Had a trip this am on the lake and boy, was the fishing great due to pre-front conditions. Water temp was 63 and wind was calm. Could not find fish where I have had them the last week, so I headed north to some other creeks. On the second stop we found lots of them. Ended up with 12 hybrids: largest 6 lbs; 6 stripers: largest 5 lbs; and one small spot. Today they would not take micro-baits, Clousers 2" to 2-1/2" were the ticket. But I could not resist putting the wiggle minnow on, and they ate it up. There is nothing better that a good top water bite. We caught all our fish in 1-1/2 hrs, when the sun came out it shut off like a light switch. Not much bird activity, look for schools of fish and bait on the graph and then hang out. If they don't come up within 10 minutes go somewhere else. While waiting, throw a sinking line down to them to pass the time, you can pick up a couple this way generally. Location is everything, look in the backs of creeks and go north.
Buck Ernst
buckernstfishing.com
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Today I went out with Rex Gudgel. We stayed out all day fighting the very windy conditions, determined to find hungry fish. Needless to say, it was tough: high winds, bluebird skies - standard post-front conditions. The water temp has dropped to 50 and the fish have gone north, most of which had lock-jaw today. We did make 4 fish eat: boated 2, broke one off and missed one. If you are looking for a great way to end the year, this would be a good choice. Most fish we are catching run from 9-15 lbs. Intermediate and sinking lines are the choice right now. As you can see in the pics it was freezing, my face looks like I went snow skiing for a week from wind burn.
