Cross Lake 8 Sept 2022

[Mike Cork]

Fished the Old Mans Club tournament yesterday. We gathered at the launch just before daybreak but the lightning kept us from launching until about 8. By the time we got everyone in the water, we all got to our spots about 8:30, weigh is was 2pm.

I caught my first fish about 10 am on a beaver off the end of a dock in 5 feet of water, it was my big bass of the day at 4.05 (big bass was 4.50 ) So I fished deeper docks for another hour and nothing. Made a pass through some shallower docks and caught one on a frog in the dirt, about 2 pounds. So I fished a frog for a while and not another bite. Caught one on a shakey head off a walkway, it was 11.99 inches so I tossed it back forgetting that we can weigh 11 inch fish in this fun mid week tournament.

I went without a bite for the remainder of the day until 1:40 when I switch from a beaver to a larger creature bait, HawgRaiser by Mister Twister. One of the other anglers was catching them on Black and Blue so I figured I'd try it and see if I could get just one more bite.

I don't know if it was the bait choice, location or timing ( this lake is known for a switch turning on and off at weird times) but, with 20 minutes to fish, I had six bites in 4 docks boated two of them, losing two, and flat missed two. Only had four fish to weigh for 9.40. Winner had 9.45.... Hummm, I wonder if that 11.99 inch fish I tossed back would have weighed .05 of a pound  Gotta pay attention to the rules 

Tough day for everyone, First second and third were all 9 pounds, then a couple of 4 to 6 pound weights and several zeros. I really don't know why Cross is fishing so tough right now, it's not had the pressure of the TNT for a couple months...

Water temp was 83.5
Water color was an algae green and visibility was about 6 inches, it's normally much clearer
Water level is up about a foot since last time I was out there but it's still down about a foot and a half. For a lake that averages 4 ft, that's a lot of water.
After the morning storms the weather was mild. Light and variable winds, temp slowly climbed to 89, partly cloudy skies.

[Donald Garner]

Mike tks for sharing the trip with us.  Congrats on the catching also. 

[big g]

Nice job Mike on a tough day!

[BassmanRudy]

Usually fishing is Tough for me right after a storm comes thru. Seems like the bite picked up later on for ya though! Hawgraiser moves a lot of water.