Submitted by Jon Pski (ip 192.249.47.9)

Date Fished: 8/7/2005
Water Temperature: 83
Water Clarity: 4 feet or greater

Did a 19 boat Club tournament out of Lattins Cove on Sunday. Gee! I hate holding tournaments out of Lattins, especially in the summer. Parking lot is a mess, Ramp is a mess, AND, just not a good idea to release summer fish into 83 degree mud. At least they reduced the limit to six bass per team.

Anyhow, my partner Art and I decided to run to the Dam end of the lake and work our way back. Started throwing creature baits in a grass edge and after five minutes moved to a downed tree. Had a very nice, 4# range bass, eat the green pumpkin creature off the end of the tree in 17',then head straight for the top after the hook set. It was nice enough to show itself well before it threw the hook. Oh well, we are only ten minutes into things and we'll get more. 30 minutes later finally put a little 14.5" LMB into the well. Worked the grass a bit more before moving to a nearby hump. Threw a C-rig 4" Stalker wormer around with a few panfish bites. As it was still cloudy, I picked up the white Super Fluke and chucked it over about 21 feet of water. I had a lead strip on the hook shank but was working it fast with a 1-2, 1,2,3 snappy retrieve. Only took a couple of casts before a nice 3 pound smallie jumped on it. We worked this spot for a bit more with no more action. Hit another steeep bank and then a small hump and still no serious bites. Both Art and I are getting a few bluegill bites on tubes, creature baits and worms but no solid bass bites.

Move off to a nice grass hump surrounded by 20-25 feet of water. Missed a very solid hook up on top of the hump and felt it could have been a bigger LMB. Moved off to the point on the hump and on the deep tip, 17 feet, the line slowly started to move away as our best fish of the day, a fat 4.77 pound smallie took the bait. We sat on this spot to try and coax another big fish but that wasn't to be.

Again moved off to a steep bank with gravel and a thinner weed edge dropping quickly to deep water and managed another 15" LMB on a black 6" creature bait rigged with a 3/4 oz screw in weight and 4/0 round bend hook from Hookerz. Towards the peak of summer (now) I like a fast fall as it will sometimes trigger a reaction bite. The straight shank, round bend hook, is excellent for fishing the grass as it never catches the weeds at all. The total package will only snap off a weed around the head of the weight on occasion.

Worked that weed line with only one to show. We then moved to Chimmney Point where I wanted to sit in deep water and work my way up to the grass edge. Unfortunatly, there was a rec. boat anchored up on this spot just hanging out. We worked the deep edge towards the bank with more bluegill bites and then let the wind push us back north. Art finally hooked up with a nice 2.5# smallie on a 4" motor oil worm on a Slider head. After that one was secured on the very next cast with the black creature, I had what appeared at first like a bluegill bite until, the line started racing towards deep water. Swung on a very nice fish and it immediatly headed for the surface signalling big smallmouth bass! Sure enough, she flew out of the water as I deftly moved the rod sideways to keep tension on the line. (thank goodness for high speed reels)As it re-entered the water, she was still on. NICE! This fish was another in the 5 pound range.The fish dove for the bottom and I was in total control until, the line just went slack The dang thing just came off! Bummer as there was only 1 hr 15 min. left to fish. Re compose myself and rig a new bait. This is two good fish I saw and another I felt that came undone. A few casts later with the black bait, the line starts moving off telling me another smallmouth picked up the bait. (for a few weeks the big smallies have all been biting the same way) Please, let me get this one! I cranked down, waited a moment, and swung hard with that Heavy 6'-6" St Croix. Next thing I know, my damn reel popped off the rod and is hanging in the air behind me I yell for Art to grab the reel and crank while I try to keep tension on the rod and pull the line by hand. "Forget it Art, she's gone" I said as I felt the line go slack.

At this point, I'm now getting angry. Sometimes you just can't keep them buttoned up but, when you loose them due to equipment failure that's just unexcusable. Now down to an hour left. it's time to start running a couple spots to get our limit and hopefully more. Gee, I hope the bite has been tough for everyone. HaHa! You know someone is always going to find them. Pull up on another samll, deep weed bed. My first cast is a long one and I thought I felt a tick and maybe saw the line move, but by now the boat traffic is a steady roar with huge waves all over and pitching Art's Javelin to and fro. I actually hit the thumb bar to put the reel in free spool and sure enough, the line was moving a lot faster than it should have. Swung hard on a long distance fish and managed to put our limit fish into the boat, a nice 3+ largemouth. After a couple more stops, it was time to check in.

As mentioned earlier, the ramp was a mess so I ended up jumping off the boat into the mud. Did I mention I hate Lattins? Didn't really have much of a chance to see what everyone else was weighing in but as I had to pull my kid and Matt out of the water as I got my partners boat out, I did hear of a couple 15 and 16 pound bags. Come to find out, Caveman and Matt had a very nice bag of 6 bass weighing around 19.5 pounds including a 5.46# largemouth. Lunker was caught by Bill S. with a 5.52 LMB. Very close indeed. Art and I hit the scales at 6 @ 16.11#. I did have that nice 4.77 SMB which may be big smallmouth for the season. One of those days that a couple of dropped fish cost us money. The good thing was the kids came out and kicked butt. After their 19.5, second fell to high 16 pounds and third was like 16.32 pounds. Art and I settled for fourth. I'm sure Caveman will give his details later.

There are definetly some big fish biting out there now. Doesn't seem like as many bites as a month or two ago but the fish appear to be getting bigger. Typical for summer. I just can't wait to get out there on a weekday or rainy day. The heavy weekend boat traffic really takes away from the fishing fun of Candlewood.

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