I was on Francis today with Caro and Dave trying some new spots in an area I had never been before.... After all the crazy bags i've been seeing this year I figured I would try a completely new area of the lake. We had very little wind so it was awsome to see the fish but we simply coudn't get them to bite.. We caught a few decent smallmouths drifting along a channel edge and in 15+ ft of water. While looking for some rock piles we noticed a nice patch of lilipads that we couldn't resist. It didn't take long before a small largemouth hit my frog... We spent about 45 mins trying for largemouth and missed a BIG one.. Those damn frogs!!
The search for new smallmouth spots was not working so well, so we decided to go back to some known good spots closer to the launch and I saw something I had never seen... I mean we always see fish in this area... but this time was just nuts! We came across a school of at least 30 smallmouths on a sand flat it was unbeliable. The smallest one must of been over 3lbs and there were several over 4lbs. They had obviously saw us so we decided to drift down for awhile to come back later with a better approach. We caught a few average sized ones on the drift but no big ones.. Just before leaving I wanted to try the smallest and most natural looking lures I had... We tried leeches, 3 and 4 inch worms, 3" gulp alive minnows, gulp alive crawfish.. All on superlight line and tiny hooks... The best we got was a follow but none of them would actually commit!! We tried for over 30 mins with everything we had but no takers.... Considering the location and the amount of fishermen in the area i'm assuming they have seen their share of lures.
I might have a tourney next weekend but if I can I am definitely going back on Francis to find those huge brown ones everyone are talking about!!
