6-20-2017 Otter Lake bass fishing with Derek

[djkimmel]

Tuesday, June 20th found us off again with 'old blue' (Derek's truck) and his Ranger z521c (that I talked him into buying! ) heading up I-69 to little Otter Lake in the village of Otter Lake. There's a small boat ramp at the campground for a fee and no wake until 11am, which is nice because all you can really do on the lake is run around in an oblong circle if you run through a close to show narrows (which the 'locals' do usually numerous times from 11am on...  so fish that spot early!!).

We don't get going real early on these days. After all, Derek is retired (part-time retirement job now) and that's okay with me since I've always had an interesting relationship with early mornings... (thank goodness for coffee!!). The sky was clear and it wasn't supposed to rain. It was supposed to be a 'little' windy (as usual this year) and I guess this time I will say I won't dwell during the whole report on how the wind shifted directions several times to brusquely blow us into the place we were fishing at the moment... because it is all just a coincidence, right? (That's what I'm told anyways...)

Though we had the lake to ourselves at first and overall conditions looked good for a nice day of fishing we got off to a sloooowww start. Derek tried a popper and I think a frog too a little since there are shallow pads. I think I tried the ole dog walking Sammy for a while. If I remember right I caught a bass that was no longer than the Sammy...? Big excitement

I was running the trolling motor for a bit near the beginning and saw two nice keeper largemouth bass just sitting along the outside edge of the steep drop weeds near each other. After throwing a wacky stick worm ahead of the boat at the very edge for a bit with nothing happening I backed off farther telling Derek I was going to fish a deep crank a little to see what happens.

I believe I had a Strike King 5XD on 10 pound test P-Line HALO. Pretty sure it was a green gizzard shad (I call that color the pike-gitter! ). So it was getting down pretty deep pretty good. As it turned to come up under the boat a bass grabbed it! Maybe a 12 incher... but it didn't hook up.

Minutes later I foul-hooked a small bass that tried to grab it, again not far from the boat. Then, the obligatory pike nailed it, again out a ways from the shore break. I got the darn snake off and minutes later a small keeper nailed it again almost when it was coming up. It didn't get the hooks well because it came off pretty fast.

Along this whole stretch I had 5 or 6 strikes closer to the boat down deep on the crankbait but landed no keepers. I probably should have tried a different color maybe. Instead I tried a couple more vertical approaches with some Texas-rigs and a drop shot. Maybe we moved out of the stretch or the action lure was the way to go overall but I didn't get anymore strikes for awhile.

We started fishing down one side of the long, skinny, steep middle of the lake hump. I was expecting a pike any minute because of the way this year has gone... I was pitching a Nemesis Bait Bullet Craw Texas-rigged on a nice shiny Tungsten sinker. We saw a couple spots that looked like they had to have been bass beds right on the edge. We had a seen a few earlier but didn't see any bass nearby.

I saw a big, round clean spot that had to have been a bass bed. It was on the edge of the sand drop between a big stick and a thick clump of weeds. The wind was blowing into the edge pretty stiff so visibility wasn't perfect but I had not seen anything on or near the spot. Still, I commented on it while pitching my Bullet Craw to it. I hopped it out and down the drop a little bit before reeling it in to pitch it to the next interesting spot.


Derek had switched to a standard black and blue jig and pig, something he likes to throw more than normal on Otter Lake. He pitched to the same 'empty' bed and moments later he landed a decent keeper largemouth bass. He didn't actually see it but it must have been hiding or sitting somewhere pretty darn close... I guess it wanted a jig and pig.

But... moments later I had hopped my Bullet Craw a little deeper down the edge and the weeds when I got popped. Set the hook hard! Rod bent good... fish was gone!?! I sure have been losing a lot of bass this year... Pretty sure it was a decent bass. Though Otter is another dark water lake - the water is a little black-looking, I got a look at some green and stubby...

Besides, by the end of our fishing day I had landed pretty much every pike that hit... of course... Someone did say this was 'The Year of the Pike!' I'm not arguing... just shaking my head. At least I think this was a rare day I did not get bit off even once... so I've got that going for me!

