Cedar Creek Lake Feb 2018 Reports

2 quick reports: Yesterday I checked several spots on the south end but only caught fish at east and west ends of Long Ridge: 23 whites and 5 yellow bass. Today I started at 10am looking at Kevin's Point. Nothing there. Next at Iron Wall Hump and caught 6 there. Went farther north and checked Spillway Hump and the Rock Pile and nothing there. Caught 2 at Enchanted Isle Ridge. So, I had 8 fish in 3 1/2 hours. On the way back home I stopped at east end of Long Ridge and caught 17 more in an hour. Left for house when I reached 25 total whites - fish still biting. Still using white #4 Mepps keeping it close to bottom.

Nice, Dennis

Thanks for report.

Got out from 1 to almost 4 PM today. Looked at 3 spots and found good numbers of fish at 2 of them: Staubach Hump (24 fish including a 20 inch hybrid) and east end of Long Ridge ( 21 fish - all whites except for one nice yellow bass). I caught those at Long Ridge in about 30 minutes - all under the boat. Very thick - drop Mepps straight down, using rod lift it up from bottom just enough to make it spin. By 2nd or 3rd lift a fish was on. They were still biting that well when I had to leave for an appointment. Water temp was 50.4 degrees (coming up). Still using white #4 Mepps Aglia on 10 lb fluorocarbon line. Here's pic of fish under boat at Long Ridge:

Dang, looks like they were glued to bottom. Nice work in 50 degree water, will be trying your Mepp's technique soon on Somerville. Thank you for sharing your methods and success.

Good solid report D.C. you are right they are hugging the bottom right now for sure

Dennis's method works great on Sommerville.

Very nice Dennis. That is what my graph looked like Friday at Hubbard.

Dennis, do you think they would be to shy to hit this look-a-like using the straight up and down method?
I think I recall you saying you use 10 lb test flourocarbon, and wondering how line shy they are when cold.

Only answer is to try it. Let me know how it works.

I bet that would work great on schoolers.

I wouldn't use that with less than 30 lb braid!!!!

Steve Strasemeier and friend Robert came down to Cedar Creek Lake yesterday and picked me up at the dock for some afternoon fishing. Wasn't sure whether they wanted to dead-stick or structure fish. They opted for what I could help them with - which was structure fishing. So, we went to east end of Long Ridge (best spot lately) but no concentrations there. We eased over to mid part of the ridge and found some. We ended up catching good sized white bass there, the west end of Long Ridge, Mid-lake Hump and Staubach Hump - a total of 52. We fished from about 12:30 to 5:30PM. We caught some fish under the boat and some casting out and reeling in. Steve and Robert caught some on the white Mepps#4 as well as some other baits. The fish were all good-sized (13 to 16 inches), mostly fat females. Weather was great - calm and sunny. This is the first time I have fished with these two, and they love fishing as much as I do - we had a great time. Here are some pics of the trip:

Steve with nice white bass:


Robert with another good sandie:


Yours truly with white bass:

Huge sandies!

The sandies were big and the Master put almost all the fish in the boat. Dennis has his technique down to an art. Rob and I enjoyed the day and was taught a new way to put fish in the boat. Thanks Dennis for the company and the day on Cedar Creek. Hope you can join us on Whitney in the near future.

Sounds like a fun trip and more to come

Saturday morning.
What a great day to be on the water. 7 am and so foggy you could not see 50 yards but I knew where I wanted to go and used my Helix GPS to get me there safely. Started fishing and suddenly heard a gang fight. whoppin, hollering, and thumpin. Had to be Chris Webb, Lane Palmer, and crew. 2 hours got 27 whites and 6 crappie on tandem rigged Constant Pursuit outfitters jig and Jerry Taylor hand tied Grease Bath. 49 fow 30 ft down. Front hit at 9 and went from calm to 10 miles an hour in 5 minutes. Luckly less than 10 minutes to my dock.

Thumbs-up

Thumbs-up

Thank you for your service, sir. On your iPhone or iPad, view the pic and do a screen capture. That captured screen is saved as "pnp" pic format and will upload to TFF.

I will need to write to JP to make this process easier. Apple saves photos as "jpeg" files. TFF only uploads jpg and pnp files. Will ask JP to accept all three file types.

Thanks for the info. I captured and it uploaded as successful but only got a little box when displayed. See post.

Maybe you really cannot teach an old dog new tricks!

Thanks for the post. I was thinking about going out because of the calm lake, but that front hit.

We were out there, too, and it was super foggy. Watching that front come through was absolutely amazing. All of the sudden it got even darker than it had been all morning and that front swept through and pushed all that fog out. We had been hearing people all around us talking and laughing and seeing them all of the sudden was pretty cool. Then the wind started cranking up and within 2-3 minutes it was 15-20mph and picking up. We waited a minute or two and said "its time to GO!" Headed back to the ramp and by the time we got back up north it was 3ft rollers. Glad we took off when we did. But great fishing until then!

