I just got back from competing in the Ozark Division BFL at Truman Lake. When I got down to the lake it was great to see the muddy water. I knew that I would probably be able to powerfish and with the lake being up the fish were going to be in the bushes. I had spooled 15lb line on my reels before coming down only to find out that the water was so muddy that I made the change to 25lb test mono the night before. I wasn’t going to break any fish off. I drew out Dewayne Fitzpatrick as my boater and we made a run to a couple of creeks that had a lot of nice bushes and also a lot of fry.

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This past week I had the opportunity to take someone fishing who doesn’t have a lot of experience.  It has been a while since I’ve fished some of  the smaller ponds and lakes around the St. Louis area where I learned how to fish a variety of baits while going through highschool. I thought it would be great to take a friend shore fishing at some of my favorite places from the past and try and teach him the art of catching bass. I’m always talking about fishing to my classmates up at college and Bryan who was in my genetics class wanted me to take him out for a day and show him some stuff.

The first lake we went to was Westchester. It’s a lake I found one day while driving around out by my school.
It’s got docks, dropoffs, and a whole bunch of rip rap. I’ve never caught any monsters out of this lake but it serves up a lot of nice 15 to 17 inchers. I started off throwing a spinnerbait along the bank and after a couple of minutes I was able to connect with a nice keeper. I had caught him off a concrete ramp. He was probably hanging out chasing all the bluegill which were spawning around the rip rap.

Keeper #1 Pig Sticker Tandem Bluegill Spinnerbait.

After going a little while without a bite I decided to drop down to a Pig Sticker football jig and work a nice rockpile about 30yds off the bank that I knew would produce under the brutal post frontal conditions we were facing. Sure enough it didn’t take long for me to set the hook into another nice fish.

Keeper #2 Pig Sticker Bait Company green pumpkin football jig.

The bite was really tough and I managed to catch a couple of little ones on a spinnerbait and a lipless crankbait.  My friend Bryan was taking in all the information I was giving him but wasn’t having much luck. I had shown him how to work a jig and a spinnerbait and he was also trying to learn how to cast a baitcaster with precision for only the 2nd time.  A lot of times under these post frontal conditions your better off fishing a fast moving bait to trigger some reaction strikes. The rattle trap has always been a top producer at this smaller lake so I thought I’d tie one on and give it a go.  I ended up hooking into a short on like the 2nd cast so I decided to rig one up for Bryan who was still fishless at this point. I showed him a couple of different retrieves to use and it didn’t take Bryan long to hook up with a short, another, and another throwing this crankbait.

Bryan reels in his first fish

I was really happy that Bryan at least caught something. The fishing was beginning to slow so we decided to load our rods and hit another smaller lake that not too many people know about. Out in Chesterfield there is Logan College of Chiropractic and they have a pond that is just teaming with good size bass in it. The place can serve up bass up to 5 pounds once in a while but it has a lot of 2 to 3 pounders in it as well. It is usually as place to hit in the morning because it can get a little tough in the afternoon. Nevertheless we decided to try and catch a couple more bass at this lake before we would call it quits for the day.  I still has a pig sticker jig tied on when I got to the pond and I walked around the pond flipping the laydowns that the lake has to offer. I made a pitch to a bush off the dam and stuck a nice keeper bass within the first 20 minutes of fishing….

Keeper # 3 Pig Sticker Football Jig

I caught one more short on the jig and Bryan was able to hook up with another short on a senko. Bryans dad came down to the lake when he got off work and with a senko he was able to catch a short and a great big snapping turtle that probably went around 15lbs.  That turtle had just swallowed it. We had to cut the line on that one. Nobody wanted to loose their finger.  It was great to be able to get someone out in the outdoors and show him some of the ropes of bass fishing.  I was expecting to catch a lot more fish but with the conditions I wasn’t all that disappointed.  As the gas prices continue to rise you might want to try giving some of the ponds and smaller lakes a try.  You don’t have to spend a great deal of money to get out for a couple of hours and catch some bass.