I made an early morning trip in hopes of beating the crowds. The lake actually wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. In fact, I had most of wittenberg to myself. I started out throwing a buzzbait, but it just didn't feel right so I switched to a 4" watermelon/red log crawler. I caught a 3.6 and a 4.3 and had several missed bites along with one that I lost after wrapping me in the sticks and coming loose. They really liked this bait, but you had to be quick at setting the hook because they didn't hold on very long, even with scent added. I guess i'm just used to the senko where they hold on forever. After that bite got slow I moved out to some main lake points and only picked up one keeper on a split-shot robo worm. At around 11:00 the wind picked up and I started chucking a spinnerbait for a chunky 2lber, another one lost in the sticks and a 5.2, which I didn't get a picture of because my camera was acting up again. Anyway, here's the 4.3

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)

Nice fish, but you must have hands bigger then Shaq if that went 4.3- no worries, at least you got out there and whacked some fish. Tight lines-

Joey Cakes

aka "Sprinkles"

Joey,

I have to ask you. You've never posted before on the site. Your first post, right off the bat, you make a negative comment about Phil's fish. What's up with that? Before you go telling Phil (who has posted here for years) how big his fish are, why don't you introduce yourself, post a fish report, or say something positive?

Having moderated this forum for more than 3 years, it never ceases to amaze me how many people only feel motivated to post for the first time when they have something negative to say. If you want to be a part of the forum, please keep it respectful, we'll all be happy to have you.

thanks

-Rob

Thank you Rob.
And Joey, even though I don't feel that I need to prove how big my fish are, i'm going to try anyway. I don't know how accurate this will be, but I measured my index finger at 3", in the pic it's only 1" meaning that for every inch in the picture it's actually 3". The fish in the picture is 6.5". Multiply that by 3 and you get 19.5". According to this chart a 19" bass would weigh right at about 4.2. Satisfied? I don't know why I did all this work and I don't want to make a big deal or anything, but I just don't like being called a liar.
http://www.tttoutdoors.com/trophy.htm

Some good science there, Phil! I'm going to try that on my big bass that I didn't get a measurement or weight on. Did you ever check out if you can get vehicle access to launch a kickboat at Cottonwood cove?

Phil, didn't mean to step on your toes, like I said, nice fish. I know it's a buzzkill when someone new comes on with negative vibes, and I apologize. Glad to see you whacked some nice ones up there, hoping to fish Lopez in October. I owe you one.

Joe Joe

Joey,
No big deal. Everything's cool.


Ken,
I did check that out, but I forgot to say any thing about it. Yesterday when I was there I saw two cars that were parked out there near the waters edge. It's actually the launch ramp in mallard cove that you drive through to get to the water. I talked to a guy that got a 7lber out that cove a couple weeks ago, so don't hesitate to start fishing right after you launch.

Help me out here, Phil. Where is Mallard Cove.
Thanks.

Joey,
I appreciate your candor. I hope you have a good trip to Lopez when you go. Hopefully you'll put the hooks to some of those Lopez chunks :-)

-Rob

Dang it Phil, you stink! You keep catching all the bigguns while im too busy to make it to the lake!! :) I am really planning on going to the lake this weekend, so perhaps we can meet up or something if you were planning on going. Im impressed by all the big fish you've been pulling out. Perhaps its time for me to really learn how to bass fish at lopez. I havent done too well at lopez for some reason.

Joel

Phil,
I know you have been doing well lately, and it's never good to mess with success, but have you tried any jig fishing at Lopez much? I neve fished Lopez much when I was down that way, but I know it does have a strong jig bite from time to time. Maybe a 3/8 brown arkie style jig with a brown/purple flake twin tail. Or perhaps a black 1/2oz king kobra with a full size black and red brush hog trailer. I bet you could stick some nice fish as the water cools off :-) Thanks for all the reports lately.

Joel,
I think i'm going to try and get out tommorow after work and see if this storm is gonna stir up anything big. As for the weekend, i'll probably get out sunday morning. Nothing's for sure yet, but i'll let you know around friday or saturday. How about you Ken? Are you up for some fishing on sunday?
I couldn't find a map online that showed mallard cove. If you know where cottonwood is then mallard is in the same basic area. It's right across from the water slide.

Rob,
It's funny you should mention jigs. Just last night I was thinking of trying to throw jigs more at Lopez. So I went through all my jigs and tried to rig up some decent jig/trailer combinations. Thanks for giving me some ideas because I am just overwhelmed when it comes to them. I hear alot of people saying a jig is a jig, but when I look at it I see size, type, color, trailer etc... It's just alot to think about so every time I try a jig I toss it out a few times, don't get bit and then put it away and use something I have more confidence in. Like you said, when you can only get out for a short amount of time it's hard to expirement and chance getting skunked. I guess that's what becoming a good bass fisherman is all about though. I think tommorow i'll devote a little more time to throwing jigs and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the motivation.

-Phil

Can't make it this weekend, I'll be out of town. Next weekend I'll be available to fish on Sat or Sun.