As we sit here on the eve of the TNCBA's third stop of the season, the weather is finally starting to cooperate...we are having several consistent days of warm sunny weather...and even better, we don't have a freak cold front that is going to wreck tournament day.
Don't let yourself get to excited about tomorrow...it isn't going to be a sunny day stroll to 20 lbs. The potential is certainly there for a big bag tomorrow, but Douglas Lake will not give up her big girls easily.
Douglas Lake has fish in all three stages of the spawn right now, but in my opinion...the majority of the bass are in the pre-spawn to spawn stage. With that being said the lake itself is very different right now from one end to the other.
We will start at the dam and work our way up to the river:
Lower End:
The lower end of the lake is certainly the clearest and coolest of the three sections. The bass are also much more pre-spawn in this area. Water temps yesterday were mainly in the upper 60's yesterday and fish seemed to be located on bluffs and secondary points.
Mid-Lake:
The middle section of the lake (which i consider above Muddy Creek up to Swan's) has a nice stain to it. Visibility was about 2'-3' and the water temperature was in the low 70's by the end of the day. The bass in this section seemed to be on the verge of moving up on the beds. We caught one yesterday that had been on the bed, but we also caught several pre-spawners.
Upper End:
Water temps up the lake reached into the mid and upper 70's yesterday with the most stain you will find. There was much more bedding action reported out of this end of the lake.
Douglas is very much a mixed bag right now and I don't think you can say go fish shallow and stay shallow or go fish deep and stay deep. It will all depend on where you want to fish tomorrow. Based on our practice from yesterday...fish will be caught from less than 3' to more than 15'.
We got our day started early before daylight had broke and we were throwing a black buzzbait and by 6:45am we had had two in the boat and two blowups. Once the sun started to get up, the topwater bite was completely gone. After the topwater deal we switched to spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and crankbaits. The crankbait bite for us was non-existent all day long and I think that was due to the lack of wind and cloud cover. The spinnerbait got bumped a couple of times in the shallows and we caught one off of a small secondary point on a chatterbait. All of this had probably taken place by 9am and after that time the moving bait bite died. After 9am we really slowed down throwing carolina rigs and worms. The carolina rig bite was not as good as it was last Saturday, but the quality was better. The c-rig was dominant on river rock and some off shore rock veins. The worm bite was or most dominant bite of the day with ten - fifteen of our fish coming on the green pumpkin finesse worm on 45 degree banks.
I feel like this full moon has pulled a wave of fish up to the shallows and I think fish will be moving up while we fish on Saturday. This is the time of year that areas can replenish throughout the day.
With bass all over the place right now...the only recommendation that I can give right now is don't get stuck in one frame of mind. Don't constantly pound the shallows just because you think they "have" to be there. If you are not getting bit shallow, move out deeper and forget about those spawners for a little while and focus on that mix of pre and post spawners that are out deeper. The weather tomorrow is going to be warm, sunny, and calm winds. The water is rising and is much higher than what it was last year.
Fish hard and enjoy this beautiful Easter Weekend!
See you on the water!