The lake is quiet again this morning with sunny skies and temperatures to be in the 80's for several days with lows in the 60's. Lows in the 60's is key. There is a distinction between night bite is on and catching fish after dark. When I say night bite for stripers it means two things; In the fall the fish go to the bank at night to feed. In the spring they go to the bank to simulate a spawn. You can fish after dark in the heat of the summer and catch bass near the bank with a black light and flourescent line and saltcraw. After the stickbait quits working in the spring and fall I quit fishing late because when they go deeper I switch to a spoon and I do not have good luck with spoons after dark. You can still catch them with a swim bait. There are lots of fish on beds now and with the sunshine and light winds the water is clearing and more and more sight fishing will occur. Throw a gitzit to the bed and catch the fish if you must but please let it go right away. An unprotected nest falls prey to sunfish and warmouth very quickly. Bink reports he is catching smallmouth in the backs of coves using a small plastic craw all day long. This is the only time of year you will be able to do this. I guess they delayed the takeoff yesterday because of fog and that is good but it took a long time to get the boats loaded to drive to town for weighin. That is why the weighin is done on the lake at all other tournaments. it is all about the money. 17-lbs leader is pretty good when the takeoff did not occur until well after sunrise when the best bite starts. I was surprised that so many of the elite did not catch many. They should have prefished with Bink. The West Plaines bass club could have given them a few pointers too.
