New but old lake - 42 fish - not bad for the 2nd time including revelations!

[SenkoSam]

I just recently found out about a lake my parents would picnic at on Sundays when I was a kid. Didn't know diddley about fishing nor what even a bass was though I did have fun roller skating at the rink. 57 years later the whole area is overgrown and unrecognizable including the lake that has a failing dam at one end.

The dam needed repairs years ago and the lake was mostly drained allowing most fish to be released downstream. There went the quality whatever that was! An inflow stream most likely provided a sort of natural re-stocking but the quality hasn't returned with small to medium size fish the norm. Heck, the lake is less than 15 minutes from home and a challenge trying different small lures - plus few anglers fish it.

The first time I fished it the wind was ridiculous at between 20-25 mph, but at least the more wind protected north cove had catchable fish. What was really weird was the shallow depth fish were caught on IE flats of only 2 - 3.5' ! There is little vegetation growing there but fish were hanging out (prespawn?) anyway. Small bass and sunfish are the predominant fish along with some crappie and rock bass (no pickerel thank God!)

All of these worked the first time I fished the lake:


This is an aerial view of the lake with the dam to the right and the inflow stream to the lower left (5' deep trench is the darker line):


Man do I love shorelines like this:



Other than catching many fish yesterday was discovering so much more about the bottom of the lake such as the trench leading from inflow stream into the lake and fish hanging out nearby on either side in shallow water. Other structure discoveries were some deeper water areas off the n.w. shore/ cove that were 4-5'. Fish were caught under overhanging trees in the shade and in open water on adjacent flats only 2.5' deep and toward the middle that abruptly dropped to 15'.

I hadn't cast a hair or feather jig in many years and figured why not:


Neither did nearly as well as soft plastic but about 8 fish were caught on the feather jig, very few on the deer hair.

What consistently caught fish in many parts of the lake was the taper tail grub:



...and a grub-to-grub body fusion minus curl tails, the same which caught fish wacky style using the same jig:


A crappie magnet (which is nothing more than a taper tailed grub with a slit), did as well as anything else:

...along with a methylate colored stubby stick I poured that morning:


It would have been so much more comfortable without the 15 mph wind and air temp of 65 degrees, but at least I discovered more about this small lake as well as lures that excelled, making this one of the most interesting I've fished in a very long time! Some would turn their nose up at lakes like this, but at my age certain body or water types keep my interest in lure craft and my enthusiasm alive while allowing a quiet peace of mind to prevail minus the noise of motorized watercraft, road vehicles or aircraft. Problem is, the state won't fund the dam's repair and who knows when the lake will be no more....
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[wiperhunter2]

Wow, sounds like a beautiful little lake, hard to find places like that where you don't have to deal with as lot of folks and that close to home is a plus too. That is a good variety of fish too, surprised there aren't cats in there or is there and you just did not catch any[:/]? Great report and pics thanks for sharing it with us. In the aerial view of the lake, is the black part in the middle the deeper part of the lake?
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[SenkoSam]

Update from yesterday's fishing on the same lake:

Unfortunately when I got there, pleasure kayakers were floating around key areas, but interestingly enough fish didn't seem bothered after an hour of quiet - even in shallow water where there were few weeds. I also caught fish just 15' away from a lady wading in shallow water with her splashing grandson.

As usual I wanted to confirm minor alterations to lures I've used so to have even a greater variety I can trust any time I fish a shallow (15' max) small lake.

This was a claw I cut from a bass crawday lure and attached it to a grub body. It always catches fish:


I never attached this hand poured tail to a grub body before but it caught fish!


The stubby tail grub always catches fish:

as well as this rockbass:


I hadn't cast a mini grub with fine tail connected to a float in a while but did catch 5 fish in 5 FOW.:


The Crappie Magnet like the others is a multi-species lure design similar to the stubby tail grub in its action and as usual caught fish - even a 3 lb. sucker!

...and crappie:


Here's the collection:


All were used with 1/32 and 1/24 oz jigs. that caught 66 fish according to the counter that included bass, sunfish(3 types), crappie, rock bass and that *#%!% sucker.
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[SenkoSam]

is the black part in the middle the deeper part of the lake?

No. The aerial photo is misleading. The lake bottom is like nothing I've seen at other lakes nor have I caught so many fish on shallow flats and in deeper water near them.

Catfish and other species may exist, but only having fished this lake twice hasn't allowed enough time to find them. If channel cats are present, it's just a matter of time when I'll catch them and maybe even mudcats on soft plastics. Just wish there were y. perch....
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[wiperhunter2]

It doesn't sound like the kayakers caused you too much problem. Sounds like just about everything worked for you there, might be because the lake does not get a bunch of pressure. We love to catch suckers here, they make great cut bait, for trout but also for perch and of course cats. Is that a green green sunfish or a redear.
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[SenkoSam]

Is that a green green sunfish or a redear.

I think I caught both plus two other types.
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