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Thread: Mothers Day Massacre at Lake Barrett

  1. #1

    Default Mothers Day Massacre at Lake Barrett

    One thing I learned in a life long of fishing experiences, "be prepared for everything possible." In our Mothers Day trip to Lake Barrett based on the earlier fish reports. I totally expected to put a hurt on the LMB that swim in that lake. I was reading in the pre opener that 2 individuals caught 278 Bass!!! Opening week the numbers were in the 25-50 Bass per rod range. With numbers like that how could we miss??? We were going on the 2nd weekend of the Season and things don't change that fast do they??? But me being me, I still brought a wide variety of fishing stuff that covered most bases. Last years trip was epic on the cranks. The only problem was my 2 companions left their talent at home that day. (their big problem was crappy equipment) I wasn't going to go another year, where I'm telling all our mutual friends what a great trip I had at Barrett and Dan said the trip sucked!!! This year I was going to fix that problem and bring my equipment for my friend Dan to use. It wasn't a big deal, 1 bait casting rod, 1 good spinning rod for Senkos and a light spinning rod with #2 for the pan fish on the dock. That's if we had any time left in the day after slaying 100 Bass between the 3 of us. Dan did bring a Barrett newbie with us, Jeff from the Aqueduct trips. (So I assumed Dan would inform him on what he needed to bring) He did sound like he knew how to catch a Bass, so I wasn't too worried about him.

    On to the fishing!!!

    This trip I was more of a passenger (I didn't drive) so I let them call the shots including driving the boat. We headed up the Hauser arm of the lake and ended up in the flooded brush area at the very end of the lake. It looked good with quite a few other boats were fishing the same area. I did see some good spots we passed along the way if these area didn't pan out for us. It started off pretty slow, I couldn't get bit on the top water or anything else I threw at them. Dan caught a few on a spinner bait but it was more work then it was worth to me. (I was saving my energy for the big score later at those other spots we passed) To kill some time and energy I broke out my Barbie pole to fish for some pan fish. It's a 4 foot pole with #2 test line and a light drag. I started fishing with a tiny grub and the Gills just loved it. These aren't your park size gills but Bluegills much bigger then your hand. (I was having a Blast!!!) Then I hooked something a little bigger, at first I thought it was a small Bass, nope it was a very nice Crappie. It was massive, close to 2 pounds!!! We then moved around a little more and I started Bass fishing again. I started catching a few but I also started catching just as many Crappies as Bass. Nice Crappies everyone one of them!! (all between 1.5-2 pound fish) By this time my ego wouldn't let me be a passenger any more. I wanted to run the boat and be the big hero in leading us to our 100 Bass day.

    I started off on the bank just West of the flooded brush area. We caught a Bass here and there and more of these Damn Crappies!!! I thought well what would happen if I put a proper size Mini Jig on the Barbie pole. Can we all guess where this is going???? Yep the Crappies jumped all other it!!! (still nothing less then a 1.5 pounds apiece) Eventually Dan ask's, "you did bring a Crappie pole for me didn't you???" Of course I did!!! Probably a better pole then my Barbie pole. I was using a solid white mini jig and Dan used a white and yellow mini jig. By now I knew right where these suckers were. I could make a 50 yard drift on the same bank and hit 3 different schools of these things. If I missed 1 of the schools I would still probably hit the other 2 schools. We never not got bit on any drift we made. Dan grew up fishing Lake Isabella (they had property up there) so he caught 1000's of Crappies in his life time. Yet he couldn't get over how big every one of these things were. Long story short, between the 2 of us we caught over 30 Crappies. Jeff didn't have the right gear and only caught a few. (next year I'll bring a pan fish pole for him too) lol

    In talking to everyone else, something happened to the Bass bite compared to a week ago!!! It went from wide open to crappy in 1 week!!! Thank god for the pan fish!!! Dan caught 12 Bass, 15 monster Crappies and 5 good Bluegills. A great day for any other lake except for Barrett. For Barrett standards, this early in the season that was a pretty Crappie day!!!! lol

    PS. All kidding aside that was the best and most fun big Crappie day I ever had!!!! Yes I know, "I WISH I BROUGHT MY CAMERA!!!" I didn't think anybody would want to see a 100 pictures of what a 1.5-2.5 LMB looked like. For that's what I thought we were going to catch. Boy I was sooo wrong on that one!!!
    Last edited by etucker1959; 05-16-2017 at 12:25 PM.

  2. #2

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    Going to Barrett and fishing for bluegill is like going to Hooters and eating with your eyes closed.



    All kidding aside, bluegills have saved the day on previous excursions of mine, so I'm just giving you $hite. Plus, they get monstrous down there. Caught a few on the Saturday opener on blades and plastics.

    I'm surprised you guys didn't get more largemouth to go. We ended up near triple digits and our boat was off the water by 2 pm. If you found the shad or the structure, you found the fish.

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by DarkShadow View Post
    Going to Barrett and fishing for bluegill is like going to Hooters and eating with your eyes closed.



    All kidding aside, bluegills have saved the day on previous excursions of mine, so I'm just giving you $hite. Plus, they get monstrous down there. Caught a few on the Saturday opener on blades and plastics.

