There's a lake I discovered recently I'd picnicked with my parents decades ago when it offered swimming, roller skating and barbecue pits. Now the area is completely overgrown and the lake changed since those days by mismanagement related to the dam's repair and the state.

Back then I don't remember fishing there except that if I did as a kid I would have opted for live earthworms. Yesterday and a day last week were days of discovering depth, bottom contours and what the lake had to offer, including where fish could be found and the lures they would bite. Surprising were the depths and location types: water as shallow as 2', near shore and in open water.

Lures to chose from consisted of these designs:


1/32 oz jigs rigged as shown by the example in the photo was necessary for the slowest retrieve. Multi-specie catches were the norm such as different sunfish species, bass, rockbass and even a 2 3/4 lb carp caught on a Crappie Magnet:


Here are other lure/fish examples:


This float and grub design worked for a few sunfish and a crappie:


I fished from 11 am until 6 pm and caught fish most hours under a bright sunny sky with some clouds and little wind. The water temperature had gone up since last week to 74 degrees. 66 fish caught were counted by counter and did not include fish that got off.