We moved along to a shallower, broad point. The weeds were thicker than normal for our usually later in the year visits though mostly clumpy away from the shallower stuff. You could see a few sandy spots where bluegills had bedded. There were also a few suspicious looking bigger clear spots out farther. I saw what looked like a rock or some other item near an opening in moderate weed growth near the middle of the point. Tossed my Kustom Kicker green pumpkin Dock Monkey - Case Plastics Cash Craw combo to it - an actual cast instead of a pitch because the wind was pushing us away fast.

That old interior primitive creature that exists in all of us bass anglers made me set the hook... I did my best Bassmaster hookset - to the side even because that's what many good jig anglers recommend!! Rod doubled over! I actually saw a BIG bass materialize above the weeds on the end of my jig!! It was pulling hard doing the ole head-turned, bull-dogging sideways trick we all know and love!

And it just pulled off... again. I actually can't remember the last year I've lost so many good bass as I have this year. Actually, it started after my first couple of early spring big bass slugfests... I sure wish I knew what I've changed... because I can't figure it out. Same ole rods, reels, line, hooks... pretty much the same show in reruns as recent years. But... I'm losing maybe half the better bass I hook this year.

I guess that means I just have to go fishing MORE!! Sure! That's it!!

Meanwhile... on a side note - the radar was clear. The forecast was for no rain until maybe the evening. But a darn dark gray cloud (that wasn't showing on radar) formed above our half of the lake, and it started to sprinkle. Luckily, I guess it was just playing with us. Though it shifted from one half of the lake to the other twice to only be sprinkling on the part of the (small) lake we were on, it did just sprinkle. So I just note it... not complain...

Back to fishing. Minutes after 11am a handful of local nuts came out in a mix of oversized boats for a tiny lake, little jet boats and a jet ski or two, and started to do different versions of the Otter Lake circle (mostly counter-clockwise, of course, as the good book says...). At least this day they mostly kept their distance. As much as you can keep on a long, narrow lake... and we did get to watch the usual 'have you ever done this before??' local boater hijinks - which can be pretty good 'free' entertainment, as many of us well know.

I can't recall fine details of the rest of the our fishing day (which only lasted about 5 hour and a half hours if I remember that part right anyway). We didn't tear them up, that's for sure, catching only a handful of small keepers this time, mostly off weeds down the steep break, mostly on bigger stuff.


This was my best keeper - on the Dock Monkey jig and Cash Craw from the weeds down the break. Looked like it had recently lead a rough life - maybe left over spawn activity stuff? Didn't need to measure this one anyway but I landed a couple other maybe keepers I dropped back without measuring to be sure - on either the Dock Monkey or the Texas-rigged Bullet Craw.

I had a few more bites on the deep crank though mostly the bites after the boats started stirring up the lake were from pike, which of course... as I say I had not trouble hooking and landing those...

And that's the end of my Otter Lake story for this addition. Kids - stay in school, and 'adults' eat your Wheaties and go fishing! Until next time (tomorrow actually... for me anyway after checking out the weather forecast for the rest of the week!).

[FrickerDude]

Been a long time since I fished that lake.  You were close to my neck of the woods.  Maybe you should have tossed you dropshot down the 100+ foot deep hole there, lol. 

[djkimmel]

I'd forget what I started doing before the rig ever reached the bottom.

[detroit1]

3 :04 this morning? Dan, go back to sleep!......

[djkimmel]

I had planned to be in bed a lot earlier - I generally don't keep late hours anymore - but my old laptop has become adversarial to me the past year or two (driving me nuts actually!!!) and it was being particularly cantankerous last night making everything take 10 times as long as it should...

I dread the upgrade to Windows 10 though one of my other jobs involves a new laptop with Windows 10 on it... one of these days though I have to come up with the money and the determination to get a new laptop. Don't know what brand I'm going to buy...?? I've had annoying to worse issues with most major brand laptops... another reason I keep putting it off.

Guess I'm dealing with the devil I know to avoid becoming familiar with a new one...