I got on the water around 1:30 and fished some black and blue fleck hula grubs on a 1/4 ounce jighead on the East side of the lake, with no luck in the first 30 minutes. I then decided to switch gears and hit the West shoreline since I figured the water would be a few degrees warmer from the strong morning sun.  On the way over I hit some of the submerged rock piles with no luck.

Once on the other side of the lake I started throwing watermelon cabin creek spider jigs and texas rigged senkos around my favorite deeper water docks (which aren’t so deep anymore now that the lake is down over 2 feet).  I got a strike on my third cast and landed a 2 lb largemouth bass on a jig. Hoping I had found a pattern I kept fishing the sunny side of docks on the West shore.  20 minutes went by and finally another hit, again off a deep water dock, and another 2lb largemouth.

I didn’t find any other fish on the West side, but did catch a couple smallmouth on the North shore fishing some submerged rock piles in 6 feet of water.  Senkos produced nothing no matter what color, size or presentation I threw… One of the smallmouth I caught was so dark it look black.  As I was reeling it in I actually thought it was the first freshwater tautog (a.k.a. blackfish for those who don’t know what a tautog is).

I fished for another 45 minutes on the East shore with not as much as a hit, and then I called it a day around 4:30… It wasn’t a great day but with a cold front coming through this week, lowered water levels, and cold fall water, at least I caught something.

Hopefully I will be able to get out at least one more time this year on the lake, but it may not happen if the weather continues to get colder and the lake gets more shallow.

We got out on the water around 7:30am and started fishing shallow structure with everything from texas rigged senkos to spinnerbaits with no luck. After finding nothing in the shallows we went across the lake to fish deeper water and structure. Brian stuck with a senko and I switched over to a black and blue spider grub (technically it was the chompers hula grub). We both fished around the docks and pontoon boats (the ones that are still in the water) with minimal luck.

We both persevered with our respective baits and fished for about an hour with nothing more than a couple nibbles, until we got to some deeper docks on the north west shore of the lake. Just as I was commenting that I should be getting fish on spider grubs this time of year, I hooked up with a 2 pound largemouth. The next cast resulted in a 2.5lb largemouth. Having thought I found a pattern we continued fishing the deep water docks, and managed to find another 6 or seven fish including 2 smallmouth. Brian ended up landing only a smallmouth and 1 largemouth on the senko, despite his 5 hours of hard work casting and skipping his bait under the docks.

Largest fish of the day was only about 3lbs, and they were few and far between, but hopefully once our weather pattern settles down and the rain stops we will see some better fall fishing. If anyone is having success with other baits this time of the year let me know via the comments section below!

On my third cast with the swimming senko, I landed a 2.5lb largemouth off of a marker buoy. I was fishing it just like I would a regular senko for the most part, but would give it some swimming action around structure. This swimming action seemed to be the key since senko fishing had been slow the last few times I went out. Over the 45 minutes of fishing I landed 7 keepers (largest was about 3lbs), and I missed 3-4 good strikes.

If your senko fishing has slowed down this time of year I would recommend trying the swimming senko by yamamoto baits or kinami. I was using the 4 inch watermelon with red flake for those who were wondering, and the water was moderately stained last night.

I also threw a spinnerbait for a while with no success, so I guess it is back to slow and low for a while until the fall bite turns on…

After minimal success we decided to try the docks on the west side of the lake since we hadn’t fished them in quite some time, and it turned out to be a good move. We landed another 10 fish on senkos from under the docks… The fishing wasn’t easy though since the fish were suspended way under the docks and pontoons boats requiring an accurately skipped bait under the docks. The recent rain made this even more difficult since the water levels were up a foot or so from last week.

Most fish that we landed were decent quality in the 2+ lb range and one monster topping out at around 6lbs.

Here’s a few shots of this chunky hog.

That is one fat bass… Especially for the end of summer!

Hopefully this pattern will hold up until the next time I have a few hours to spend on the lake. It has been cold at night lately so I would imagine the fish won’t stay on the docks for too long. If you are fishing this weekend, give the docks a try and you might very well land yourself a trophy! In case you were wondering, this fish was released unharmed to fight another day.

I threw everything I had in my bag including senkos (wacky rigged and texas rigged), spinnerbaits, topwater, and jigs, but for 2.5 hours of fishing we only landed 5 fish, of which only 1 was a “keeper”.  Total tally was 1 on a wacky rigged senko, 1 on a texas rigged senko, and 3 on a spinnerbait retrieved quickly across the surface. All fish were largemouth bass.

Overall we had fun even though the fish didn’t cooperate, and Sally enjoyed barking at everyone on the lake!

Brian called me about an hour before I got out of work saying he had the night off and asked if I wanted to fish the last couple hours of daylight. He twisted my arm (not too hard) and I agreed to go.

We got on the lake around 630pm and started fishing some grass mats close to my backyard. We landed 5 quick fish on texas rigged senkos and wacky rigged senkos, but then the boat traffic really started to kick up so we had to move. We fished the eastern shoreline looking for shallow water hits and under the docks for fish looking for shade. We landed a couple bass, but nothing really noteworthy.

