[Shannon]

We went to West Lake yesterday, started at 7:15. We hit quite a few places trying to locate some good groups of fish. We started in some pads  with hydrilla around them and Kissimmee grass scattered amongst them. I caught two in this area on a weightless trick worm (color - kinda cotton candy/methiolate clear - I'm not sure the exact color) my partner Greg had three fish on a swimming senko, they were all small 12-14 inch fish, and we both missed two or three there. We started running around different areas, we cranked some open water hydrilla for a while and Greg picked up one more bass on a baby minus. I caught a whopping 40 inch Gar on a Lucky Craft LVD, what a great fight, after the first minute I knew it wasn't a bass because it didn't come up and I didn't think it was a mudfish because it never rolled, but boy did it ever pull some drag. My concern was losing a fifteen dollar crankbait, Greg got the net after about 10 minutes of fight and we could only fit half the fish in the net, but that was enough to snag one of the trebles in the net while I grabbed the pliers and shook the fish off. We went and hit a bunch of other spots with no luck, then we stopped by some docks with a hyacinth mat around them and I caught another keeper flippin a Gambler 4" black/blue tail bacon rind and we missed two other fish there on a floating frog and a horny toad. We moved shallow for a bit on the West bank and caught three buck bass on worms in a foot of water, we didn't see any beds yet. Our total for the day was Greg had 5 keepers, I had 3, we both had a few shorts, and 3 or 4 misses each. Water temps ranged from 71 to 76 degrees, the water was murky most places from the wind that picked up, some areas they had sprayed the pads (we didn't find anything going on in these areas), the hydrilla looks great in most places we found it, the Kissimmee grass is kinda brown right now, and the majority of the fish we caught were holding near the edges between two different types of vegetation in 2 - 4 feet of water. Things are about to change with the approaching cold front, I think the fish are still unsure what to do with the recent weather ups and downs, and this will definitely change things for this Saturday's tournament.

 

[imonembad]

I've never fished there but here is my $0.02 worth. If I was in a tournament and the water conditions were the same as what you describe I would key in on transition areas that lead to the spawning areas. spinnerbaits, c-riged lizards,and a floating worm. Sounds like you did all that, I'd check all that again. You know how much a week changes things this time of the year. Good luck I hope you do well. Drew

 

[hi steel basser]

I believe there were a couple of tournys won early Last year by fishing jigs in isolated patches of grass in the early prespawn down there.

 

[fish4funinfl]

Good luck on the tourney, Shannon.

 

[Shannon]

We were checking the transition areas or at least where we thought they should be staging and the pathways leading into the shallow flats.
I was also throwing baits that I had made notes about from last winter regarding the baits I used or baits guys I fished with had used last season in pre-spawn conditions. I'm personally not big on jigs, I throw them but have very little confidence in them, but I was pitching and flippin small creature baits / brush hogs, and we switched around with different crank baits and spinnerbaits.
Thanks Rodney, I will post a report Monday.

 

[Guest]

Good luck on your tourney.

I see you said you don't have much confidence with jigs, but you do like fishing with brush hogs. Put one of those brush hogs on a jig for a trailer and see what that does for you, if you haven't already. That is how I fish my jigs most of the time.