One more time at Lower Crooked Lake 5-12-17

[djkimmel]

It was supposed to be lighter winds so I returned once more to my favorite, peaceful Lower Crooked Lake in the little rowboat. The wind blew a little harder than it was supposed to (big surprise) but the bass were biting a little better to so maybe it evened out?!?

It was mostly sunny most of the day so when the wind wasn't blowing too strong I could see pretty well. I expected more bass on beds and more changes now since the last time I was there. Yup. That's some of what was happening though I actually did not see a lot of bass on beds - I do admit I spent more time offshore again looking for bigger bass too though...


I got off to a pretty good start! I fished a floating bog island about as near to the deeper half of the lake as you can get and immediately my bream 2K Jigs Deposit Spin got HAMMERED by what turned out to be my biggest bass of the day!! Another 5+!! Yes, good start!


A little while after, I was pitching the large B2 Nemesis Baits Bullet Craw (watermelon gold flake) to a hole in a bog when another big bass hammered me! I actually saw the bass shoot out of the hole and inhale the entire Bullet Craw! Got to set an awesome 'Bassmaster' hookset to stick this big bass!!

I moved along to other holes, bogs, roots and lily pad clumps. I was catching a nice, bigger male now and then but wasn't finding anymore big ones. I checked shallower a little and found a few bass on beds though most were not big and were spooky at times too! I did find one bed offshore that had a HUGE bass on it when I first saw it but I apparently spooked the bass and it didn't seem to want to come back though I even checked again later...?!?


While I was 'offshore' at one point I found a new sand patch in the middle of the big shallow flat that makes up almost half the lake. It was loaded with beds!! There was one small keeper bass on a bed that I caught first just to see how it was acting - a little shy but not tolerant of anything landing on its bed! But as you can see by the picture, I took a break to do something I think is good for the fishing soul - I started tossing a light slip bobber rig for panfish and caught a number off these beds including this big Pumpkinseed! They were mostly medium bluegills and big pumpkinseeds on these beds that apparently had not been found yet by the panfish anglers who really pound many of the obvious beds on this lake.

It was funny, while I was floating my bobber over the beds a small pike came along and ripped along the top to slam my bobber!! Not sure how many times I have seen pike attack a bobbing bobber but it's more than a couple times! The panfish here may have been fished a little because I missed a bunch and some of them wouldn't bite, would fly away when the bobber landed or just ignore it, but I caught enough to take a nice break and have a different kind of fun.

I also twice was a huge fish smash into something about 100 feet away that had a definite snake/gator appearance to it!?! I threw over there several times just in case I was wrong and it was a big bass but came up empty.

Then I went back to fishing. My efforts to find more bigger bass out in the offshore spots wasn't paying off very well so I moved to the shallow, inside weedlines, especially concentrating on sandy points. No surprise that there were tons of mostly empty bluegill beds on almost every point.


And there were a few smaller bass on beds or some solid nice ones cruising just off of these beds. Often, I would see a nice wake cut through the shallows or a big swirl or splash as a bass attacked the bluegills still on beds or also just cruising near the beds themselves. This wasn't difficult fishing other than requiring some stealth. Bass like this one would smash the bream Deposit Spin!


Some of these bass on beds or especially cruising the inside weedline were pretty solid like this one. Not sure how many I caught? It wasn't a ton but it kept me happy and busy for awhile. I caught a couple off beds too.


Near one area of pad roots that I usually catch some big bass of (though not this season?) I had seen some more spawning crappie. I thought I would increase my species list and stop for a few minutes to catch some. It didn't take long with slip bobber rig to catch a pretty nice crappie near some pad roots. I didn't do this for very long though I had seen crappie in a number of spots and probably could have had a fun day hopping from spot to spot for them too. They just aren't generally as big as they've been in past years though.


I started working my way back towards the boat ramp and caught a few more nice bass like this one just fishing points and inside weedlines with the Kustom Kicker Deposit Spin Titanium spinnerbait!


In the main lake, though I had seen tons of empty panfish beds, I decided to check one of my less well known deep panfish bedding sand points. It had gotten cloudier and the breeze was still blowing stiff so I could barely see the area but as soon as I got my slip bobber rig over the spot I hooked a BIG bull bluegill!! I still don't know how it happened but I wanted to add a picture for this day of a big bull bluegill but somehow when I got in I only had another picture of another big pumpkinseed?!? I know I caught a couple of those there but the majority of the handful of fish I caught were beautiful blue-gold gills...?? I don't even remember taking another picture of a pumpkinseed... maybe I was more tired than I thought I was?

Anyways, I ran out of time and half rowed, half electric motored myself back in and called it a day. I'm probably done with these Crooked Lakes for this season... but who knows, maybe I'll feel like experimenting and go back again?

[djkimmel]

Forgot to mention I had somehow broken my cheap selfie stick while it was just sitting in a tackle bag so I was left with only being able to take these 'selfie' pictures... I forgot to buy one for awhile. I even thought it might be a jinx but I've finally found a really nice one at the camera shop in Lansing that didn't cost a lot more but is much better quality! I've just started using it and like it much more so far.