Once we got to the north shore of the lake we fished the large area of submerged vegetation with our senkos, and caught another 4 or 5 largemouth with the biggest being about 2 lbs. I tried throwing a topwater banana boat, but since I was bringing it over 3 foot cresting waves from all the boat traffic, it turned out to be fruitless. We had to leave the weeded area since the pontoon brigade decided it was time to run a train right through our fishing grounds. We have now dubbed that area pontoon road since everyone on a pontoon boat feels that have to drive directly through the weed beds as close to shore as possible.

We moved on to the area of the lake where the weeds have breached the surface of the water, where I had caught a 4-4.5lb largemouth on a stanley ribbit frog. I started throwing my frog again and had a hit on my 3rd cast right near the boat. The fish let go while fighting it in the weeds. Brian put on a sizmic toad and fished it across the top of the weeds, but managed only to catch said weeds. He did have a couple swirls, but no definitive hits. Just as I was about to give up on my frog I got an explosive hit and the fight was on.

The fish went deep into the weeds and I had to horse it out. I got it to the boat and it was a 4-4.5lb largemouth (quite possibly the one I had caught in that area on a frog two days prior). We snapped a quick photo and released the fish.

Reserved for photo if Brian ever sends it to me.

On the way back to my house we caught a few fish on spinnerbaits, including a few smallmouth,
and also found ourselves going over 4ft breakers sent out from the ski boats that feel the need to go as fast as they can as close to you as they can.

As the sun was shedding its last rays of light on the lake, the skiiers all went in, and the lake went as calm as glass. Too bad we were already putting our gear away, maybe we could have had some topwater action!

Many novice fishermen and fisherwomen ask me how I always know how and where to catch fish. In this series of articles I will attempt to address the first question by giving you my top 5 lures that I always have in my tackle box and would never want to be on the water without.

Number 1: The Senko

This lure is an absolute must have. It has completely revolutionized the artificial bait industry, and has made the old fashioned rubber worm obsolete. The senko was originally created by the Yamamoto bait company, but has been cloned by almost all major lure manufacturing companies. Here are the names of some of the senko knock-offs: Stick-O by Bass Pro Shops, Kinami Flash, Wave Tiki Worms, Mann’s Hard Nose Freefall Worms, Berkley Gulp Sinking Minnow, Chompers Salty Sinker Worms, Netbait Salt Lick Worm, Strike King 3x Plastic Zero Worm, Yum Dinger Worms, and the list goes on and on!

The characteristics that set this bait apart from the rest are its fishability, durability, and multitude of rigging options.

• Fishability – This lure is extremely easy to fish, casts like a bullet, and is an appropriate bait choice for almost any weather condition, season, or body of water. Most of the time you will get a hit simply by throwing it around cover or structure and letting it sink. All you have to do is set the hook and bring in your catch. Sometimes it requires a twitch or two, but even that is a simple way to catch fish.
• Durability – Built to last, you can easily land 5-10 fish on a single bait depending on your rigging method and brand of choice. The Mann’s Hard Nose Free Fall Worms tend to hold up the best since the tip of the bait is made of a harder material. Even if the top of a senko type bait gets torn, you can snip it off and the bait functions as normal, and continues to catch fish. Try that with a normal rubber worm!
• Rigging Options – The senko is possibly the most versatile bait on the market today. It can be rigged texas style, wacky rigged, carolina rigged, or jigged. Whether it’s shallow shoreline, under docks (you can easily skip a texas rigged senko), deep structure, or around fallen trees, the number of rigging options with a senko allows you to fish any conditions you are faced with.

If you haven’t tried a senko yet, you don’t know what you are missing! Here’s a couple tips if you are going to try one of these baits for the first time:

Fish it slow and keep you line tight so you can feel when a fish picks up the bait. Set the hook if you are texas rigging, jigging, or carolina rigging. DO NOT set the hook if you are wacky rigging with a circle hook. If you don’t get a hit within the 10 feet of the structure you are fishing, reel it in and cast again (most fish are caught on the initial drop). Now get out there and catch some fish!

Up Next is the Spinnerbait… Click Here to Continue Reading!

The fishing started off very slow, we only landed one fish in the first hour, but it picked up once we got to the grass mats along the northern shoreline, and we landed 6 or 7 bass.  We then moved into a shallow cove on the northeast tip of the lake, which yielded my mom a couple of largemouths off of grass mats.  Fishing the knocked down trees in the cove produced no fish, which was quite uncommon.  After that we decided to fish around the docks on the north shore, and I caught a 3lb largemouth on a texas rigged senko, but nothing else was noteworthy.

After minimal success on the docks, we moved back over the weed beds, I switched to a topwater banana boat, not expecting to catch anything since it was now noon time, and on my first cast I caught a 2lb largemouth. Thinking I was on to something I threw it for the next 10 minutes with no hits.  I looked through my bag and found some “Ribbit” frogs that I had bought on clearance and decided to give them a try over some weeds that had breached the surface.  The Ribbit frog rig is interesting, it comes with a bleeding red hook with a corkscrew on the top that goes into the head of the bait, and the hook goes in texas style with a slot on the back of the frog.  The action of the two legs on the back of the bait is pretty impressive as it swims across the top of the water.

