I thought about hitting LJ in the morning to test out the boat fix.  On the morning of the 4th, I finished sealing up the seams and was ready for it to dry by my shakedown run.  I actually flipped past the news and saw hours and hours of lines and too many people down at the beach, so I decided to opt for a little lake fishing.  With the boat sitting for 3 months, something is always bound to freezer up or not work and with the guys working on my center console, they were also bound to potentially break something without knowing since this boat has a bunch of little intricacies.

I headed out to Jennings and there were a few boats dropping in.  No sweat as I wasn't on a timeline.

The lake was beautiful but awfully warm and sunny.  First thing I noticed was my newly installed bait pump was on but not pumping so I guess I have a air leak in the line somewhere.  I did get it to go so I know it works, but air is getting in somewhere.

Second was the trolling motor.  I would occasionally get the spot lock to work, but the motor wasn't responding.  I think I have a loose wire somewhere not giving it 24V of power since it turns left no matter which arrow I hit on the remote and then just beeps and does nothing. 

In any case, that makes fishing pretty damn tough in this lake.

I cruised around a bit and only saw 5 bass total all morning.  I hooked the first one for all of 1 second and had another appear out of the blue when I was ripping my bait in to cast again.  Other than that, they didn't want anything to do with my creature bait or anything else I put in front of their face.

I moved around and found a big submerged brush pile with what looked like fish on it.  There was no wind, so I knew I could cast there for a bit. 
A few casts in and I hooked a small bass but he wasn't big enough to pop the worm hook out of the creature bait.  I switched to a night crawler and went to fly line it in his face when a swarm of bluegill came up of all sizes!  I was going to keep a few but decided to just release as I caught well over a dozen before that little bass decided he didn't want all of the bluegill feeding without him and I got a little 11" bass on the crawler. 

Then I see explosions out in the middle of the lake!  They looked like stripers, but definitely weren't largemouth!
I metered some big fish and tried everything but no luck.  The lake is in an apparent shad spawn as there were tons of wiggles with eyes out there all over the lake.  I even started trolling but nothing.
I called it quits when I started burning to a crisp and found out the lake has Wipers in it.  I do remember a picture with someone catching one a few years back, but apparently there are still a population in there that like the mid water column.

Looks like I have a new target when I finally get the trolling motor and bait pump situation resolved.  At least the center console seems rigid and safe again!

I'll get pics up later, but I'm here at work at the moment.

Thanks for reading!

Quote from: jrodda on July 01, 2026, 08:19:10 PM

Quote from: Latimeria on July 01, 2026, 07:11:30 AMWell Koga sent me some AZ bass plastics from 5150 so I'll have to try them out.  To be honest, they look like great little baits!

The little 2.5" swimbaits? I've caught a few on those from him, solid play.

6" dropshot worms.  Good freshwater bass stuff

I really do love all of that old west sort of look in those towns and BTW... That is a LOT of JERKY!

I just felt like seeing what everyone's plans were for the holiday...  Feel free to add your own answer.  lol

Well Koga sent me some AZ bass plastics from 5150 so I'll have to try them out.  To be honest, they look like great little baits!

Any updates?

The boats in the driveway and the console seems pretty legit!  All I have to do is put a bead of silicone around the console and it should all be good!  I normally would never take it out on a big holiday weekend like this, but I'm jonesing hard.

Quote from: Dark_Knight_9C1 on June 29, 2026, 03:33:20 PMThat was some good catching. Great conditions.

Also heard Carp. I'll be hitting Big Bear Lake for some this holiday weekend.

- Keith

The carp I saw jumping out of the water might have body armor they were so big.  I'll be renting some cabins in a few weeks and will be sure to try and catch one of those bruisers!

Well, I found a "buddy of a buddy" willing to fix the boat.  Unfortunately, the supplies he had me order too a week+ to get here since it could only be shipped via ground transportation. I feel like they might have skimped a bit, but was assured it will be good for another 16 years.  All I have to do is throw a bead of silicone around some of the edges. 

I'm picking it up today and running it home during my lunch break.  My boatless driveway has been a sorrowful sight these last few weeks.  Now I only hope to get out there and catch something, although the deepwater rockfishing will be closed by the time I launch it.

Dude, I have to make time to get up there.  That looks like such a cool place to spend some down time and fishing!  The hardest part will be talking my wife into it since she always wants to use vacation where there are warm beaches and palm trees.

Some really cool stops along the way!  I love seeing that old stuff and makes me feel like I should bring my metal detector up there.

BTW... Just buy her the 'Toon already!   lol

No sweat, but bummer it wasn't more action.  I know that wind and cold turned off a lot of the bite, but at least you found them.  Something that would have been much easier to do in a boat or a second day on the tube.  lol

Happy birthday boss!  I remember being down in PB/MB on my 29th birthday myself...

The boat is supposedly fixed, although I will have to just add a bead of silicone and it should all be done.  I'll keep you posted.

I'm working on finding an online place that will send the letters to our reps and the DFW.  I'll hopefully get that out this week,

The pickles are on the way out but the tomatoes have gone wild!  Time to work those top tomatoes!

Caprese


Snacks


Mexican Shrimp c*cktail


Also made a ton of Salsa Fresca and plenty of homemade pasta sauce.  (We used a bunch already just from this pot so there wasn't much to can)







Cucumbers have been small during the late harvests, so plenty of pickle chips still to be made.



Well, at least it's a start.

I haven't been able to hit Santee Lakes in quite a bit.  I was going to head down to the bay to bass fish, but the traffic and people last week scared me off.  Also, my shoulder is shot so I wouldn't have to cast as much freshwater fishing.

It was nice to just run down the street and I brought my trusty Ninja Rod.  Conditions were nice with a little breeze by 8:00am, but schools of baitfish were everywhere!  There must have been a shad spawn or something.



I saw a few bass smashing the bait balls, but also saw some JUMBO carp jumping out of the water!  Holy smokes were they big!

In any case, the next few hours were fun.  All of the bass were legit which was pretty exciting to say the least.

First on the board.



They were definitely in the "That's a lot of fun" category.  I used a subtle technique for a few of them, but they were smashing it on the surface also!  The sound of "PLOOSH!" is a really exciting sound and maybe even better than a screaming reel!



All the fish were within a +/- pound of each other.



I lost one that sounded like it would have been a 5 pounder, but it was probably just an aggressive 3# model.

It wasn't wide open by any means, but in 2 hours I went 4 for 5 on bass and that was alright.
It was by no means Lake Barrett fishing, but damn good for the puddles.



I worked 5 of the 7 lakes (pretty quickly) and will definitely be back again soon if I could get out of work at a decent hour.



Thanks for reading and until the next Puddle Excursion!