McCullom Lake

Took the boat out this afternoon and had a slow-paced day.  The water clarity was only 4” of visibility.  The lily pads are starting show and that’s where we found the fish.  We lost more fish than we boated, but that is the tradeoff; work the tough areas, get bit, and lose some fish or cast the easy areas and maybe get a lucky strike.  Crankbaits don’t seem to be effective yet, with only a few bumps and no hook-ups.  Bright-colored spinnerbaits worked the best.  They attracted the most fish and ultimately caught three bass; the other fish were lost at the boat or just unbuttoned because we’re terrible anglers.  The surprise northern hit a Texas-rigged watermelon-red worm.  It was hooked in the side of its mouth or else it would have easily bite through the 12-lbs mono line.  Before WT1 netted the northern, it jumped into the boat and then flipped back into the water.  It was quite a spectacle . . . but just as entertaining was WT1’s reaction when the fish flopped next to him.

Nice work boys!

Pedro, thanks for taking the time brother! Much appreciated.

We caught a carp!  It was only a 3-pounder, but it was very entertaining to watch it tangle up WT1's other line. Unfortunately, that was the only one caught still-fishing.  It was pretty slow casting, too.  Only one bass, one white crappie, and one northern.  We were throwing small spinners.  It's interesting that the same type / size lures caught the 12" crappie and the 28" northern.    

Pedro I sent you a message in the private messaging. Look at the flashing orange box in the upper right corner of the Lake Link page. You can respond there. That would be cool bud. Respect Sir. Thank you. Tight Linez Boyz. 

We went carp fishing today and caught zero carp.  We caught only two fish still fishing; a 25” northern and 2 lbs channel; both on cut bait.  Nothing on our “go-to” bait, corn.  Since the still fishing was so slow, we started casting minnow-mimicking baits and did very well.  In the last two hours of our fishing time, casting, we ended up catching nine bass, six crappies (3 white and 3 black), two northern, a yellow bass, and surprise walleye (18” / 2 lbs).  The 4.45 lbs bass (pictured) was very difficult to bring in with ultra-light gear.  WT1 gets the multi-species award today for catching the walleye, yellow bass, five bass, two northerns, and both species of crappie (12” white crappie pictured).  It was a 20-fish day.  Gonna take the boat out soon.  

Gentlemen, those are yellow bass, and pretty nice ones too!👍

Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but yellow bass (or maybe white bass?) are more prevalent recently.  We caught maybe two the entire fishing season last year and zero the prior years, then we run into these very healthy specimen in one outing.  Anyway, the fishing was slow; zero tip-ups triggered, but we manged to jig-out some white crappie, perch, bluegill, and "yellow or white" bass.  So here is a question for this forum; are these yellow bass or white bass?  I think they are yellow bass.  

That head does look extremely large for the body size. TIGHT LINES 

Here is the big-headed long, skinny northern.

Finally made it back on the water.  Didn’t feel like taking the boat out, so we fished the shore.  The water was extremely low; however, in the traditional McCullom Lake fashion, we got a mixed bag.  A 5.4 lbs carp and bluegill on corn, and the rest of the aquatic creatures were caught with cut bait (bluegill).  I wrote “aquatic creatures” because not all were fish. We’ve caught a small alligator snapper (12” diameter shell).  We were able to cleanly get the hook out of its mouth and safely return it into the water.   We also caught a catfish, two northerns, and a surprise white bass.  One northern had us concerned about the lake’s health because how its head was disproportionately larger than its long, thin body.  The fall bite is starting; hope to give more updates on McCullom, Wonder Lake, Lake Lily, and maybe even Defiance.