March 15, 2023

We arrived around 8:30 am, hoping for a calm morning. The wind was evident and chilly, but mostly workable when we launched after a few throws from the bank, to no avail. The vegetation was much more than we had expected for this time of year. The water was clear, visible to about 2 1/2 feet. We picked up three throwing chatterbaits (jackhammer fire craw with vile craw trailers) as we worked south, under the power lines. We worked further south, catching a couple more close to the west bank, then headed down towards the dam to get a repreive from the wind in the Northeast corner. A few more were caught close to the banks in that area. The wind got so bad at lunch time we fished from the bank, snagging a nice one (about 3 ½ lbs) on a watermelon/pumpkinseed Texas rigged brushhog close to the launch ramp. We then launched again working through the powerline lane accross the lake. Then, like magic, things started to change. We found them up shallow in the small cuts along the east side as we worked south. Throwing both the brushog and the chatterbait, we started catching a few in each cut, casting into the shallow grass stick-ups and pulling accross the submerged grass. Most were in the 2lb range, strong and healthy. We think the larger ones were in the 3 ½ lb range. The wind started to settle and the sun even made a welcome occassional appearance, which seemed to wake them up. We worked from the far south down the east side of the lake towards the dam. We missed some good ones but did manage a “double” on one cast as well as others in quick succession. The primary pattern was to throw as shallow as you can and simply try to stay just above the grass on the retrive. We tried other baits, including a white/chartreuse spinner bait and a small white swim bait, but nothing but the firecraw chatterbait (with and without a trailer) and the brushhog worked today. We think we managed to get over 40 in the boat, total. Most in the 2lb range. Trav nailed some really nice ones working the brushog accross small points and in shady pockets in the shallows. Overall, a great day!