May 30-31

I guided the same clients at Red Willow Reservoir on May 30, and at Medicine Creek Reservoir on May 31. We caught good numbers of wipers, white bass, largemouth bass, walleyes, northern pike, and crappies around main lake points, edges of creek channel bends, flats next to the creek channel or near deep water, mouths of coves, and underwater humps or islands. We caught our fish on 3.5- and 4-inch swimbaits, ReelBait Flasher jigs with swimbaits, Flasher jigs with Berkley Gulp! Crawlers, Lytle's Secret tailspinners, and jigging spoons. The surface water temperature is in the lower 70s and the water clarity at Red Willow is clear. The water is very stained at Medicine Creek.

May 29

I guided on Red Willow Reservoir and my clients and I are still catching wipers, white bass, walleyes, crappies, northern pike, and largemouth bass. We are catching these fish around main lake points, flats next to the creek channel or near deep water, edges of the creek channel bends, underwater humps, and edges of weed beds. We used a Carolina Rig with shiners, a ReelBait Flasher jig with Berkley Gulp! Alive Minnow, a Flasher Jig with 4-inch swimbait, a jig head with a 3.5-inch swimbait, a Lytle's Secret tailspinner, jigging spoons and flutter spoon. The surface water temperature is averaging around 70 degrees and the water is clear.

May 27-28

I guided a client from New Mexico both days. I caught a Master Angler wiper at 27 inches on May 27. My client and I also caught smaller wipers, white bass, northern pike, walleyes, largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappies, and freshwater drums We caught these fish on Lytle's Secret tailspinners, 4- and 5-inch swimbaits, ReelBait Flasher jigs with a 4-inch swimbait, and crankbaits around main lake points, flats next to the creek channel or near deep water, underwater humps, edges of weed beds, and along the dam areas in depths of anywhere between 2 and 25 feet.

May 18-25

I guided on Red Willow Reservoir and my clients and I are still catching northern pike up to 37 inches including three Master Anglers between 10 and 13 pounds that were caught on May 21. We also caught wipers between 12 and 22 inches, white bass up to 13 inches, walleyes between 12 and 19 inches, largemouth bass between 10 and 18 inches, crappies between 8 and 14 inches, and a few bluegill up to 8 inches.

We caught these fish around main lake points, flats next to the creek channel or near deep water, underwater humps, roadbeds, back in coves, and near the dam areas. We used a Carolina rig with shiners, Rapala X-Rap slashbaits, 4-and 5-inch swimbaits, lipless crankbaits, Lytle's Secret tailspinners, ReelBait Flasher jigs with Berkley Gulp! 3-inch minnows, and minnow grubs, Flasher jigs with 4-inch swimbaits, 3- and 4-inch flutter spoons, and jigging spoons. The surface water temperature is averaging in the mid 60s on the main lake, and in the upper 60s back in coves or toward the creek areas. The water clarity is very clear on the main lake, and a little stained in the creek areas.

May 14-17

I guided on all four days at Red Willow Reservoir. The strong wind with gusts over 40 mph made the fishing tough. My clients and I caught wipers up to 22 inches, white bass up to 13 inches, northern pike between 24 and 32 inches, largemouth bass up to 18 inches, walleye up to 20 inches, a few crappies up to 13 inches, and bluegill up to 8 inches. We caught these fish on suspending jerkbaits, swimbaits, topwater plugs, Lytle's Secret tailspinners, ReelBait Flasher jigs with Berkley Gulp!, Flasher jigs with a 4-inch swimbait, Flasher jigs with night crawler, and a Carolina Rig using shiners. These fish were caught around main lake points, next to the dam areas, back in coves, underwater humps, and flats next to the creek channel or near deep drop offs in depths of anywhere between 2 and 30 feet. The surface water temperature is in the lower 60s.

May 9, 11-13

I guided on Red Willow Reservoir, and my clients and I caught wipers up to 22 inches, white bass up to 13 inches, northern pike up to 35 inches including a Master Angler that weighed at 10.25 pounds on my scale, walleyes up to 20 inches, largemouth bass up to 18 inches, crappies up to 13 inches, two smallmouth bass around 16 inches, and a 3-pound channel catfish. These fish were caught around main lake points, flats next to the creek channel or near deep drop offs, back in coves, and near the dam areas. We were using suspending jerkbaits, swimbaits, topwater plugs, Lytle's Secret tailspinners, ReelBait Flasher jigs with Berkley Gulp!, ReelBait Flasher jigs with a 4-inch swimbait, and a Carolina Rig using shiners. The surface water temperature is averaging around 60 degrees and the water clarity is clear.

May 8 (late afternoon)

I fished at two private sand pit lakes in the late afternoon for a few hours. I caught two Master Angler largemouth bass at 21.50 and 20.25 inches, plus good numbers of smaller largemouth bass between 12 and 19 inches. I caught these bass using a 1/2-oz. Strike King Tour Grade Football Jig and a Rage Tail Craw around edges of flats next to deep water, points, edges of weed beds, and next to underwater brush piles in depths of 15 feet or less.

May 6-8

I took Doug Stange (Editor-in-Chief for In-Fisherman) to Red Willow and Swanson reservoirs to do some wipers filming for In-Fisherman Television. We caught wipers between 16 and 28 inches around the flats next to the creek channel or near deep drop offs, and along the dam areas. We were using a size 12 (4-3/4") Rapala X- Rap slashbait, a Berkley Gulp! 5-inch Jerk Shad, and a 5-inch swimbait. The surface water temperature is in the uppers 50s and the water clarity is very clear. This wipers filming will be airing sometime next year.

May 3-5

I guided the same clients all three days at Red Willow Reservoir, and the fishing was tough due to the cold fronts and the cold rain that went through on Saturday night and Sunday. The water temperature dropped from the upper 50s on Saturday to the lower 50s on Sunday. We did catch some wipers, white bass, northern pike, and walleye around main lake points, flats next to the creek channel or near drop offs, and back in coves. These fish were caught on suspending jerkbaits, swimbaits, and ReelBaitFlasher jigs with Berkley Gulp! 3-inch minnows. The water clarity is clear on the main lake, and stained in the creek areas.

May 2

I guided on Red Willow Reservoir, and my clients caught two Master Angler northern pike. We also caught smaller pike up to 28 inches, wipers up to 22 inches, white bass up to 14 inches, an 18-inch walleye, and a yellow perch. These fish were caught around main lake points, flats next to the creek channel or near deep water, and in a cove using suspending jerkbaits and a 5-inch swimbait. The surface water temperature is in the upper 50s, and the water clarity is very clear.

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