This week my report is just a little different and I want to share a few personal things before I get to the fishing. First Lisa’s son Mark and his soon-to-be bride Amanda are tying the knot tomorrow and we’re all pretty stoked around Cast Away Cove. We’re all very happy for them and starting a new life together. Secondly, a little update on our little dog Chigger. He fell pretty ill a few days ago and we were all but certain we were going to have to put him down today, but that little joker bounced back this morning and started eating and drinking again. He had been checked out for the last 3 days and just paced day and night. He hadn’t recognized me for the last 2 days, but he knew who I was this morning. I really believe that some new foreign chicken snacks we gave him made him very sick. We’re not out of the woods yet but hopefully he’s on the mend. Lastly, every once in a while, I run into someone who thanks me for writing reports, answering questions and making videos to help others on our lake and I really appreciate the kind words. A neighbor thanked me just a little while ago out on the lake and I told him the good Lord asks us to live our lives in service to others. I believe you can find it in the pages of Matthew and Peter and among other places throughout the Bible, but we all need to be in service to others in some way whether it’s at your everyday job, first responder, serving in the military or writing fishing reports. I really enjoy what I do, and no thanks are necessary. Now on to the fishing.

This week actually started last weekend, right after my last report when I had a chance to get out for a while to try a few new baits. LJ, from Lanier Baits hooked me up with a few of his new hard swimmer prototypes so I put the chrome swimmer to work. I had it tied on when I was out throwing a spybait on the main lake when a few fish started schooling beside the boat. I had the video camera rolling so here’s my first cast with the hard swimmer and another fish a little later in the morning.

Here’s a couple more fish from my trip with the hard swimmer.

Another bait I was throwing off and on that morning was the spybait. Once again, I had the camera rolling when I boated a nice 4.3 on the spybait and I also added some instructional stuff to the video as well as a cast to catch video of the 4.3 at the end of the video. Here’s the video and a picture of the 4.3.

No fishing on Monday so I was back at it Tuesday morning and I was actually greeted with some wind in the morning. I’ve been saving this one bait for a nice windy day and that bait provided me with a lot of fun last year, so much fun I wore the chrome off the old one last year. That bait was the 120 chrome Choppo. I tied that sucker on Tuesday morning and slap wore them out in the wind all morning. It was a steady retrieve with no ripping necessary and I had at least one fish boated at every stop. I tried the same thing with my ghost choppo pattern, and I also tried a solid shad pattern choppo 120 but the only one the fish would react to was the chrome choppo. It was just like last year when I wore all the chrome off my last one. Unfortunately, this one broke off on a fish right before I was coming in Tuesday afternoon, but I’d venture to guess the chrome choppo 120 accounted for 20+fish. Here’s a few from the morning.

Wednesday, I had a doctor’s appointment, so I didn’t get out till lunchtime, and it was brutal hot with little to no wind. I didn’t stay long and only took a couple of pictures, but I was starting to put something together. Here’s a couple from Wednesday. I also did pretty well with the smaller fish in the afternoon on the spybait. The spybait always does better in the afternoon.

By yesterday morning I started figuring out that these fish wanted chrome. I had a few z-dogs in a chrome pattern, so I tied one on just to see if I was right and sure enough, they went after the z-dog in chrome while denying other topwater baits. I tied the Casper shad pattern on, and they were not interested in that or a solid bone color, but it was obvious that they wanted the chrome. I had caught them on the chrome hard swimmer and the chrome choppo earlier in the week, so it only made sense that they were attracted to the chrome and the success with the chrome z-dog just proved it. Here’s a few pics of some of the fish and the chrome z-dog I was using this week.

I may have another video to put out this week with more of the hard swimmer catches. It’s been a good option for me off and on over the past week. Here’s a pic of the hard swimmer.

In terms of bigger fish, I would have to say that the best bait this week was the chrome 120 Choppo when there was wind and bigger chop, the little g-fix spybait for the flat/calm water, especially in the afternoon. If there was a small to medium chop, I used the little chrome z-dog. They would also come up a whack that little z-dog even when the wind would die down at times. Lastly, I was dropping a little bit with Blue Lily this week. No big girls on the drop shot this week but it’s coming soon. Water temps are hovering around the mid-eighties and the lake level is approaching a foot below full pool. The Corps is generating during peak usage hours in the afternoon and evening, and I think the drop shot bite is picking up during generation periods. If you’re on the lake this week, be safe and good luck~!