Fun Fishing

Got out to this weekend for some fun fishing and a little prep on Harlan.

First, I made my annual fun trip to Cottonmill this weekend.  I usually go in June, but ran a little behind this year with my busy schedule.  I always enjoy Cottonmill as it gives me a chance to fish vegetation (my favorite).  Fish were much smaller than I usually catch there, but that's due to the time of year.  In June, the bass are usually in early post-spawn and the bigger fish are up cruising and feeding in the shallow grass.  By July, the bigger fish have mostly moved to deeper water and the sanctuary provided there.  I however, chose to fish shallow just because I could.  I really enjoy flipping a hollow bodied frog to reed pockets.  I caught several this way, but did much better swimming a toad and even caught a few flipping into dark holes around the brush piles.  I caught a few around 2 to 2 1/2 lbs, but most ran less than 2.  I'm already looking forward to next year.

Also got on Harlan a couple of days to finish some prep for the upcoming Nebraska High School State Tournament on the 27th.  I'm not super optimistic about the prospects for the kids.  The lake is fishing extremely tough (for Bass).  The water temp is staying fairly consistent around 78-80 degrees, but the water level is dropping quickly.  I expect the lake will be about a foot lower next Saturday.  My first day out, I fished until 2 and had to work hard to catch a limit.  The best 5 went around 16-17 lbs and I had 2 that were pretty big (over 4).  The fish were scattered and I spent a lot of time fishing new water.  I actually had a pretty good day catching catfish, drum and walleye.  The catfish ate spinnerbaits, the walley ate tubes (shallow) and the drum crushed a jig.  By the way, that was a monster drum (I thought it was a wiper)!
My second day was not as fruitful.  I only fished about 3 hours and went with the sole purpose of fishing some off-shore structure.  Empty, notta, not gonna happen!  I didn't mark (electronics) much but white bass out deep and struck out on largemouth.  I finally went shallow and found the fish, but they are not biting.  The young of the year shad are abundant and the bass are gorging themselves.  I talked to some folks pre-fishing and they were pretty discouraged.  It disappoints me the tournament is in late July during the toughest part of the year.  It really doesn't showcase Harlan.  It is tough for someone familiar with the lake right now, and I can't imagine how it would be for someone here for the first time.  I hope things improve by next weekend.

We'll, that's about it.  Stay safe, God bless and good fishing!