Cedar Creek Lake Jan 2018

Got out for a while yesterday, and water temp is now down to 47.4 degrees F. Couldn't find fish on structures shallower than 23 fow. Caught 11 nice whites and three 20 inch hybrids at 2 spots - Greenhouse Ridge and Mid-lake Hump. Unlike in recent days fish would not take the Mepps w/o banging on the boat. But that worked and I caught the fish slowly raising and lowering the #4 Mepps just off the bottom after parking right over the fish, which were hugging the bottom as indicated on the sonar. Hope to try farther north today.

Thump thump thump. Thanks for the report Mr C.

I did get out and went north yesterday to Spillway Hump and Enchanted Isle Ridge, but they weren't there in the numbers like Nov-Dec. I picked up 12 whites and a large yellow bass. Headed back south and found much better concentration at Mid-lake Hump and had a limit of whites and a couple of hybrids within 45 minutes. Fish were in 22 to 25 fow.

Water on the south end tends to be warmer, better for dead sticking.

I went out today from 1:30 to 3:40PM, looked at 3 structures and found fish at two of them. I spent most of the time on Greenhouse Ridge catching 14-15 inch white bass in 25-26 fow. Fish were hugging the bottom (see pic), and I used Mepps technique to catch them and didn't have to thump the boat. I caught 25 whites there and a 21 inch hybrid. Then went to check out Dam Ridge and fish were there too in 22 fow. I caught a couple there then headed in. Water temp was 47 degrees.

Went out 1/15 and 1/17 to do more winter structure fishing. Caught 20 whites and 2 hybrids on Monday and 15 whites and a hybrid on Wednesday. Water temp down to 44 degrees. Fishing depths from 22 fow to 27 fow on humps. Most caught with Mepps #4 white, but yesterday at Mid-lake Hump hot pink Mepps 4 was better - caught the 23 inch hybrid and another pulled off using it. Structures holding fish include Long Ridge, far west end of Long Ridge, Mid-lake Hump, East Hump and Greenhouse Ridge. Sometimes I catch them by casting away from boat and working Mepps back along the bottom. Other times they won't take that and I work the Mepps up from the bottom under the boat while thumping the boat floor.

Nice report Dennis. Glad you are getting them in the boat STAY WARM --LOL

Thanks for the report Mr. Christian. Just when I stock up on the silver mepps , you throw a wrench into things and use white and now pink. LOL !!

Glad they are still on structure for you Dennis.

Dennis do you find it takes a little more effort to get the painted blades to spin?

justchillin: No problem. Just get some spray paint and paint the blades on 2 or 3 of the silver. That's what I did.

Fin'n: No, I don't sense it is harder to get the painted blades to spin.

I wonder if the liquid dip dye for plastics will do it it will on a slab

Spike it makes a dip for blades. Also works great on a many other items besides blades

https://www.barlowstackle.com/Spike-It-Blade-Dip-P1777.aspx

Got out again today. Checked eleven spots and found fish on three of them: east end of Long Ridge in 25 fow, east edge of Crappie Island Flats in 26 fow and Mid-lake Hump in 23 to 24 fow. Ended up with 25 whites, 2 hybrids about 20 inches each and 2 keeper sized yellow bass. Caught them casting and working back to boat and straight under the boat with and without thumping boat floor. Water temp was down to 43 degrees. Here are some pics:

White bass on hot pink Mepps #4 (Yes, boat floor needs paint job.) But caught most on white Mepps.


Sonar showing fish and Topo of Midlake Hump (When no fish are there the bottom is smooth):


Zoom of sonar over Mid-lake Hmp

Great winter report DC! I like white mepps too That pink looks hot also!

