Page 5 - Mountain Fork News Today

At Pat Mayse last weekend, I noticed only a few bass have moved into the shallows. There was more activity in the early morning hours, and they were pretty aggressive. They were hitting on bladed jigs, lipless cranks and spinnerbaits. Around 9 a.m., the aggressive ones disappeared and then, staying shallow, a black-and-blue jig seemed to be the better choice, just flipping in and around the flooded buck brush. After 9 a.m., main lake and secondary points were only fair, but you can catch a few ...

Water temps are on a warming trend with temps in the high 40s to low 50s. What this tells me is that very soon fish will be on beds, or

Rain and high winds continue to keep a lot of fishermen off the water. If you study your lake maps, you’ll find several spots on most of our area lakes that have protected coves. Those coves might not be your first choice, but you might find that they’ll be rewarding, plus you’ll learn more about that lake. Late afternoons or very early mornings are productive right now, provided you have a comfortable area to fish. You have to make repeated casts to your target and your presenta...

High winds and cold rain have kept a lot of fishermen off the lake. Even though these tough conditions are far from ideal, especially with water temperatures on most of our area lakes in the high 40s to low 50s, it’s still the best time to catch that fish of a lifetime.  Fighting the high winds and the cold makes it really hard to be comfortable, but if you choose an area that is protected from the wind, it can help. Many of our lakes have areas where you can launch and fish where you a...

Wintertime conditions continue on Pat Mayse, as well as our other area lakes. Most of our lakes are still slightly above normal pool. High water usually scatters the fish, even in winter conditions, and this is really challenging because in cold water only, the fish should be bunched up, but now with high water, they are scattered. However, when we get a couple of warm afternoons without any rain, water levels will be falling. When we reach normal pool, the fish will bunch up again on rock, hum...

Well, it’s about a couple of weeks until Christmas, and I finally finished my shopping. Usually I wait until two days before so this gives me a breather.