Month: May 2015

Going Fishing Today – Portage Lakes

Going Fishing Today – Portage Lakes

Portage Lakes

Made my first voyage to Portage Lakes on May 16th to fish Ohio Bass Nation tournament.  Long drive from Columbus but just under 2 hours.  I was hoping to get up there to pre-fish but it wasn’t in the cards that week.

I was hoping to draw a co-angler who maybe familiar with the lake as well but that wasn’t in the cards as well.  I had spoke to a few people one person with the local club that wasn’t fishing told me to just drop trolling motor when I get there and begin fishing.  The second person I met via Bass Boat Central offered me a map of lake with some spots to hit.

Partly cloudy day to begin with and water temp around 70 degrees.  We decided to drop trolling motor from the start and begin hitting the banks.  I was throwing a 1/8 oz buzz bait and partner was through a Pop R.  I quickly had two keepers on a black buzz bait fishing the outside of the grass.  In the mean time my partner began throwing a Senko Black with Blue flecks and boated two keepers and lost one.  So when your in Rome you do what the Romans do, I changed up to same Senko and caught two keepers and a couple short fish.  All shallow but within the grass.

About two hours before tournament ended we made our way out to the main lake where you go from the idle zone to ski zone.  There I seen several bass boats lined up fishing away from the bank and seen a nice channel there where you could position your boat in 9 to 10 feet of water and cast up to 2 to 4 feet.  I decided to test our the Ned Rig for the first time.  Within two hours I managed to catch my 5th fish and cull three more.  There was one that took line and I never did see what it was but it was big.  My guess a catfish since I caught another one in the 6 pound range.  I was impressed with the Ned Rig, if you haven’t tried it pick a bag up and test it out on your home lake.

Baits used on Portage
Baits used on Portage

I also gave a Ned Rig to my co-angler and he completed his limit of 3 fish he was allowed using the rig.  He also got a check for 3rd place as a co-angler.

My results against the boaters was a 9th place finish weighing 7.96 pounds.  All in all first time on the lake I will pleased to have a limit of bass.

Portage Lake 9th Place Ohio Bass Nation
Portage Lake 9th Place Ohio Bass Nation
Alum Creek Bass Fishing

Alum Creek Bass Fishing

I decided to heard out to Alum Creek for some fun fishing on May 3rd.  I launched the boat around 7 am and headed to a couple of spots where I normally can catch  a fish our two.  Water temps were 58 degrees with high blue skies, outside temp around mid-70’s.  This was my first trip to Alum this year.  Around 9:30 I decided to hit some pockets on the upper pool and I picked up a soft plastic and began flipping cover.  Didn’t take long to boat my first fish.

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I then moved up to second pool and continued to flip cover and boated two more fish and lost two fish doing same.

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Over all good day and pulled the boat out at noon.