UPDATES:
Thursday, Feb 23rd, 2023
Its cold out, lake ice is gone, frost on the ground.
Caught 4 small bass on tiny 1/64 oz home made jigs (see pic) , Berkley NanoFil 4lb, 4# Seaguar Fluoro leader, on my smallest ultralight rig (Shimano Vanford vf1000f, StCroix Triumph 5'6 Rod) .
FISHING IS BACK BABY
Monday, Oct 3rd, 2022
Been a while. Been fishing everyday for the past 2+ weeks. Weather is beautiful, lake is low (no rain).
Crappie are biting pretty good. Crappie are hitting best on the dark (green, black) and combined with silver hair OR mostly silver hair, green head, red strip. Crappie are large (for this lake 9-12 inches). Love catching crappie
The large bass are not biting yet, but a ton of 4-6 inch bass are running .... catching a bunch. Largest bass in the past two weeks was 2 1/4 lbs. (on smallest ultra-light, lots of fun) I am using home made jigs pictured below. Made of #8 Mustad Dry Fly hooks, #9 clam shell led, then hair/thread of varying colors
Friday, June 24, 2022
Crappie and Bass have been strong all along. Been using jigs for everything ... Started making my own jigs that work great (along with the trusty Atomic Powerbait jigs by Berkley - these things just work!)
Below is a picture of the jigs I have been making: The two jigs in the pic at top of page are my most productive, most of the time.
The story behind the jigs I make:
I found that when fishing for any panfish or bass, fish strike most often when bait is 'floating slowly' downward. Fish are waiting for the bait to 'fall'. The trick is to make them fall slowly, so my entire ultra lite fishing set up is predicated on using super light weight jigs, which if you look at them closely, are really flies with a small weight at the front. Remember, Heritage lake is very shallow; about 3 feet (7 feet by the spillway which I don't fish). I make my own jigs from scratch using #8 hooks, with a 1/64oz clam shell weight at the front, glued to the shaft of the hook, then painted with jig paint. I then add lure materials as are shown in the box).
**Fishing with these jigs:
**I cast using my ultra lite, 4lb Berkley Nanofil (which casts like I am using thread) with a 2-4lb Seaguar fluoro leader.
(PSST ... Apparently, Berkley has already or is going to stop making Nanofil because it competes with their other 'filament' lines - Nanofil is by far the best throwing line, so I am buying up what I can of the 4 and 6 lb ... can't be beat for throwing light fly/jigs). I admit there are abrasion issues with it, but to me, it's worth it for cast-ability.
If you know of a better 2-6lb fishing line that throws good, please let me know on MY CONTACT PAGE
strong> I have used Yellow Seagaur 2lb Fluoro, 4lb Fireline.With 4lb Nanofil, I can cast a 1/64oz jig 30-40 feet max; 1/32oz jig about 50 feet. I slowly retrieve while jiggling the jure to make it “swim” and attract attention. I stop every 5 to 10 feet (lure floats down), start again .... Works just about every cast ... Incredible way to catch crappie and bluegill, which means bass too. I am not fishing for bass, per se, but I have been catching approx 2-4 in a two hour period along with 50ish panfish. Large Mouth Bass are a super bonus! I have caught 4 and 5lb bass on this setup and it is a thrilling catch.
Thursday, May 19 2022
Not catching many Bass as they are post spawn or in summer behavior now. Been catching a lot of very large Bluegill and Crappie (still) using green pumpkin colored tube jigs (which work great) from around 8am to 11am every day.
Presentation: slowly reel in and let settle where I think the fish are located, then slow bounce lightly, then settle again ... there are times when I caught a large Bluegill on every cast. Some were a foot long ...
Thursday, May 12 2022
Caught this 5+ pound beauty today …
Friday, May 6 2022
Been making some lures and crappie jigs, as you can see - fishing has been terrible - raining, windy, barometric pressure up and down every other day ... water muddy, full of debris. This coming week should settle down ...
I have been catching fish on the new lures. Its fun making my own lures and jigs (learning while I go) and catching fish on them. Caught a few bass and crappie.
Caught the largest bass I have caught yet at this lake - 4.5 lbs, 20" ... That was a great fight and show (jumped high out the water twice) ... caught it on my StCroix Advid med light 6'9" rod, Scheels 1000 open-face reel, 6 lb braided with 6 lb leader on small mepps 1 lure ...
Sunday, April 17 2022
Rainy, calm wind, catching small bass and 10 crappie using ultra-lite and small jigs (pic below). All in all, great fishing for the weather and temp. Its been cold mornings.
Broke my StCroix Premier 6' Med Light lifting a 2 lb max bass from the water. No reason that I can tell it should have broke. Contacted StCroix and they will ship me a new one after I send them the section of the pole with the serial number. Fair enough …
I have to say, this year has been spotty fishing at best - suppose it is the cold windy days most days. Hoping it will pick up in the next week or so ... waiting for the days in the 70s and nights in the 50s. That should trigger the spawn and things pick up significantly. Slow slow slow ...
Sunday, April 10 2022
Very windy this morning - low of 50, high 78 today - caught a nice 2 lb bass on ultra lite and size 1 silver mepps trouter spinner. (third from left in image below) No other bites ... slow slow slow. Forecasted to be very good fishing tomorrow ... will head out early ...
Thursday, April 7 2022:
It's been rainy a bit, fishing has been slow for the past week. Water is murky, 50+ degrees. Daily highs in 50-60s and lows 40-45s. Next week it is forecast to be in the 70s ...
Tuesday, March 15 2022
It's 6am, forecast is Sunny and 75 degrees today. Heading out to Heritage Lake to see if the bass are biting. The temp was 8 degrees in the morning a coupla days ago, so the bass might all be deep ...
Well, it's around 8am, chilly and windy, bass are biting; slow, but fun; have the lake to my self. Fished with light and ultra light gear. Caught a nice size bass on ultra light (no pic) that was fun.
Caught five ... here's one I caught with my light rig on a mini crawfish (orange and green)... maybe about 2 lbs.
I smash the barbs on all of my lures and return the fish to the water within 30 seconds so it's more of a sport and kind to the fish ... love the fish ...
Below is another one caught on my ultra lite - lots of fun bringing in. 2+ lbs
