1st 2017 trip to Upper Cooked Lake 4-24

[djkimmel]

For my usual change of pace, I skipped Lower Crooked Lake (Barry County) instead heading for the Upper lake on Monday, April 24, 2017. My first trip of the season to an old favorite lake.

Last year was a little odd for me on the lake so I wondered what this year would bring...? I couldn't get out until about 9am - the time the boat rental place asked me to wait until. I got loaded up and headed to a backwater bay that has been real good in the past.


As seems to be the pattern so far this year, shortly after starting - with the 2K Jigs Deposit Spin spinnerbait of course, I got off to a good start by hammering this big 4+ female bass off a patch of lily pad roots offshore!!

More fitting the recent pattern of Lake Ponemah instead of the Lower lake, not much else happened for awhile. A few dinks here and there, and I got away from most of the few pike that tried to get me too! I worked near shore cover, offshore cover and even the deeper holes without much happening.

I went for awhile on to shallow flats and other shallow cover looking for early beds, something I found a bunch of around this same time, maybe a little later overall last year. Nothing! Nada!

What was more than a little odd, I wasn't picking up, or even seeing hardly any cruising bass either, just a few panfish and the occasional crappie moving in...?? I started working my way out of this small bay towards the main lake. I picked one barely keeper on the Deposit Spin. I was varying my lures from shallow cranks to flukes (a sliding double fluke rig actually today) and pitching some jigs and Texas-rigs without much action...??


I worked my way down a shallow boat path a ways into the corner of a larger bay when I finally started getting some small bass action on the double fluke rig. Then I somehow lost a decent bass that ate it?!? (Something that is haunting me still this season!!) Minutes later, this nice solid keeper bass slammed the sliding front smaller white fluke of my double rig!

I somehow missed another decent bass on the fluke, and lost one more small keeper on it?!? Not sure how I'm missing and losing so many bass!!

At least in this area I saw some bass chasing and had a few bites. I completely missed one other keeper that blew out of some shallow pads and hit close to the boat. I also had on a BIG crappie on the same double fluke rig when I fluttered it near an outside patch of pads I had just seen some minnows skipping by. Just before my brain registered crappie I set the hook too hard and jerked it away from the spek! It had several buddies with, all very nice specimens!

I followed up by working my way across the middle of this bigger, but still shallow bay catching only a couple dinks, a pike and one small keeper bass that hit and got off when I pitched a jig into a pad root hole, but then grabbed it again on the next pitch. I also somehow missed another bass again on another pitch. I think it felt like a good fish but I didn't get to see it to be sure.

Other than another pesky pike, I couldn't get another bite the rest of the early afternoon before I called it a day and slowly motored back to the boat rental campground. I thought about trying some edge of the main lake stuff, or the main lake, but it was blowing pretty stiffly as usual for this spring and I was tired with a tiring trolling motor battery. I didn't feel like rowing a long ways this day so I called it a day.

Not the kind of day I hoped for, or even expected but at least it was a day on the lake!

[djkimmel]

Luckily dartag invited me fishing the next day so I wouldn't have to wait long for another shot at some spring Michigan bass!