Weather / Fourth of July traffic
It's beautiful but steamy. Yesterday's thunderstorm dropped about half an inch at Monkey Island, cooling things off. The water is really clear and the lake very stable heading into the Fourth of July. Next week, especially after Tuesday or Wednesday, fish early in the morning before the big boats, WaveRunners, surfers and tubers churn up the lake. The upper end (the mouth of the Elk River up through Three Fingers to Twin Bridges) will be calmer. The Elk River and Honey Creek will be busy, and Sailboat Bridge to the dam extremely busy, especially if it stays warm and sunny with lighter winds.
Jeff learns Black Bass
Jeff is applying his years of Crappie, trout, White Bass and Catfish experience (boat control, LiveScope, fish finders and GPS) to consistently target Black Bass. As head of Luck E Strike, with all these Bass lures, he wants to learn how they perform. Fun fishing this week, he Carolina-rigged a Tequila Sunrise Ringworm (a kit now, individual packs later this summer) on long mid-lake points and caught some nice Bass.
Owen's big Bass
Last Friday Jeff's youngest son Owen switched to Luck E Strike's PB&J (peanut butter and jelly) football jig with a crawdad trailer and caught Bass of 6, 4½ and 3 pounds. Jeff was cranking a 3/8 oz Scrounger with a Craw Bug from the Craw Bug kit, the crawdad Guido and Dion Hibdon designed for Luck E Strike, originally called the Guido Bug. He had two really nice bites: one broke his line, and the other he fought until it was almost in sight. Jeff promises more Bass information than the report has had maybe since Ivan Martin, since Bass anglers are tight-lipped.
Dealers
The Grove Walmart has a starter assortment of Luck E Strike. Trish at Littlefield's has the catalog and is interested, and Laramie at L&L Outdoors in Jay has the catalog and pricing. Jeff wishes his buddy Toby Keith were here to talk about it, because he had such a passion for it. Jimmy Houston is telling everybody, and Jeff credits the many great Bass anglers and earlier owners behind the brand's Bass products.
Crappie
Haydn is catching a lot of Crappie, now more on brush piles than docks. He mostly uses minnows, but he'll cast a Lucky Bug or a little Crappie Scrounger to pick off fish up on top before moving in with minnows.
Catfish / dock lights
Neighbor Lance, fishing his dock this morning, says Catfish are biting at the point of Shangri-La. People have been fishing Jeff's dock lights at night and catching fish, and he enjoys watching them. In summer heat, find dock lights to fish, but don't get on anyone's dock, and treat everything respectfully.
VIP Day Spa / OnGrandTime
Visit Patricia's VIP Day Spa on Grand Lake and OnGrandTime.com for t-shirts, hats, coasters, stickers and beach towels with custom artwork. "We're living on Grand Time."