Grinding it out at Grain Bin

Apr 20 2023

David Felton

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
126

Reservation Number : 35520
Property Name : Grain Bin Lake
Reservation Date : 04/19/2023 All Day - 04/19/2023 All Day
Total Fish/Sizes : 6 Bass; largest just over 3lbs
Lures Used : We tried everything we could think of

Fellow PWF members Mark and Pam Daugherty joined me for our first time at Grain Bin.  Contrary to what Bass Forecast predicted, we did not have an “Epic” day to say the least.  We fished from sun up to just before 5pm when the howling wind just had us beaten down.  It blew steady 18-20+ all day long with gusts to 30+.  Water was around 66 degrees and lightly stained w/ 3-4’ visibility.  The shallow flat area was thick with grass to just under the surface.  While the huge pontoon barge was very stable and gave us plenty of room for gear and 3 people to fish comfortably, I think Mark would attest that it was an uncontrollable beast in that wind to try to get to and hold any position.  We were very limited where we could stage the boat and not get outselves completely stuck in the grass fighting against the wind to get out.  We each boated 2 fish.  Mark and Pam also lost several at or near the boat just not getting a good hook into them, but overall the bites were very few and very far between.  The fish were caught on a swim jig, white buzzbait, paddletail swimbait, Tx rig brush hog, and C-rigged swimbait.  I missed 3 on a frog early in the morning.  We tried tons of other stuff that didn’t work as well.

Apr 21 2023

Mike Mehlmann

Fingerling

Member Since :
2012
Number of Posts :
74

Hey David.  BassForecast is like sex panther cologne. It works 60% of the time, all the time.  Sounded like a real rodeo on the Exxon Valdez!  Could you tell what stage the fish were in…Post spawn, spawn or?  curious if you tried a suspending jerkbait, fluke, drop shot or wacky rig?  Thanks  Mike

Apr 21 2023

David Felton

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
126

Originaly Posted By Mike Mehlmann

Hey David.  BassForecast is like sex panther cologne. It works 60% of the time, all the time.  Sounded like a real rodeo on the Exxon Valdez!  Could you tell what stage the fish were in…Post spawn, spawn or?  curious if you tried a suspending jerkbait, fluke, drop shot or wacky rig?  Thanks  Mike

Hi Mike, I completely agree with the Sex Panther comparison!  Ha Ha! I think the fish were in a mix of stages.  We saw at least 1 large cloud of fry in the long creek arm close to the launch area.  We also spooked several fish off of likely beds that were right up against edge of the bank because we were blown against it or had to get so shallow to get our anchor to hold in the weeds.  We also saw some fish cruising in the shallow creek arms but couldn’t entice them to bite.  Not surprising since we weren’t exactly sneaking up on them with the battleship.  We did not try a hard jerkbait.  We did try a fluke on top of and around the weeds with no takers.  We attempted to fish the wacky rig also, but it was tough to attempt any finesse presentations w/ such a strong wind and not being able to hold a position for long.  I didn’t bother to try the drop shot for the same reason.