santa delivers a report from clinton lake

   03-25-12 Clinton Lake - North Fork

Fished for the first hour in the coves across from the takeoff. Fishing was very slow for first hour till I figured out the secret. Bass holding tight to cover, mostly in less than 1 fow. It all started on the NE Corner of the bridge and worked way up the bank North of that. Water temp was 70 degrees and a massive shad die off was evident by the foul smell all across the lake. Every fish caught was gorging on dying shad. Ended up using a Hank Parker twin Indiana Gold Bladed Spinnerbait with no trailer to get the fish. Had to put in a lot of pauses every time you went by a piece of cover to evoke the strikes. Multiple casts along the cover were also necessary. The fish were holding so tight that if you were not right on the logs or rocks you would not get bit. Just because you caught one in an area did not mean you caught them all. Multiple times I caught 2 or 3 fish off of a single log. The biggest was about 2-3 lb and I also caught lots of the 12" variety which is a nice change of pace for clinton lake. No keepers, but some good fish. Air temp - 70 degrees - mostly sunny fished from 4-6 pm Water Muddy to a Very Heavy Stain could not see bait more than 3" down.

  03-26-12 Clinton Lake - Houseboat Cove

Fished from 6-7:30 pm, Cove still closed off due to protected spawning areas. Caught 1 12" bass using the same spinnerbait as the day prior on shallow wood, had a few short strikes should have used a trialer hook. Water temp was 67 degrees, was overcast and getting dark fast. The fish were shallow and right against wood again. No spawning activity present that I could see anyway water heavily stained 6" visibility. After checking the little cove in Houseboat went up to the riprap bank at Mascoutin and fished the outside bank off of the finger working way back into the restaurant (suprisingly it was open closed before I could get there though). Couple more short strikes and then I caught the 4-5lb er. Was super close to the bank and I was not more than 5 ft myself hugging the rocks as I paralleled the bank all the down. Only fished the spinnerbait all night, should have used a trailer hook or a squarebill crankbait but I only had a limited amount of time to fish before I had to leave anyway. Pictures never do the fish justice.....................