Brian Kettler, Bryan Davis and I went up to Nacimiento on Wednesday. Took Brian's boat out under his expert guidance. We stayed and launched at Running Deer Ranch near Las Tablas Creek.

The day started right away when I pulled my first ever Spotted Bass off of some stickups just outside our launch area on a Prizm Shad colored Buzz Hammer. Little did we know we had already found the pattern of the day. Rocky or somewhat rocky shoreline, some kind of wood (stumps and logs were the best but stickups held fish also), and the Buzz Hammer in pretty much any color as long as it wasn't lime green or chartreuse. Which I thought was a little strange because just a month ago I did very well at Lake San Antonio on the Margarita colored Buzz Hammer which is lime and chartreuse. That just goes to show how different those two lakes are even though they are near each other.

We went up into Las Tablas creek and started catching spotties left and right. It seemed like every area that looked decent produced fish. Most of the fish were in the 1 to 1.5 pound range (which for spotties are 14 - 16 inchers). We caught a few that were pushing 2 lbs. but just couldn't find that elusive 2 pounder. The Buzz Hammer bite pretty much lasted all day which was awesome. Even in the middle of the afternoon, in bright hot sun the bass were more than willing to come up to the top and slam the lure. We tried a few more areas throughout the day. The water in the main lake was a little dirty and didn't produce quite as well but we did have some good action up in the narrows. In the evening Brian put us on some very cool main lake points that produced even more fish for us.

The action was so hot almost all day it's difficult to pick out highlights - like the whole day was a highlight. But, one spot that sticks out is when we pulled up to this dirt/small rock wall with several fallen trees/logs skattered on it. Bryan throws out near the first log we pulled up to and gets slammed repeatedly and finally sticks one of them close to the boat. We were watching the lure come in as several nice spotties are going crazy fighting over the bait until one sticks. Brian and I follow up and get slammed as well. I'm not sure how many we pulled off of that wall right then but it was quite a few for 15 minutes of fishing and they were most larger ones for the day. I've never seen freshwater bass repeatedly hit a buzzbait. I sure if it's just because spotties are more aggressive or because there were several fish fighting over the same lure. Maybe a little of both - but it was awesome!

We ended the day fishing some main lake points - we found a few where the water wasn't too dirty.

At the end of the day we ended up with 30 or so legal sized spotties and about the same amount of shorts. Almost all of the shorts were just below legal. I would guess 85 - 90% of our fish were caught on Buzz Hammers with ripbaits accounting for most of the others. All day topwater bite! What more could you ask for?

Our plan of attack on Thursday was a little different. Brian really wanted to fish some main lake spots and luckily the muddy water had cleared up quite a bit overnight. We started off on some points and picked up a few fish on the Buzz Hammer. Then Brian switched to a ripbait and our pattern for Thursday was discovered. Brian hooks and looses a nice fish - most likely the 2+ pounder we've been looking for. Then he hooks and looses another one (darn treble hooks!). We fished around the main lake a bit for some awesome fishing. The fish still wanted the topwater a little but the ripbait was on fire. We went back into a large cove (not sure where) and saw fish boiling all over the place. We picked up a few spotties along the shoreline on the ripbait and buzzbait and made a few casts out into open water (hoping the fish weren't carp). Just as we were about to head out of the cove Bryan hooks up on the Buzz Hammer in open water and gets a nice white bass - on a buzzbait!

After that we go up into the narrows and fish this long rocky shoreline with scattered cover. Once again the ripbait is on fire while the buzzbait picks up a fish here and there. Brian and Bryan are tearing it up and I was somewhat lame as I just couldn't get the ripbait bit. Soon comes one of the highlights of this day. I happen to be watching Brian's ripbait come in when a nice spottie and a somewhat smaller spottie chase down his bait. About 10 feet from the boat and about 2 feet from the lure both fish stop. Brian speeds up his retrieve just a little and the big one jumps on it. We finally find the two pounder as Brian's fish tips the scale at 2 lbs. 6 oz. The biggest spottie of our trip. It amazing how big these fish look for their weight. We didn't measure it but I would bet money that fish was at least 18 inches long.

After lunch we went back into Las Tablas Creek. The fishing wasn't as wide as it was yesterday but we were still picking them pretty good. We went all the way back up into one of the arms and found this shallow area with lots of carp. I found a largemouth that wanted the buzzbait and Brian was able to satisfy his flipping urges by pulling a nice largemouth and a nice spottie out of some fallen trees with a King Kobra jig.

We decided to hit our hot spot shoreline from yesterday once more before calling it a day. Sure enough as soon as we pull up Bryan throws out the Buzz Hammer and gets slammed by a nice spottie before he even gets a crank on his reel. My buzzbait is right behind his and gets slammed almost instantly as well. We pull several nice fish off the spot and call it day.

Pictures coming soon.