Reservation Number : 37817
Property Name : Jones Lake
Reservation Date : 11/23/2023 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 24 total. 19 culled. Largest 3#
Lures Used : Wacky, tx creature craw

Arrived just before dawn broke and rigged up the kayak. It was a chilly day, permafrost everywhere, air temp at 35F. The water clarity was 6’+ with glass calm water… fishing is going to be tricky!

I launched and covered water with a crank bait. First cast got a small one and I figured that this would be a great start. After a 15 minutes covering water, no more bites. 

Switched the wacky rig and headed to the island. From that point onward, I mainly used a wacky throughout the trip, though I tried multiple other techniques as wacky rigging all day can be a bit boring for me. I found that I rarely felt a bite on the wacky rig. I just saw the line move ever so slightly, so I would look around this beautiful property or rig a different pole and decide to reel in only to find out there was a fish on.

I put on a weighted tx craw (berkly 5in pit boss) and flipped and pitched into cover along the whole bank and also did so in the standing trees inside the lake. THOSE were so fun because they smashed those. It was no guessing if you had a fish. They also produced some of the bigger bass. I went through a whole bag of these and resorted to 1) buy more when I get home and 2) set up a jig. 

The jig only produced 2 bites; I probably needed to make a smaller presentation. The jig I was using was hunting for the big ones, but I couldn’t find them. 

I found a few spots that I kept on returning to that consistently produced fish, after 30-45 minute reset I knew they’d be back there. I will add that below for you guys to see. 

I was surprised that the drop shot didn’t produce anything, and I was too nervous to use a ned rig with all the vegetation. Also, I only got 1 bass by both docks that whole time, which was very strange as this time around they should be stacked there. I tried throwing a fluke and a jerkbait (wrong color), caught 1 dink on the fluke. I got multiple strikes on the jerkbait but none committed to it. 

Tips moving forward:  1) Tie on a smaller jerkbait with color suited for super clearer water. 2) finesse jig/smaller jig 3) bass seemed are keyed in on craws and not baitfish 4. rig small swim bait (translucent colors) with an underspin 5. try a lipless crank bait and yo-yo it in deeper water.

• This lake is not fishable from the bank except on the docks and by the launch area. 
• Can be fished ½ day and be satified with experience
• LOVED my time here. Will consider coming back.