05-19-2013, 12:08 AM
Made our annual pelican "mans trip" this week and did pretty well!
Thursday morning at 6am we we had the truck packed and ready to take off. One last check of the boat trailer revealed a hub that was just about shot. Bummer. By 10 we had the hub replaced and were finally on the road!
Arrived at pelican that afternoon and got on the water. First couple minutes resulted in some decent 12" bucketmouths, bigger than what has been the typical fish in years past but it turned out that was just luck. We did pretty well that night despite the wind and landed a good number of 8" dinks with the occasional good size fish.
Friday morning dawned to a glassy lake and lots of fish willing to take a topwater bait! We landed several fish on white buzz baits including one big mama that blew up on me back in the weeds. We battled like crazy and I was really grateful for the 12lb fluoro leader trying to horse her through the reeds. I ended up winning the battle though and got to hold up a ~3lb female with spawning marks on her tail. I realized I had forgotten the camera at that point unfortunately and had to toss her back without any documentation, so you'll just have to believe me!
The rest of the day got windy but we did pretty well anchoring up in the tules and throwing spinner baits, catching approx 50 fish or so, most small but a few 12+ inchers. Best baits were a watermelon senko, and a green skirted silver blade spinner bait. Been a long time coming, but we had some amazing fish tacos that night!
[inline downsized_0517131851.jpg]
This morning we had high hopes for another great top water bite but it wasn't to be. The rain last night cooled the water at least three degrees and the fish weren't biting. Wind was a pain again and since yesterday was so good, we decided to call it a successful trip and head home a bit early.
[signature]
Thursday morning at 6am we we had the truck packed and ready to take off. One last check of the boat trailer revealed a hub that was just about shot. Bummer. By 10 we had the hub replaced and were finally on the road!
Arrived at pelican that afternoon and got on the water. First couple minutes resulted in some decent 12" bucketmouths, bigger than what has been the typical fish in years past but it turned out that was just luck. We did pretty well that night despite the wind and landed a good number of 8" dinks with the occasional good size fish.
Friday morning dawned to a glassy lake and lots of fish willing to take a topwater bait! We landed several fish on white buzz baits including one big mama that blew up on me back in the weeds. We battled like crazy and I was really grateful for the 12lb fluoro leader trying to horse her through the reeds. I ended up winning the battle though and got to hold up a ~3lb female with spawning marks on her tail. I realized I had forgotten the camera at that point unfortunately and had to toss her back without any documentation, so you'll just have to believe me!
The rest of the day got windy but we did pretty well anchoring up in the tules and throwing spinner baits, catching approx 50 fish or so, most small but a few 12+ inchers. Best baits were a watermelon senko, and a green skirted silver blade spinner bait. Been a long time coming, but we had some amazing fish tacos that night!
[inline downsized_0517131851.jpg]
This morning we had high hopes for another great top water bite but it wasn't to be. The rain last night cooled the water at least three degrees and the fish weren't biting. Wind was a pain again and since yesterday was so good, we decided to call it a successful trip and head home a bit early.
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