Reservation Number : 35017
Property Name : Hat and Star Ranch
Reservation Date : 02/13/2023 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 14 LMB up to 3.5lbs
Lures Used : Swimbait on Flashy Swimmer, Chatterbait, Jerkbait, Flatside Crankbait

Weather was mostly sunny in the morning to partly cloudy afternoon.  Light winds 5 mph to calm from the SW.  Water was stained w/ 12-18 inches visibility and was 52-55 degrees.  Started out slow with no bites in the deeper water between the boat launch and the main point between the arms of the lake.  I started hearing and then seeing quite a bit of surface activity in the north arm of the lake, so I moved into that area and every few minutes the bass would start chasing bait and busting the surface.  I started casting into that action with either a 3.75” swimbait on a 3/0 Flashy Swimmer or a shad pattern chatterbait and was able to catch a few.  Just after noon I broke the cardinal rule (leaving fish to find fish) in hopes to find bigger fish and see some of the other areas of the lake.  I moved into the middle arm, and had no luck and didn’t see or hear any surface activity either.  I moved across to the southern bank and caught a couple of small ones on a Little John 50 crank.  Still not finding any other consistent pattern I went back to the northern arm to see if I could catch them still blowing up, but that action had died off.  Later I started hearing  and seeing activity again back down in the northern corner of the dam, so I raced down there to get close enough to cast into that area.  I was able to catch several more fish in this area when I could catch them chasing bait, so that’s how I spent the rest of the afternoon as there was surface activity starting to show up in a few other places, I would try to chase it down before they quit.  Tough way to try to catch quantity, but it’s an exciting few seconds when you can be right in the middle of a feeding frenzy and actually get bit.  I culled 9 fish and all but a couple of dinks were fat bellied fighters some between 15-16 inches.    Other lures tried but not productive were spinnerbait, lipless, Tokyo rigged beaver, C-rig, wacky rig, squarebill crankbaits.  This is a beautiful property with a bunch of hungry, fat fish!