It's fun making creative lures that catch!

that white bass is thick! so fat I bet it couldn't flop around in the boat lol. love catching them in the winter. nice report btw

Todd, to make this Mepps I took apart a Mepps Longcast (which I found would not spin readily like a regular Mepps). I used the pink blade from it and the extra large treble from it. I didn't have any spare #4 bodies, so I used a #3 body and added an extra middle (biggest) bead from a Mepps (4 beads total) to add more weight. Of course I used the clevis from a Mepps - they angle toward the back of the bait. I think this type of clevis is key to Mepps spinning easily. I also added the white plastic to hook shank.

Thanks. The original mepps clevis are difficult to find. I prefer the white strawed hook shank also. It looks like small shad down deep. I think the red straw attracts the fishermen more lol. Also not all "French" blades are the same. Some spin easily and some not. FYI.

Got out today from 10:30 am to 3:40 pm, fished 24 to 27 fow humps and caught 51; 50 whites and a 20 inch hybrid. Left catching a fish every cast. I started at Greenhouse Ridge and caught 6 there. Next to Campbell's Hump and got 4 there including the hybrid. Then to east end of Long Ridge in 26-27 fow and caught 26 there. Ended up at Mid-lake Hump and caught the rest there. At the 1st two spots I could only get them to bite if I thumped the boat. At the last two I never had to thump - just the usual Mepps cast and work back to the boat technique.

Water temp was 46.2 degrees - up a couple from the last trip. The pattern I am looking for is on the pic below. This was at Mid-lake Hump.




Todd, I tried one of my new concoctions made from parts of Aglia #4 and Aglia Long #4. Pics below show it with white bass on it and a close-up so you can see how I put it together. It worked perfectly: it is heavier than a regular Aglia 4, it spins as readily as a regular 4 and it caught fish a fast as anything I threw today.

Nice report Dennis.

Love it, Dennis! I am off Friday and can I come to CC and play mepps and DS with ya?... It's a bit windy but south wind though.

Got Dr appmts Friday. Maybe next week?

Ok. I am working all next week. Next time THEN, Dennis. I pray all is well with you. I am mainly intrigued on how you find structure fish this time of year. There is nothing on hubbard structures now but then again CC has 3x more structures than RH. And CC is alot deeper than RH. RH and twok have been SLOW.

Got out from 3 to 4:50 pm yesterday and went straight to the 2 hot spots - east end of Long Ridge and Mid-lake Hump. Caught 15 at Long Ridge and 11 more at Mid-lake Hump - all white bass except for one nice yellow bass. They were still biting when I went - just decided to stop when I reached 25 whites.

Ran into Fastguy George at Long Ridge and we visited for a while before he moved on. Good bull about many good years of fishing Cedar Creek Lake. Turns out he caught his biggest hybrid on the same hump where my son caught the biggest hybrid I've ever seen - Dam Ridge, which George called "hump with the white bottle" - a new name for it to me. FYI, unless it's been exceeded recently, the lake record hybrid I recall was 28 inches long - the same length the one my son caught. George related that he had his pic taken with his big fish, but the friend who took it never got the pic to him. For those who don't know about George, he is considered one of the best if not the best hybrid fisherman on the lake and has been here since 2003 I believe.

Fastguy is a legend.

I fished with George many times. He will definitely humble a person fishing beside him.

Wonder if y'all are referring to the slim good looking, Fast George, the Plastic Man.

Dennis
I want to start out by thanking you for you all you do for the TFF. I never liked Aggies being a UT Grad but your reports have been so helpful over the years. I am glad to hear that Fast Guy George is doing well. The last time I saw him he was driving around Cedar Creek Naked waving at everybody. I was worried he had a heat stroke. Keep the Reports coming. I hope to see you on the water when it gets over 60 degrees.

FastGuy ‘George’

Great stuff Dennis love your reports as we love our Fastguy.... above pic was first time fishing with him along side Moe and SkeeterSteve one day on a epic April morning on the water! (Oh my Twak) vid.

Keep on fishing Dennis

Thanks for the kind words.

To finish January reporting, caught 28 on 27th, 23 on 28th, and 31 on 30th using and pattern as above.