laKe lopEz
lake we were concentrating on the outside areas where we expected to find the pre spawn, female bass that would weigh more than the smaller, male bass inside making beds. as we fished down the bank, i noticed my line slowly moving out to deep water. i set the hook. My dobyns 743 SF spinning rod bowed down to the water as the big bass dove out to the depths.
After a couple strong runs I was able to get the 5-lb bass to Kenna’s waiting net and into the boat. on the very next cast not 20-feet from the last cast, i felt a bite before my YUM dinger hit the bottom. i set the hook on a second 5-lb bass in consecutive casts. about five minutes later, i caught another 5-lb bass on the other side of this small secondary point. That meant 15-lbs of bass in less than a half hour; because we were looking for the larger female bass setting up to move in on the next full moon to spawn with the males that were already in the shallows.
My point in telling this story is that even though we didn’t catch big weights in practice, by paying attention to the bites that we did get we were able to put together a plan to give us a chance to get the bigger bites we all look for. Springtime can be unpredictable to a certain extent; but lopez lake can produce bass over 10-lbs. They can be caught if you listen to what the fish are telling you.
As summer sets in and the spawn is complete the bass will move out to those main lake points that i like so much and begin the process of recovery, putting back on the weight they lost spawning. Since these bass are in the mood to feed and the warm, consistent days of summer are here the aggressive bass will bite. a Fat Free Shad crankbait and YUM Money Minnows are baits that you can use to cover water to find them. if they aren’t the big ones you are looking for, put the Booyah jig with the Wooly Bullee to work and you may catch the bass of a lifetime here in lopez lake.
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