132 fish - mostly big sunfish with crappie, bass and pickerel thrown in

I'd been fishing this one lake since May 17 and have had days catching over 50 fish/outing. The only bad thing fishing those days was the 10-15 mph wind. Today the wind pulled my 10 lb. anchor and I had to constantly use the trolling motor to stay in a hot area where we caught +30 fish.
Commonly caught were sunfish like this one:
https://i.imgur.com/34TIq2i.jpg
Talk about brute force pulling drag!
We caught a few in this size:
https://i.imgur.com/h8BCePo.jpg
...but the average size was around 9".

I knew this lake had large panfish and figured, why not match lure size to the size of fish expected to strike.
This fat body spike tail grub was 2.5" and caught even small fish:
https://i.imgur.com/T6x3d0j.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/whxjnJB.jpg

We cast larger Claw lures - almost 2"- rather than the usual 1 1/4" which worked exceptionally well:
https://i.imgur.com/7HYQsUI.jpg

Another sure strike lure was my Spoon Minnow design in 2.5" rather than 1 3/4":
https://i.imgur.com/GQuqoOb.jpg
The above lure always catches fish as do most thin straight tail grubs such as this 2.5" hybrid I cast vs the 2" I usually cast:
https://i.imgur.com/f6iKq1X.jpg.

One thing I wanted to test was a wire leader attached to a light jig head to prevent pickerel from biting me off:
https://i.imgur.com/khCCfLh.jpg

We didn't lose one lure to 6 picks caught! (unlike last time when I lost 5 lures) This one didn't get away:
https://i.imgur.com/PZg5X2D.jpg

Poor dude in another boat approached us but anchored 30 yds. away watching us catch fish after fish for over 30 minutes, then moving the boat 15 ft. and catching more. I don't know what he was casting but he didn't appear to be catching anything.

Too bad the weather is going to be cold and rainy for the next few days. Going down into the 50's from 84 degrees is a shock to the system and only good for sleeping. :(

Fantastic..... I like the color of the first lure, what's it called?

Nice fish spoon, some good sunfish fillets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BluegillHunter

Fantastic..... I like the color of the first lure, what's it called?

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Motor oil with green and black flakes. The body is from a Bass Pro lure called the Spring Grub; the tail was cut from a finesse worm and welded to the body using a candle. Surprised it did well.

Thanks Skeet.

That is enough to leave a fella with sore arms

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

That is enough to leave a fella with sore arms

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...but in a pleasant way...:biggrin

Back in the 80's when Motor Oil Green first came out, there was a long waiting list to buy some lures in that color at the local sporting goods stores. It was the best bass lure that I'd ever seen for years.

Great photos and story, Spoon. I am constantly amazed at the size of fish relative to the size of the bait that they will hit.
Bob

Nice catch.


Regards

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BobC

Great photos and story, Spoon. I am constantly amazed at the size of fish relative to the size of the bait that they will hit.
Bob

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Bob, it still amazes me after all these years! Anymore I'm of the mind that aggression is contagious! The school we hit had all size fish and all size fish struck the lures we cast. This also occurred in early spring in another lake we fished where a mixed school went berserk - again - for small lures on small jigs and in only a few feet of water near the wetlands. It repeated itself a few days later in the same general area and nothing had even started spawning yet.

But one thing was consistent - a population of smaller fish consistent for one water produced generally smaller fish; the lake I know have larger fish in general, yesterday produced larger schooled fish that fought much harder and with no cover but adjacent to a long rocky point surrounded by a depth of 7'.

Man, what a day!!!!

motor oil coloration is my go to in small waters if and when the target is largemouth bass
the little riverside 6 inch worms are flat stupid good in that color in small waters
looks like a good trip to me ,congrats

I think you’re right about aggression being contagious. Many, many times when I hook the first pan fish in a good looking area I let the fight go a bit longer, bring the pan up to the top and stir up the water. After a moment to rest the water it is then game on for awhile. They seem to get fired up to compete for the lure.
Bob

The weird weather - 3 days of cold and rain - has me wondering if the pre-front with 12 - 15mph winds contributed to the amazing fish activity. Hope it wasn't the cause and will fish the same water Mon. to see what's up.