Reservation Number : 36025
Property Name : Salt Lick Lake
Reservation Date : 04/25/2023 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 19 LMB up to 4lbs
Lures Used : Topwater Popper/Walking Baits, Chatterbait, Jerkbait, T-Rig, Shaky Head

I must admit I’m shied away from fishing many of the quarry lakes as a member of the club so far.  I don’t have electronics and deep water fishing is not something I have a ton of experience in.  But, after reading all the positive reports on Salt Lick lately, i had to give it a try and glad I did.

Arrived at 9am and fished until 3pm.  Air temp was 58 degrees with 7-10mph winds, so really pleasant. Loaded the boat and drifted the South end.  Caught a cull about halfway down on popper.  Fished around entire outer edge catching a few culls in the same spot, a few tail slaps and a couple really aggressive bluegill.  At that point, I decided to move to a bigger popper and essentially walk the dog with it.  It paid off quick with a fish on my first cast in the NE side and 4 fish in the next 6 casts.  Like other reports the fish came in spurts.  You’d catch a few and then no bites for an hour or so.  Caught a couple nice four pounders that pulled much, much harder than their weight; really healthy fish.  And then the one that got away.  Fishing a point on the North side and the fish had a huge blow up as soon as I moved the popper.  Two quick jumps and I saw the plug was in fishes mouth.  It came charging towards the boat, pulled drag and jumped again twice.  This time I saw only one treble was still in the mouth.  Got to the boat and as I reached to lip her, one more head shake and the rest was history.  The fish was actually a bit stunned when it got off and sat in the water for a second or two.  I grabbed down but she was off.  Easy 6-7lber.

Finally the topwater bite ended and I switched to a chatterbait as some recent reports had success.  I’ve been having tons of success recently on this JackHammer chatterbait, but had zero takers.  Tried multple retreives, letting it get to the bottom, longer pauses, etc. 

Moved onto the Shakey heads and had some success around the visible trees and brush.  Used a previous map to find a few sunken brush piles and caught one inthe NW corner to end the day.

Overall a really fun day on a lake I am happy to have tried (and will do so again). The fish here out punch their weight class for sure.  While that big fish getting away was a bummer, it’s also why I love fishing so much.  You always have that one chance to hook a big one!

Also, big thanks for Scott for answering the PWF phone before hours as I was a little confused on which gate to use!