Early summer pattern
Thanks from Excalibur Sporting Goods and KGVE. Fishing is really, really good as the lake moves into its early-summer pattern and clears up. Black Bass, White Bass and Crappie are biting, and weekends have been busy despite a few pop-up storms.
Catfish / noodling
Catfish are still on the spawn, though you can catch a few. Flatheads will go on the nest before long, and Blue Cats should come off toward the end of June. Hand fishermen could probably get bit right now, but Jeff warns that big Blue Cats aren't like Flatheads. Once they get your hand in their mouth, they "do donuts" on your fingers and it's really hard to get away. They're ferocious.
Finally, a Bass report
With the Luck E Strike assortment built and the catalog nearly out (White Bass, Crappie, Walleye and Black Bass), Jeff is gearing up to Bass fish. Luck E Strike has historically been even better known for Largemouth than Crappie. Grand Lake has a lot of great Bass fishermen, but the tournament anglers are tight-lipped with money on the line. Jeff sells tackle and wants to show how Luck E Strike's works.
The Scrounger
It has long been a mainstay for Bass anglers, but few have fished it for Crappie, White Bass and Walleye. Jeff has been running a 2½-inch Lucky Bug (the straight-tail Crappie bait with a flimsy, floppy tail) on a 1/8 oz Scrounger. He casts it over brush and to suspended Crappie and White Bass, finding them under the bridges in midday shade, and they hop all over it. It's easy to fish: cast and reel. The faster you reel, the more it wobbles. Jeff admits he didn't know how good Scroungers were until about a month ago.
Fishing with Jimmy Houston and Krystal Keith
Last week Jeff fished Jimmy Houston's Twin Eagle Ranch near Sulphur, Oklahoma, with Jimmy and Toby's daughter Krystal Keith. Krystal put a Whiskey Girl Lucky Bug on a 1/8 oz Scrounger and caught Bass of unbelievable size in Jimmy's 130-acre lake. Jeff caught all his Bass on a Scrounger dressed with the old Guido Bug crawdad, a black one with red pinchers. For Grand Lake Bass he'll go to about a 1/2 oz Scrounger on 30-pound braid with a 4- or 5-inch bait such as the small curl-tail Ringworm or the Guido Bug.
Made in Greenwood
It took a year to assemble the assortment and learn American-made manufacturing, painting and injection molding. There's now a great team in Greenwood, the catalog is done, and plenty of molds and tooling are waiting to produce.
Patterns
Crappie will be on brush piles, in shady areas and suspended. Troll for White Bass in the evenings with Swimming Minnows and Rooster Tails (or even a Scrounger) around Sweetwater, Governor's Island and the islands out at Sailboat. Midday, jigging spoons work around Goat Island and Sweetwater.