    I'm surprised you guys didn't get more largemouth to go. We ended up near triple digits and our boat was off the water by 2 pm. If you found the shad or the structure, you found the fish.
    It's weird nobody we saw or talk too got into the LMB in any huge numbers!!!! Most boats ended up where we were fishing by 9:00 am and I saw nobody put the Wood to them. With all that being said, "I wouldn't have traded this trip for the best LMB trip I had in there before!!!" The Crappie fishing made my year for those things!!! I was planning a trip to Henshaw or Isabella in the near future to target those things. Not any more!!! I had my fill!!! lol
    Last edited by etucker1959; 05-16-2017 at 12:17 PM.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by etucker1959 View Post
    It's weird nobody we saw or talk too got into the LMB in any huge numbers!!!! Most boats ended up where we were fishing by 9:00 am and I saw nobody put the Wood to them. With all that being said, "I wouldn't have traded this trip for the best LMB trip I had in there before!!!" The Crappie fishing made my year for those things!!! I was planning a trip to Henshaw or Isabella in the near future to target those things. Not any more!!! I had my fill!!! lol
    That's surprising.

    We couldn't keep the fish off our baits all day on opening Saturday. In fact, there were so many swings and misses due to the fact that the bluegills were eating everything in site.

    Once you recognized it was a bluegill pecking at your bait, it became easier on when to set the hook.

    Are you familiar with close combat fishing? Cuz that's the way Barrett fishes. If your bait isn't landing 2 inches on some structure, you might as well cast again.

    If you're retrieving your bait, you messed up your original cast.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by etucker1959 View Post
    It's weird nobody we saw or talk too got into the LMB in any huge numbers!!!! Most boats ended up where we were fishing by 9:00 am and I saw nobody put the Wood to them. With all that being said, "I wouldn't have traded this trip for the best LMB trip I had in there before!!!" The Crappie fishing made my year for those things!!! I was planning a trip to Henshaw or Isabella in the near future to target those things. Not any more!!! I had my fill!!! lol
    Sounds like a great trip, but if everyone else was in that area and nobody really doing damage, I'd be outta there quick. Too much more lake to fish than sit with a bunch of others not really getting them.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brent View Post
    Sounds like a great trip, but if everyone else was in that area and nobody really doing damage, I'd be outta there quick. Too much more lake to fish than sit with a bunch of others not really getting them.
    I'd wanna say Barrett is a "run and gun" fishery, but it's everything but.

    When we got back to the dock on Saturday, the people who work there were pulling in fish on every cast.

    Our usual routine is what you said, Brent. If we don't get a bite within the first 2.2 minutes, we're moving on. But, moving to a spot 25 feet away! There's way too many fish to be caught to be concentrating on one particular arm of the lake or concentrating on throwing one particular bait. It always amuses me when people post Barrett reports, thinking they're fishing DVL, posting specific techniques or particular baits. This is the lake that I won a bet on, where I caught a fish on an orange peel.

    It's quite funny hearing Barrett reports from other sites, as if a specific area or technique is the secret to 100 fish days. Go out there with your confidence baits, and make sure you wrap up your thumb.

    The memories will be made by themselves.

    *

    Oh, also....did you have a trolling motor?

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by DarkShadow View Post
    I'd wanna say Barrett is a "run and gun" fishery, but it's everything but.

    When we got back to the dock on Saturday, the people who work there were pulling in fish on every cast.

    Our usual routine is what you said, Brent. If we don't get a bite within the first 2.2 minutes, we're moving on. But, moving to a spot 25 feet away! There's way too many fish to be caught to be concentrating on one particular arm of the lake or concentrating on throwing one particular bait. It always amuses me when people post Barrett reports, thinking they're fishing DVL, posting specific techniques or particular baits. This is the lake that I won a bet on, where I caught a fish on an orange peel.

    It's quite funny hearing Barrett reports from other sites, as if a specific area or technique is the secret to 100 fish days. Go out there with your confidence baits, and make sure you wrap up your thumb.

    The memories will be made by themselves.

    *

    Oh, also....did you have a trolling motor?
    Yes to the trolling motor, no to my portable fish graph working. The stupid $1.66 battery pack holder crapped out on me. When it comes to Barrett, "I'd like to see the studs in action." Most of the time we are high boat and we are not Bass pros!!! In other words we don't know that much. We just fish a lot and our talents get us through the day. lol

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by etucker1959 View Post
    Yes to the trolling motor, no to my portable fish graph working. The stupid $1.66 battery pack holder crapped out on me. When it comes to Barrett, "I'd like to see the studs in action." Most of the time we are high boat and we are not Bass pros!!! In other words we don't know that much. We just fish a lot and our talents get us through the day. lol
    I really don't see the need for a portable fish graph at that place.

    Perhaps at the end of the season when you're trying to find off shore structure, but in the beginning of the year,

    you can take a snapshot of the shoreline and pretty much know where the fish should be.

    You're better off with binoculars so you can see fish crashing the shad in the stick ups.

    Any DFG sightings?

  9. #9

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    What's the size average at Barrett? Northern or Southern strain largemouth? Just curious lived in Diego for many years and lived above Hodges for a while but never fished Barrett.

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    Just scored a Barrett Lake boat reservation for June 18. Time to put back the "father" in Fathers Day!" Bringing the trolling motor and binoculars.
    Any other tips on what I will only realize I'm missing after we arrive? :-)

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