Ponder these problems

[SmartWeed]

This morning I awoke to what sounded like ocean breakers rolling in on the shore of Lake Lowell. There wasn't a breath of wind, so I knew the sound wasn't waves. Finally, after waking my wife to have her confirm that I wasn't hearing things, the light bulb came on and we realized that it was the thrashing of carp in the shallows during their spawn. The question here - do you believe that this activity effects the bass fishing? My own personal conclusion is that the bass move out of the shallows as the carp stir up the water with their spawning ritual.

My second problem occurred yesterday deep in the smartweed in the no wake area on Lake Lowell. I fought a really good largemouth for a few minutes and had several good looks at her. This fish looked to be in the 6-7 pound range. At a last ditch effort right next to the boat she bored to the bottom (about 7' deep) and wrapped me around the base of a smartweed plant. I had 30 pound braid on my reel, which is almost impossible to break. I spent 15 minutes or more trying to free that fish to no avail. I tried reaching down into the water and pulling the weed stems until I had broken them all off. I tried giving her slack line hoping she could swim off. Nothing worked. I finally wrapped the line around a pair of pliers, so as to not cut my hand on the line, and tried sawing the line through the stem. This seemed to be working when suddenly my line broke. I sat for a while, watching the stems far underwater shaking as that bass was still trying to free itself.

When I related that story to my wife, she said I should have circled the smartweed with my electric motor to unwind the line. I hadn't thought of that, but which way do you go? Then she said I should have stripped down and jumped in. Gads! I'm an old man and the water was 68 degrees. If I had thought of that, I might have done it. I hope that fish is free and unharmed - other than for the Chatterbait, which was well hooked in her upper jaw.
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[Bardic]

As far as the carp question, I have downloaded and watched a lot of the central coast bass videos on bass fishing and his opinion is that bass don't mind the water getting stirred up. Bass do very well in low visibility conditions and it gives them an advantage over their prey. So when a lot of fisherman will avoid a shallow area where boat wake has stirred up mud off the bottom he'll have really good luck fishing it anyways. You also have to assume that at least some forage fish will be there eating plant and small insect life that has been stirred up.
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[hulapopper]

bummer smartweed[shocked] i don't like fishing by the carp myself mainly because they muddy the water up real bad.

for losing the hawg....it's better to have hooked and lost than not hooking at all ! [fishin]
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[davehayes]

Interesting story, Smartweed. I fished the same area this morning (alone in red canoe) and noticed that carp were much more active than Monday a.m. Caught two bass (12'' and 16") between 6:30 and noon. Monday I did better taking five all about 14-16" between 9 a.m and 3 p.m. All on weedless rubber crawfish berhind 1/4 oz. bullet sinker.
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[SmartWeed]

Interesting story, Smartweed. I fished the same area this morning (alone in red canoe)

I saw you this morning. I was the guy in the G3 grey jet, with a brown dog in the bow telling me where to go. I fished from 9-12 up near access 3 and managed 9, but all were 14" and under. Most caught on a pearl Senko.

I should have mentioned that I don't mind losing any fish - if I get a look at them, and know what I've fooled.

I should also mention that when wading, I'm fishing the exact same areas I was fishing with great results before the carp started spawning. I watched one small bass take my bait right between two carp - but that is the exception here for me. I have been keeping track of the bass relationship with the carp spawn on Lake Lowell for the past 5 years and have definitely found a lack of bass in the shallow areas I fish once the carp start spawning. If I move out deeper I catch bass. In this same vein I have seen and caught smallmouth moving into areas where the carp are rooting (not spawning). I think the carp do stir up the crawdads when they move on to a flat and root around. But I've found the spawn to be different. If someone has different experiences here on Lake Lowell I'd like to hear about them.
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[davehayes]

Thanks for the reply. Smart dog! Mine in the canoe and we'd be swimming. Good info, I'm just learning about Lowell. Thanks again.
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