This past weekend I got to enjoy some bass fishing on 2 completely different bodies of water. Saturday I spent the day fishing Shenago Lake, and Sunday I fished a club tournament at Woodcock Lake with the West Penn Bass Hunters.
Saturday I spent the day fishing with my sister, Nicole, who hadn’t been fishing in a couple of years. We started fishing around 7:30 in the morning and took a ride to one of my favorite roadbeds figuring that the bass had started to move into the deeper summer pattern. What we had discovered was the spot was covered with small stripers. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the morning. It really got Nicole into it, as she was having a ball with the 14-16″ stripers. For me it was awesome watching her enjoy the same sport my dad and I love so much. Also, for the first time I had success catching fish on a jigging spoon. They weren’t my target species, but it will give me some confidence to try it more in the future.
The rest of the day we spend time fish laydowns pitching in shallow water, throwing crankbaits on ledges, working roadbeds, and fishing brush piles. We caught bass in just about every location that we stopped at, but we only managed to catch 1 keeper. If I were heading back up I am not sure where in the water column that I would be fishing. The fish came from 6″ of water to 15 feet of water. It left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Nicole had so much fun that she asked to head back out again this week.
Sunday was tournament day on a body of water I have only ever fished 1 time and didn’t practice for this year. Woodcock Lake is a small lake that is located about 5 miles north of Meadville. Watch the blog for a featured fishing about this lake. This lake is very clear, has some grassy weeds, rock banks, and plenty of laydowns and stumps.
I started the morning by fishing the breast of the dam and continued down the one bank. I covered a wide range of lures and depth in the first 3 1/2 hours and had no bites. I was getting discussed fast. The last time I was at the lake I didn’t manage to catch any keepers and this was shaping up to be the same result. I ran into some of the other guys and I could tell what they were using. Small weightless stick worms. If there is a style that I hate to use it is that style, but when in Rome you have to do as the Romans. Shortly after I started using the rig I caught a dink and then a 2.85lb smallie. That helps me get into using the style. I tried everything to catch more fish, but it would be 1:00pm, over 3 hours, until I would catch my next keepers. The event ended at 2:00 and I knew I needed to get my last keeper to give myself a chance to win. In the last 1/2 hour I caught 2 more keepers.
Throughout the course of the day I managed to get 8 bass 4 keepers and 2 walleye. It wasn’t a great day, but with next to no experience on the lake I was pleased with the results. After weigh-in concluded I was sitting in 3rd place with a 3 fish weight of 5.82lbs. The winner had 9.85lbs and 2nd place had 9.45lbs. Lunker for the event was a nice 4.85lb smallie. I think that if I spent some time up there I would become a big fan of the lake, but until then I am just going to call it an above average fishery.
