Basin Report

Pulled the basin yesterday afternoon. Lots of sign and a handful of fish. No real pattern on lure preference. Caught them on lead with scatter raps, braid with DT’s & Tail Dancers. Color was random also. Overall a very tough bite given how many fish and bait balls marked. The ones we caught were pigs.

I spent 4 hours out there on Friday pulling lead and braid on boards and although like you say there was a ton of fish and bait I never even got a sniff. Hit several of my favorite spots and just couldn’t get them to go.

would you buys recommend trolling the basin off the mud flats or gravel?

I have caught more fish pulling lead off the gravel this year than off the mud. Mud right now is very slow…for me anyway. Don’t get me wrong, this is not normal and usually this time of year I am off the mud, but this year it just hasn’t happened. Don’t rule out either, but if it was me I would start off the gravel and if that didn’t work head toward the mud.

thanks sticker

do you guys ever try pulling cranks right on the mud or gravel breaks rather than out out in the basin?

only going to have 2.5 days up there this year (in 3 weeks) so trying to narrow down what my approach is going to be.

Absolutely I do. Especially on the gravel I go right up over the top of the bars. Sometimes on the mud too. All depends on where the fish are. A lot of times the fish are out in the basin but not biting so I move right to the edge of the break and if that doesn’t work go right up over the top. Keep moving around and fish the ACTIVE fish.

You should go look for fish and bait and find them before wetting a line. Some areas of the lake are loaded with bait and fish, others are void. This was my single biggest mistake in years past.

Thanks guys! holstc, have you been focusing around the mud or gravel?

This time of year I would focus in the basin near the mud to start. Trust your electronics, if you are not seeing bait and fish, move!