What a great day at Spring Lake today. Started around 7:30 and didn’t get bit till around 9::00. I felt my rod load up just like a bunch of weeds and then the weeds started pulling. A nice 5 lb even bass. Three casts later another 5 pounder on the LV500 with the exact same mush bite. A couple of hours go by and I catch a 4. Another couple of hours and I catch a 3 something. They are making me work for it but their all quality fish. Then I catch about a 2. Go over to a weed edge and do some drop shotting. Catch my first dink of the day. Ten minutes later I land another 5 lb even on the drop shot. At about 3:00 I started heading for the dock feeling pretty good about my day . About 50 yards from the dock I get hammered but it comes off after about 30 seconds. It felt like a real nice one. I decide to stay out for a while longer . About 10 minutes later I get hammered again. I fight her for close to a minute and by now the people on shore are all watching me. I finally lip her and show her to the crowd. She weighed 8 lbs 12 ozs.. Very cool to have 10 to 15 people witness my catch. I had the whole lake to myself. Not one tuber out there. I never expected to do this well in late December.

Dave,

Do you know why those fish are biting like that? I think I do, just curious what your thoughts are. The answer was in a post a few months ago.

Congrats Dave, you slayed. Today was a good day for me also so i will put up the report. I fished the windsor ponds, 1 in particular. I have been fishing it a lot lately and it's just been on fire, a 15 lb limit out of there is the average without a kicker but today went a little better. I got in the water at about 2 and planned just to do as much flipping as i could, i started off flippin a black/blue flk tube, and after about 30 minutes i got my first fish, 5 lbs 3 oz. No more fish on that bank, kick over to a long peninsula/island. Right when i get over to it i started flippin a sweat beaver, first flip 4 lbs 8 oz. 5 more feet down catch one about 2, didnt bother weighing it. Get to the tip of the point where the trees open up into this green vegetation, something like hyacinth, and hook a fish but it gets caught up in the plant and shakes off, throw back in to the same area, 3 lbs 15 oz. Still on the same point flipped into the combo of the hyacinth and timber, and get popped on the fall, tried to get it up and in quick, but it was a bigger fish and was able to get its tail back in the water right infront of me and dove pulling about 10 ft. of drag below me and under me, which was good because it was now in open water away from the wood and was able to net it, 7 lbs 9 oz. my new pb at that pond. Right on the back side of the point in the sticks and hyacinths again flipped 2 fish and lost 3 because of the hook getting caught in the hyacinth while pulling the fish up. One of the fish i caught there was about 2 lbs, and the other went 5 exactly. Had to kick back and while kicking back along the biggest field of standing timber, i was making little flips and got popped, another chunky fish about 2 lbs. then 30 ft. away from where im getting out, i flipped to the timber, went to hop it but felt a fish there, and set the hook hard, felt like i was setting into one of the trees, but instead it took off right when i hooked it and started peeling drag before i could think of what was happening. It was making runs, then i would pull it in and over the tree trunks, then make another run and this went on for about 30 seconds, and i got a quick net on my new pb for that lake 9 lbs 14 oz. This just topped off the day and was relieved to finaaally get a bigger fish out of this pond, i have witnessed bigger fish caught but had lost every good one i had hooked in the thick cover. I am almost positive though, that before the water level starts rising at this pond i will pull a bigger limit and a bigger fish out of here. and by the way the weather couldn't have been better, hardly any wind and 65 degrees. total weight went 32 lbs 2 oz. and has been the 2nd limit over 20 lbs in the last month here.

Carson, you sure that 9 wasn't one of those big carp we always see. Just kidding dude. Sounds like you had a blast, call us up for a fish sometime.

Go big or go home.

I`m guessing the lack of trout?

My best limit at the Windsor ponds this year was over 30 including a 10.5. That place friggin rulez!

Chris

Well, Rob are you going to keep us in suspense?

the godfather

yeah - it's the trout (lack of). Big bass do not normally eat rattle trap type lures. They really truly don't. But these fish are more desperate because there are no trout, and so they are acting stupider than they normally would. As soon as I saw those pics from the last SCBBBC tourney at Spring Lake, I knew those fish were going to be hungry this winter, they were already looking thin. If it wasn't 2 hours and 15 from home, I'd be there :)

Have fun with those fish and treat them well since the big ones will be stressed from lack of their normal winter food supply.

Sounds like it would be a good time for a swimbait only turkey shoot.

Gee Rob. I was feeling pretty good about my day until you told me i was catching stupid fish on the wrong lure.:-) Hey Carson, Nice job. I have to get out to those ponds one of these days.

har, don't take it the wrong way. I am always looking for stupid fish :) Those are the best kind.

I should elaborate ...

I am not bragging, I am just saying - when I saw that post about no stocks at Spring lake this winter, I knew those fish would bite. I emailed Lake in early November to tell him, not that it mattered since neither of us were likely to go. Sure enough after that there have been some good catches there, including that 17.5 (man I woulda liked to see a pic of that hog). Bass that run low on food get hungry. Bass that ae hungry get dumb and easier to catch. I've run into a few situations like this in the past few years and really caught the crap out of big fish. It's to the point where I look specifically for scenarios where big bass are known to live and they wind up through whatever circumstances, running low on food. Yeah... I need to get to Spring lake lol