I took a friend along today and we launched out of Catawba about 6:45, hoping that most of the rain was past. Wind was a little stronger than what I had expected out of the SSW, but it had calmed down considerably by 8:30. We started north of Catawba about where the water started to clear up some and we trolled NW with the wind at about 1.8 mph. After about 15 minutes we had a double with the middle and outside board going off within 10 seconds of each other. After those 2 we couldn't get another bite for over an hour, so we decided to head north up to Lucy's point area. The water was very clear as we got north of the point and I started marking fish in 35 to 40 fow. We set up at various depths from 12 feet down to 28 feet down. We were using bandits, PWC and Deep little ripper, fishing for at least an hour and a half with no action. They were there, but had lockjaw! There were several boats to the east of us near the Canadian line. I thought maybe the water was too clear or maybe they just aren't putting the feed bag back on yet so we moved down to the pass between PIB and Middle Bass. There were probably a dozen others in that area so we gave that a try and picked up a few more, but just on the smaller cranks. Also saw some guys trolling at about half the speed we were and I'm guessing they were pulling crawler harnesses and catching some. But I hadn't brought any crawlers along, thinking it was still a bit early for those. By around 1 we decided to head back down where we started the day. Ended up with 9 keepers that averaged around 21 inches.
Lures that caught were...
PWC Chrome seasick frog
Deep little ripper 600 Red wonderbread (2)
Deep little ripper 600 Green Hawaiian
Deep little ripper 600 Grape Ape
PWC Walleye crank lite Chrome Barbie
Flicker Minnow 9 - Slick Alewife (3)
Can't remember any of the others, but the smaller profile were definitely better producers.
Best set was 40' then 2 oz. and another 20' but also caught a few on the high lines unassisted at 35 to 45 back.
Even though the bite was slow, it turned out to be a gorgeous day and very nice day on the lake. Hope to be back out this weekend if the weather cooperates.
All the Best!
Lynn
