Member Shaun “Big Fish” Cobb and I fished Sulphur Bluff Timber Lake on 5-17.  We arrived before sunrise and found light winds and temperatures in the high 50’s.  A little chilly and unexpected for this time of year.  We also found some algae build up around the shoreline.  It seemed like a perfect morning to drag a frog around the edge but despite the conditions we had no luck on top water outside of a few short strikes. 

Since we had a bit of cloud cover we offered up some spinnerbaits and squarebills at mid morning and expected these normally aggressive fish to have at it but other than one strike on a spinnerbait we were left confused on that front as well. 

Sooooooo…what we did have was very clear water.  For me clear water…a nonaggressive bite and lots of algae equal SENKO rigged up weedless.  Bang.  We lipped 5 bass before lunch and felt like things were about to turn for us.

After lunch we boated another 7 fish and found ourselves at 12 fish at our mid afternoon break.  We tried other offerings…but senko was the deal…all day.

We set a goal to get to 20 fish by closing time but we just could not find any fish bunched up all day.  We finished with 17.  The average fish was a bit lighter than usual probably because the bulkier females were resting and recovering somewhere we were not.  Lots of 2 pound males protecting fry seemed to be the majority of our catch.

Ohhh…What is the new “Buzz” you ask?  A word of warning to those about to plan a trip.  On two occasions….once in each of the two creeks we snuggled right next to some wasps/hornets nests.  The first time we had about a half a dozen of them all over us.  Luckily, my “ninja like” reflexes took over and I whacked 3-4 of them with my hat as Shaun pulled the boat out of harms way.  One of them tagged me in the eyelid but it was a glancing blow…lucky for me because a direct hit to the eyelid would have made for some less then attractive pictures.  Keep your eyes open boys because with each day those nests are only going to get bigger and they will be more aggressive.  Bee Careful :-)

17 fish
2 harvested

Kirby OUT