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March 22
Yesterday I prefished for tournament with a client. We had an okay day, but you could tell the cold front took it’s toll on the bass.
We launched from Flippers at 7am and froze our butts off all the way up to Bartons Creek. Once we entered the creek we cruised pass the bluff wall on the left with boat docks in 20ft and pulled up to the little island on the right. The channel swings to the right side of the creek and up against 4-5 points(points of shallow coves)….the perfect place for bass to concentrate during a spring cold front. The water temperature was 53-54 degrees with stained 1ft clarity. Keeping the boat in 8ft-15ft and casting to the points and with a 3/16oz Texas Rig Baby Brush Hog in Mardi Gras color. After 1 hour of fishing slowly we only caught one short fish on a weightless green pumpkin sinko. We also had several bites that would not commit.
We moved towards the mouth of the creek to the bluff we passed with the boat docks. Sitting in 16ft-20ft and picked up a Hoppy’s Rattle Brush Hog Jig in black/brown with a green Paca Chunk. Most of these docks have TONS of brush underneath them! I caught one short fish on my jig and we decided pack it up. I cruised back down lake into Hidden Cove. Once we idled to the back split I reared to the left and to the rip rap on the right. We fished the first 100 yards without a bite….this rip rap was shallower…6ft a cast off the bank. The last 100 yards was must deeper with 10ft-15ft a cast from the bank. The water was stained at <1′ clarity at 52 degrees. I picked up my Hoppy’s jig and started flipping to the rocks. Once I reached some laydowns…BOOM…keeper! I kept flipping the wood…BOOM…short fish. Another log 5 minutes later…BOOM…keeper! 10 minutes later and another short fish and we decided to leave it along find some more fish.
I motored out of Hidden Cove to the main channel. I slowly followed the bank around to the right pass the point to where it started going back into a wooded bay. Once I made it around the point I shut the motor off. While we were idling it was 4ft-6ft and then it drops off into a 20ft hole. The water was warmer at 54 degrees and >1′ clarity. We sat in the hole and cast brush hogs to the edges of the hole in 2ft-5ft. Five minutes in and next to a log……GULP….3+lb!!! We took a few more cast and then left those fish alone.
Our last spot was near the steam plant. We turned into the steam plant channel and then took a right to the cove 300 yards on the left. We never had a bite in there pitching our jigs, brush hogs, and sinkos, but it looked great. The water temperature was 57-58 with 1′ clarity. We had 2 bites that did not commit while sitting in 5ft-8ft and casting to the boulder rocks and wood on the bank.
Our time was up and we headed in. The cold front definitely locked the bass up, but we were still able to find a few areas they were concentrating. The part that stinks for my client is that come this weekend the bass will be doing something different. Hopefully, they will just move up into shallower water come active!
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2 Replies
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Yep it’s tough out there
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good report! Nice to know there is brush under those docks, ill try crappie fishing them next time Im out.
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