Went out yesterday and caught 41 and today and caught another 51. One was a 30 inch blue cat (pic below). Almost all the fish were caught on Long Ridge around the middle (shallowest) part of it in 20 to 23 fow. Water temp is 46.2 degrees and fish still on hugging-bottom pattern. I tested a white #3 and a yellow #4 Mepps against the white #4, which I have been using. The white #4 is best.

Blue cat caught on #4 white Mepps

I am amazed the fish are still that shallow there.

I agree, Gene. I saw a few as shallow as 17 fow yesterday - same hugging bottom pattern so I'm pretty sure they were white bass - but I couldn't stay on them. I have a question. Theoretically, colder water is heavier. So, as surface water gets colder due to cold fronts, doesn't that cause it to descend and you end up with water column all the same temperature? I also have another theory: white bass like sandy bottoms - hence sand bass. Maybe they like it so much at least some of them would rather nestle down against a sandy bottom in essentially the same water temp as opposed to suspending at 30 fow in water that is 40+ fow deep. They are there (20 -22 fow) because I'm catching them. The question is - why are they there?

Went out yesterday for about an hour and looked at Saint Annes Point West. Found white bass in 16 to 17 fow to my surprise. Caught 10 and a nice crappie before coming back to house. All were caught like we fish in warmer weather - casting away from boat and reeling back keeping Mepps close to bottom. Water temp 48 degrees.

Re remaking Mepps from old parts: I have found that the best color Mepps for white bass now is a white blade (Kilz primer works best), a darkish body and white plastic on hook shank. To make body dark I sprayed regular red/yellow body with black paint that left a touch of the old colors showing through. I had been using an old body that had lost all its paint and was a tarnished, dark bronze color. Sort of a dark brown. It was working well but lost it on a water bottom debris.

They are there (20 -22 fow) because I'm catching them. The question is - why are they there?

Dennis,
Most lakes I fish have a thermocline this time of year. There is more oxygen in that area. The thermocline I find is usually somewhere between 17 to 35 ft. Most times 22-24 ft. Also maybe a few shad died in the recent cold and the sandbass are getting some leftovers off the bottom?

Caught some on Saint Annes Point West Friday in 17 fow. Water temp was 48 degrees. Surprising to me!

White Aglia

https://www.mepps.com/information/aglia-dressed-aglia/121#B4P%20GW

I got out yesterday between rains and found that fish are still on Long Ridge in 21 to 23 fow. I managed a limit of 25 - all whites - then came in. Water temp is 50 degrees. Lake is 3 inches from being full - up 21 inches since end of January.

Nice, Dennis. The water temp went up 2 degrees from a week ago. That was my guess with the rain we had.

With the lake now over full I went out this afternoon to see if fish were still in their pattern - on humps in 20 to 26 fow - and they were. I found them still hugging bottom in 4 spots: Long Ridge West, Mid-lake Hump, 3-Jug Hump and Merimac Point. Caught 35 and left them biting. Water temp now 53.5 degrees. Water clarity almost clear/normal.

Are you still catching them on the mepps technique?

Cedar Crk is warming up quicker than Hubbard is. There is a lot of debris floating on the lakes. Be careful.

Monday 2/26/2018 the good and the bad: TFFer lenahorse Larry came down to fish. The day started cloudy then cleared off and was a beautiful day to be out on the water - that and Larry's company was the good. The bad - as I feared from the sharp rise in lake level and perhaps the 1st sunny day in 3 weeks, was that the fish pattern changed. We caught 5 fish at the 1st spot, when it was still cloudy. We caught only 5 more the rest of the day after the sun came out. We couldn't find fish on most structures, and when we did find a few, they were moving around so we couldn't stay on them or they just wouldn't bite like they had been the last few weeks. Larry caught the best fish - a 17 inch fat hybrid. He caught his on a white tail-spinner and I on white Mepps.

Re the new pattern: When the lake rose suddenly in past winters like in 2012 and 2017, fishing was off for a couple of weeks meaning I couldn't find a pattern and caught few fish. So, I'm expecting it to be off again for a couple of weeks. I've got some home projects I can get done - then try then again in a week or two.

Here are a couple of pics:

Larry with a nice white:


Yours truly with a white:

What no mepps for a couple weeks??? Oh noooo, Dennis

Thanks for sharing.

I did go out during the fog and overcast yesterday to verify the fish had left and they have. Checked several favorite structures and no fish.

Dennis, is that because you believe they've headed upstream to spawn?
If so how long do you normally find they are breaking the normal pattern for on your lake?

I wonder if that's due to the gates being opened. Bunch of us were on hubbard Sunday. Many boats. It was SLOW. I believe with the lake rising over pool level, the gates are opened.

Yes, I believe many if not most are going upstream to spawn because of the run-off from recent rains. In the past I was able to find some fish on structures after a couple of weeks.