Lake Blackshear Fishing Report – February 2007

Blackshear: Level: Full pool. Temp: Low 50s. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Slow. The Saturday, January 27 Blackshear Buddies tournament was won by Bob Hudson and Wayne Dunman who went up the river and returned with four bass that weighed 16 pounds. Second place dropped to six pounds; third place weighed in three pounds. “The lake is still cold,” said tournament director Ernie Broughton. “When it starts to warm up, the fish will move up onto cypress trees and boat docks — they always do.” Ernie was on the lake January 28 and caught some quality bass in the 3- to 4-lb. range, and an 8-lb. lunker. The fish were shallow, on cypress trees and grasslines, and all of them hit green-pumpkin worms on a Carolina rig. Fishing with slow-rolled spinnerbaits, crankbaits like Bandit 100s, and flukes fished around cypress trees and docks will be an improving pattern during February.

Crappie: Fair. “This cold front has given them a case of lockjaw,” said Rusty Parker. “You can still catch them, but you’ll have to be patient. The fish are still deep. If I was going fishing, I would get on a flat next to the river channel and cast out into the deeper water. When you retrieve, the jig comes up at an angle and follows the contour.” Rusty said he heard of some good catches by people fishing jigs straight down. “They call it vertical jigging,” he said. “I call it tightlining. You just drop the jig down about 25 feet over brush and just barely move it.”