot of force but since I haven't caught many big bass lately... I think it is starting to get better (slowly...).