I had never fished a frog on cedar lake because there are no lilly pads, but I figured since the fishing was slow I would give it a shot.  On my third cast, to my surprise I caught a 2lb largemouth.  I figured I might as well keep trying since I had a strong hit, and the fish got the hook on the first try…  2 casts later I had an explosive hit over the weed beds and the fight was on.

After a strong fight in heavy cover I got the fish to the boat.  I couldn’t tell how large it was until I went to lip it. I reached down, lipped the fish and brought it into the boat along with a pound of weeds. The result was a nice 4 to 4.5lb largemouth.

We stayed and fished that area for another 15 minutes with no luck before heading home.  In order to take advantage of the nice weather and my day off, I went home had lunch and then went out waterskiing with Erik and Randy.  We called it a day around 330P and I had to mow the lawn, be an electrician, and go grocery shopping.  Needless to say I was pretty tired around 9pm and fell asleep the second I hit the bed!

The weather was beautiful, despite the dreary start to the day, so we headed out to my favorite weed beds and after a quick tutorial on how to use a spinning reel we all started fishing senkos. I decided to throw three different colors: black and yellow swirl, june bug, and green and silver swirl. The junebug senko was wacky rigged with an octopus circle hook so Randy could have an easier time setting the hook since it was his first time. Erik and I threw texas rigged senkos. As it turned out, it didn’t matter what color or rigging method we used, the fish were hungry and were going to eat anything. What a difference a day can make.

On his first cast Erik was explaining to Randy how to work the bait, when he hooked a nice bass which came off right at the boat. Randy then caught his first fish, a nice 2-2.5lb largemouth. While getting his camera phone, the fish found its way back into the lake, so here is a picture of his second fish (much smaller).


Not big but still fun! (Click to enlarge)

In total we caught about 7 fish on our first drift (it was a little windy at that time so it was a quick drift). We did a second and third drift and caught another 5-10 fish. At this point the boat traffic really picked up and appearently we were right in the party boat lane since everyone and anyone on a boat wanted to get as close to us as possible and drive directly through the weeds we were fishing. We went to another set of grass mats and landed 6 or 7 more fish. Randy caught 3 in a row off of a dock, and started bragging, asking me how many I had caught. I switched to a topwater banana boat, and landed 3 fish in a row which shut him up. Unfortunately one fish was quite possibly the smallest bass I have ever caught, and definitely the smallest I ever caught on a 4 inch topwater lure:

After the hits stopped at location two we moved on to my third grassy location, and only caught 2 fish using my banana boat. After that we decided to go back to our original spot since the boat traffic seemed to die off. Erik and Randy continued throwing senkos, and I switched to a firetiger pop and chug. They landed another 5 or 6 fish and I caught another 4 or 5 on topwater, the biggest being around 2.5lbs as the last little bit of sunshine was fading behind the horizon.

We went in for the evening and played some wii fit, and rampage total destruction. It was a fun night with good company, good fishing and even better weather. Randy is definitely hooked, and will likely be buying his first rod and reel soon!

Conditions: Calm to Breezy, warm, dusk, water temp 77 degrees

Two weeks ago we were in the midst of a heatwave and there was not a cloud in the sky, but today the fog was so thick we only had about 20 feet of visibility when we launched the boat (see photos below). The last time we fished together all of our fish were found on structure and in shaded areas, but today there was not much to be found on structure or under docks (we went 1 for 6 on the fish we had hooked up).  I decided to fish the same weed beds that we fished last night with my parents and Erik, and it turned out to be a very good choice.

We immediately started catching fish off the grass.  After catching 4 or 5 smaller fish in a couple minutes, Brian got a strong hit and a nice bass came flipping out of the water. I put my pole down to give him a hand landing the fish.  This bass was strong and Brian could barely budge it in the weeds, he jumped 3 more times over the next 2 minutes and I finally got a hand on him and brought it into the boat. It weighed roughly 5lbs and was about 22.5 inches. We snapped a pic with Brian’s cell and released her to fight another day.

Check out that hog in the fog… (Click To Enlarge)

The fun didn’t stop there though.  Right after Brian caught that fish, the area lit up with bass busting on schools of bait all around us.  Everytime we cast to a school of baitfish we caught a bass sitting under them.  This went on for about 30 minutes, and it didn’t matter what we were throwing.  We got them on senkos (texas and wacky rigged), yozuri banana boats, and spinnerbaits. We landed about 20 keepers, including one smallmouth, and then they turned off just as quick as they turned on.

We fished until about 1130a and then a rain storm came through so we went back to my house to play some mariokart wii. We went back out around 230p and fished for another 90 minutes before a nasty super cell went over the lake dropping the temp 15 degrees and bringing torrential downpours prompting us to call it a night. We did manage another 8-10 fish before the rains came, but nothing overly note worthy, but i did catch a huge red eyed rockbass.

MEATY LITTLE GUY (Click to enlarge)

Despite the weather we had a great time, and its always fun spending some time on the water with friends (it sure beats working)… Looking forward to doing it again soon…

Conditions:

Foggy, rainy, windy, water temp 74 degrees