I was amazed to find two tournaments going on, on Saturday, but I launched after the boyz, and fished from 5:30 until 6:10 when Fishtrax "Scott" showed for the Lopez topwaterfest I had promised him. By the time Scott got on board I had narrowed down the buzzbait selection to white as I'd caught 3 fish in the marina area. Off we went with high hopes that the 35 odd boats had left us some water to fish. When I got where I wanted to be there wasn't a boat to be seen. Not always a good sign I dropped the trolling motor and away we went.....Just because you want something to happen doesn't mean it will but we stayed with the buzzbait with no hits until 20 minutes into the gameplan I gave Scott the the OLE' "yeah I've stuck some good ones around here" pep talk wham! 10 feet from the boat Scott is HOOKED Up on a superior Lopez fish that gives him an excellent fight right up to when he lips his first 5 pound+ buzzbait fish....Yeah BUDDY Scott has a new favorite bait .....things continue slow and we move ....still slow....we go past 2 boats coming down the bank and respectfully give them some distance and a couple hundred yards behind them I get my Last buzzbait fish which goes an even 3. WE keep at it but but it's obvious we're beating a dead horse so after the fog starts to go I take Scott to my better crankin,worming area where he procedes to get a few fish on the worm while I keep after the reaction fish....We tried several areas and I came back to one of my better areas around 11:00 and start up again ....It's really slow so I switch up my blade from a 3/8 white wedege to a 3/8 white double willow "CHROME" BUDDA BAIT for a different profile. Wham I get my best fish of the day...Scotts thinking it's better than his buzzbait fish But I know it was way smaller...We continue along this area putting up with some sorry A$$ driving by the skiers and pleasure craft and I tell him he needs to start dropshoting here as he'll stick a good one when the back seat gets to where the front seat is. Sure as heck Scott gets his PB Dropshot fish " I love callin em like Babe Ruth" which dogs him on the light line but he gets her up and grabs her by the lips.....Yeah Buddy two PB'S in one morning. Well we kept at it and found that the smallmouth and smaller largemouth were eating blades but only in one 1/2 mile stretch and when we went farther or hung around the spot we'd get no more....Just go in a circle and get a few and then do it again. I did notice that a lot of these fish were A.Realllly healthy with small heads and big bodies and B. a lot were torn up from other anglers but seemed to be eating and surviveing Okay. After 30 years you'd think that these fish would stop eating a white spinnerbait but NOPE they still smash em when you've got some wind to position them for feeding on the INCREDIBLE shad population at Lopez. I was watching guys netting the shad on the docks at 6:00 AM and they were big and healthy and while Scott and I were trying to catch fish we also were involved in looking at the fishery as a whole. The backs of the 3 main arms were just loaded with baitfish. I think that the boat activity makes a fine stew for the baitfish to feed on and the mudlines created certainly figured into our game plan as the day wore on. We did not do well at all in the flats no matter the wind or water clarity situation....EDITORS NOTE: Scott did get a redear on a blade and another one follow it to the boat ....I guess we know where the panfish are....I guess it wanted that blade BAD. Scott has another new favorite lure...That being a Stanley wedge double willow leaf 3/8 0z.white blade. As a machinist I'll tell you why they are mechanically superior to other baits. The metal of the blade is thinner at the leading edge which translates into the fact that the minute the thing hits the water the blade is digging in and turning.....No more of the pulling to get it turning and then fishing the bait it's just going from the get go. Translating into more fish closer to the bank in the stucture prior to your blade getting with it.....I have spare wedge blades of all colors and sizes so I can create stuff on the spot as Scott can testify to. Scott it was a blast as usual and thanx for all the help cleaning up my girl at the end of the trip....Hope you didn't catch any flack for being out with me from dawn to dusk!

KELLY

Wow! Sounds like a greaaat trip! If you ever going to Lopez again (well duh!) and have an open back seat that you are willing to share, please let me know. Your a fishin machine! Great job on the great fish. I wish I knew how to beat up some local fish like that!

Joel

Great job Kelly, sounds like a fun trip. I am planning an overnight trip up there in 2 weeks so hopefully the blade bite continues. Too bad Lopez is such a far drive, other wise I would be there all the time. It used to be be my favorite lake until just recently discovering cachuma's awesome bite. The only thing about Lopez is the damn water skiers and jet skiers! They are rude and don't care about giving somene space.

Man you write a good story, your local knowledge prevailed again.
I went to BWW and bought some blades yesterday, no they did not carry the double bladed buzzbait that you throw.” CJ you should order some of those” You did forget to mention about the crawdads the fish spit up and clogged your livewell with, those fish are HEALTHY and FAT. When I get the pics developed I will scan them and email them to you.
Oh ya here's a tip look for the lava looking rock and throw blades.

scott

fishtrax_65

Your right Scott! I carry two chamious in the livewells to dry the boat off when done for the day....It also seems to keep the fish calmer with the livewell a little darker ....anyway when I went to release the water from the livewells I noticed it was draining really slow so I started feeling around in the livewells and Scotts fish had hocked up a huge 6 inch crawdad....Fish that I get on buzzbaits are prone to this and I've not really put the formula together other than these are shallow water fish...As Scott mentioned the better banks seemed to be more of a solid "lava If you will" rock rather than chunk rock or sandy type bank. Hope this helps somebody out....By the way Scott they won't be able to get a Roland Martin Double Buzz at BWW as they are no longer being made by Blue Fox.
Kelly

Thye last time I was in Eric's in Ventura they had some roland Martin double buzz baits. I don't know if they still do, though.

Eric's in Ventura sells Dead Eye double bladed buzzbaits, but he was sold out of white as of yesterday. They're getting crushed at Casitas, so people are buying them a half dozen at a time. He had one black one left. Eric said he's reordered them, but he doesn't know when they will be in. Someone told me J & T Tackle in Simi Valley has white double bladed buzzbaits in stock.

I might be wrong, but i think there are some at 4-seasons outfitters in SLO. Man i hate to plug that store, but if you guys are looking, thats a place ive seen em in the past. They are overpriced and the service is not great, but if you know what you want they have some good stuff. MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS IS NOT WILDERNESS IM TALKING ABOUT!! Lol!!

Joel