Is it just me or are others having a hard time finding an abundance of keeper largemouth on 8 the last few days? I was on some serious groups of keepers a week ago but the last 2 days have been tough for me to say the least. Today was really no different. I started my day in some stumps and wood to the south. The wind was pushing my boat up river so fast that It was hard to fish a spinnerbait on my 5:1:1 pinnicle. I only managed one fish in this area where several keepers including a 3.10 and a 4 lber were caught yesterday, and this one was just a dink. I quickly got out of this area and ran to a backwater lake that I haven’t fished yet this year. I really think this place would be loaded with fish if the water were higher. now that the water has gone back down, The coon tail is almost starting to make mats, and it can be tough to get around even with a Maxxum trolling motor. This lake put out a 13-1/2″ chunker and a real nice 15″er that looked like a football! That fish went around 2-1/2 lbs and was about ready to burst.
This was it for this area and I was starting to kick up wayyyy too much black muck with the TM so I got out of there and on to a spawning bay that has been producing quality fish for me for years. This bay requires some patience and stress to get into but the reward is worth it. You have to cross about 20 yards of pure muck flat. this water is just inches thick and even on plane there is no way to get in. With the south winds I was pretty much able to drift over it with the motor up but It still was serious work. When I got in, it instantly paid off with another 2-1/2 lb fish. I missed a real good hit and eventually stuck a fatty 3-1/2 lb largemouth that hit 17-1/2″ (tail swipe) on my bump board.
These fish already put me at about 8-1/2lbs for 3 fish and I still had several more hours to fish. Unfortunately, the day just didn’t pan out. Maybe I should have disected the bay a little more or gone back to the backwater lake and absolutely picked that apart. I was only able to manage one more keeper that would have only hit around 1-1/2 lbs but probably 15 different fish in the 10-13-1/2″ range. All fish today were caught on spinnerbaits, or a swim jig in a certain dark color 
with the exception of one 13″ largemouth on a 4″ tube flipping wood. The hot deal definitely is shallow stuff with wood and weeds- and lots of them. You have to work for your fish but the ones that are coming to my boat in these areas, when they are keepers, are generally fatties. I have serious reason to believe these fish are working beds and there is no reason why they should not be spawning within the next week or two if the over night temps don’t drop any lower than 45 or so degrees. we have a lot of good fishing to come yet on pool 8!
-Cade
