Twin Lakes (Saturday 3-17):

Dave May and I launched in North Twin at the new crushed rock ramp Mr. Cody has installed, and found that the water temps were only a little warmer than they had been the day before at the Hart Lakes. Surface temp on North Twin was 55° when we started, and only 56.8° when we stopped around 11:00. The visibility was a little better, too – but no more than 15 inches.  We fished the dam first, and Dave had a couple of misses on a white buzz bait. Starting down the north bank, we picked up a few fish on the buzz bait and a white Chatterbait,and I had one almost pull the rod out of my hand when it picked up my black/blue wacky-rigged Senko….never hooked the fish, though. I set the hook back into the worm. That was the best strike I had in the two days we fished up in “Okieland.” None of my usual shallow spots payed off, and the only fish after that were right up against the dam.

We moved to South Twin, and we were both excited to be there. Dave mentioned that it just “looked bassy, like you’d expect to see on a professional video about bass fishing.” He was correct, of course. South Twin does look “bassy,” even without the its lily pads, and we were optimistic about at least one of us connecting with a "big girl."  Unfortunately, it just wasn't to be.

We fished it hard from around 11:30 until probably 5:30 or so, and – again – caught only small bass. Some were a bit thin, but most were very chunky and hard fighters. Also like the day before at the Hart Lakes, each of them seemed to be holding very close to wood, and very close to the shoreline. We fished all depths, all over the lake, but caught most of our fish up against the southeast bank, where the shoreline is steeper. Although we didn’t count them, I think we ended the day with probably 12-15 small bass, all released. Again, Dave caught at least twice as many as I did. The conditions were better than what we had seen at the other 3 lakes: the water temp climbed from 57.9° to just under 60° while we were there, the visibility was about 15-18" on most of the lake, and the wind behaved itself for a change.

We had fun, though. Fishing with Dave reminded me, once again, how much fun it can be to fish with a partner. We and our tackle pretty much filled up my little 8-foot pond boat, but even being crowded didn't hamper our enjoyment of just being outdoors with a friend on such a great ranch, with such a terrific owner, and especially on a lake as beautiful and “bassy”as South Twin. Even without any big bass and not that many little ones, and in spite of some horrid winds, it was nice to just be outdoors, enjoying the companionship of a good friend on some of the club's "primo" waters. Thanks, Steve and Steve, for making the Cody Ranch lakes available to us!

What worked:  Black/blue flake and green pumpkin 5” Senkos, wacky rigged, white buzz bait

What didn’t:  T-rigged worm and creature bait, bladed jig, Rattletrap, single-spin, crankbait.