I'm sure many of you have had banner days when right place/right time allowed some record catches and we've all dreamt of being that lucky. And so it went Tues. and Wed.

In the northeast, we had a record amount of rain in a short time that raised water levels like crazy in all lakes and rivers. In the lake I fished yesterday, the lake was up 2.5 feet affecting the spawn locations of yellow perch - one of the first fish to spawn in spring. Where perch spawn, most fish follow to eat their eggs. I'm talking about four to five other fish species that are in dense, mixed-species schools in water no more than 3' deep. I'm talk'n crappie with perch and sunfish; white perch with crappie, yellow perch with crappy and a few bass in the same school.
wetland channel I had to row to get to schools of fish:


Granted, a child could catch fish-after-fish in that scenario, but one thing it allowed me to do is to discover and rediscover more things about lures - particularly about soft plastics on light ball head jigs. When fishing a wetlands shallow water pattern, it pays to work lures slowly, mid-depth. To do that 1/32, 1/64 and 1/24 oz jigs are a must along with hook sizes to match. A lure can be 3" on a 1/32 oz jig but the hook size/gap must be at least a #2 hook, like this example of a 5" plastic worm that caught all kinds of fish yesterday - many on the same lures:

perch, sunfish and bass caught on the same 4" plastic worm:


Float fishing isn't my forte and especially not in 3' of water, but when you find dense schools of very irritable fish, anything is possible. When I tried a small cigar float it opened doors as far as ultra-slow fishing using a rod pull & pause presentation!! Cool was seeing crappie attack the float once it plopped down, at times jumping out of the water! Many lures worked under the float and one that excelled over all others was the Mojo grub made from using clear plastic:

Used under a cigar float:

I've poured clear plastic shapes before, but the clear plastic Mojo - even in murky water - did as well as any color! The thin, straight tail flutters with the least motion imparted.
White perch on a clear plastic Mojo grub:


Another find was the Chubby Grub made from cutting 2" off the front of a plastic worm (like the one shown above), blunting the end with a lighter: Nothing says, come & eat me like the wagging of a Chubby Grub rigged on a 1/32 oz jig!


Having been a bass angler for years, I can understand staying with heavier lures. But light tackle fishing has a lot to be said for it - regardless of freshwater species.

Excellent post and great trip. Thanks for sharing.

Nice trip & Pics...Is that a Red Ear Pumpkinseed hybrid in the 1st set of Pics? (Middle pic)

I would love to do that. Almost Constant action.

Good job and good eating!

nice

What are the water temps in and around Walden this time of year ??

Totally Agree!

yes

Should be near 60. Temperatures at night have been averaging in the 30s vs 40s. keeping the water around 50 degrees. Good thing the cold water doesn't affect the bite - especially prespawn.

Thanks all for your replies and appreciation.

, thanks for sharing....

I really enjoyed your post.

(Man do I still wish I lived in Texas! I worked for a gent in his woodshop and he and his son were the best people in my experience to work for and with. Too bad they were always too busy to fish.)

I went with a partner yesterday and from 9:30 am - 2:30 pm we caught a total of 126 fish with two more species added to the above - including a 1 3/4 lb smallmouth bass - that the lake wasn't supposed to have. (Though I did put 5 smallmouth from a local river into the lake over 20 years ago. Could some have spawned?)
SM and the spot caught at the base of the chimney shown where LM usually hang out.


Larger LM bass were caught and the coloration of the pumpkinseeds was amazing - far more so than last time! The bellies were a bright yellow-orange!
The lake changed since my last visit and so did fish concentration locations. The same cove produced over 50 fish in 3' but fish were also located along a 40 yard stretch just outside the wetland bullrushes and cattails.

I went to a lighter jig (1/32 oz) and smaller soft plastics to be able to slow down the retrieve just a bit. It seemed to increase the number of consecutive catches - again of all species. A Crappie Magnet caught over 30 fish - including the smallmouth mentioned. I would have fished longer except for my partners bad back and hand problems as well as a near-dead trolling motor battery. (Oars are a pain. Note: take the larger TM battery next time. Good thing there was little wind.)

A perfect weather day with some clouds. The pads are growing at mid-depth soon to surface. Different structure will hold more fish other than yesterday's spawn-related locations. Guess the lake is finally coming back after years of 3700 grass carp, essential-weed damage that they caused over 12 years ago. Dang government environmental agency recommendations!