I fished Timber lake on Saturday, April 23, and simply had a blast! I started out working down the dam on water without even a ripple on it. Before I hit the far end, I had boated six bass - one dink, a 2 pounder, a 3, and a 4. Nice way to start out. All of them hit either a hollow-body frog or a 6" Whopper Plopper (the dink and the 2-pounder). The frog bite was on, and never really stopped all day long - under a cloudless sky, too. The strikes were so constant that I forgot to eat lunch and to look at the water temperature on my 'bird. All I know is that it was somewhere around 72. By the time I left at 7:00, I had boated 40 bass, with only 5 of them under 14" long. I had a 4-08, a 4-03, a 4-10, and another 4-03…..and one 3-15. Eight between 3 and 4 pounds. The best part is that I caught only 2 on soft plastics - all of the other 38 were on surface lures! Gotta love seeing that big splash when a "keeper bass" attacks the lure…although the biggest 2 that I didn't land  (My estimation: 1 about 5 and one over 6, just from seeing them come out of the water after the strike) just sucked it in below the surface. As always, I missed a lot of strikes and lost a lot of hooked bass, too, even waiting longer than normal (with a frog) to set the hook.

I could tell that the lake level has fallen at least 8 inches from seeing the normally-floating green algae all over the stumps. Still, the lake yesterday was up in the bushes, but I was able to present the frogs properly. The biggest bass were WAY back behind the reeds, and by targeting gaps in the reeds, I tried to cast as close to the temporary bank as I could. That worked, especially if the water was both weedy and shady. Almost every time I managed to keep my frog out of trees and bushes, I got a very savage strike. I doubt if I landed 2/3 of the bass that struck. Thank goodness for 65# Sufix braid! I had little action on plastics, as stated, but nothing at all on spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crank baits, or flukes. My biggest 5 weighed 21 pounds, 7 ounces, which is a pretty darned good sack most places. Good fishing is still available at Timber Lake! Believe me - I had a blast today, and most certainly got my money's worth!

Posted By: Tom Dillon