My good friend, Thomas Wicker, and I called an audible Wednesday night and headed to Prairie Lee instead of Jacomo. We didn’t want to deal with the tournament guys all over the lake and figured we’d have a little more to ourselves. It was the right call! Here’s how we did!
Details:
- When: July 10, 2019 between 6-9pm
- Air temp: mid to upper 80s
- Water temp: 83 degrees
- Water clarity: stained, less than a foot of visibility
- Weather conditions: clear and sunny
- Target species: largemouth bass
- Baits used: Ned rig, jig and pig, crawdad plastics on a straight-shanked hook, popper, and zara spook
- Equipment used: Lews spinning combo, Lews baitcast combo, fluorocarbon line or braid for the sinking baits and monofilament line for topwater baits
Video:
Notes:
The afternoon started off fairly slow as we worked the east side of the lake around towards the dam. We caught a few on a Ned rig, but nothing of keeper size and no numbers to speak of.
Having used garlic scent the night before on a different lake and having spectacular results, I decided to try it again in Prairie Lee. It didn’t seem to have the same effect. Thomas was not using the scent and caught more fish.
Most of our bigger fish came near the bluffs on the north side of the lake and the water outlet that flows into Jacomo. I tried throwing my bait into the running water and letting it carry down to a secondary pool below the main lake. The plan worked to perfection but I didn’t get a bite on the frog. If someone threw a popper or Zara spook down into that water flow and let it float down there a ways, maybe that would get a bite when it reaches the secondary pool.
Key takeaways:
The weight of the Ned jig head seemed to be very important. I was throwing a 1/5th oz Shroomz head from Z-Man compared to the 1/10th oz that Thomas was throwing. While I ended up catching quite a few fish on the night, he caught more, and also caught larger fish throwing that smaller weight.
The topwater frog bite was nonexistent in the weeds around the lake. Our topwater bite came on poppers or zara spooks. Most fish hit on the pause and sometimes hit it before we even had a chance to move it. The pause was dramatic, not just a split second. The bait needed to sit there for several seconds.
Some of our better bites came within 30 yards of people swimming near the water outlet, so don’t let the activity deter you from trying out a spot. You never know what might be there!
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Thanks for the video. I believe I have more luck catching bass at Prairie Lee than I do at other local lakes.