smallmouth99
08-28-2011, 04:33 AM
I need to start panning a trip for next year. I want it to be the best time and location for smallies.
Please let me know the best time and part of the lake. I have been there 2 years now. I am bringing a guy that has never been there and he is getting a lot older now. This may be the last year he will be able to fish and I want him to have a sore thumb all week.
BlueRanger
08-28-2011, 07:25 PM
Historically, the peak fishing has been during the third week of May, and I always banked on that when scheduling my spring Smalliepalooza vacation and hit it perfectly for at least 10 years in a row. However, it's been a couple weeks later in 2 of the last 3 years, so it's hard to predict what next year will bring. Fortunately, I usually have the flexibility to adjust my vacation at the last minute. I only remember it being early once in the last 15 years - I took my dad crappie fishing in Blair the day before opener, and we found 64 degree water and bass already on beds (and all over our crappie jigs). There really is no best part of the lake - there are great stretches of shoreline everywhere. But depending on how the warmup occurs, there can be a progression of spawning activity over a period of several days, or most of the Flowage can all go at once. With a steady, gradual warmup, there can be several weeks of good prespawn action in the shallows, beginning as early as opening weekend. Other years it's very slow right up to the day that they're actually on the beds - usually this happens when it's a cold spring broken by a sudden spell of 80 degree weather.