Fishing Secord Lake.

[Mr. Ed]

The wife and I will be fishing Secord Lake this weekend. We have never fished there before. Any hints on what to fish for and what to use would be greatly appreciated. Also where on the lake would be nice too.

Thanks

[djkimmel]

Secord is a good lake for big pike and big largemouth bass. I've caught several bass over 5 pounds there and some real big stringers all in the fall - late September to mid-October. The pike are way underfished if the number of big gator biteoffs I suffered are any indication. (I actually landed a few too.)

There are supposedly a few smallies, but I haven't caught any. This time of year, the pike are hanging out around the mouths of the many small side cuts and channels and especially just up into them in any good, isolated green weed clumps. They have an aggressive weed (aquatic plant, I prefer) killing policy there so I don't know what the weeds are like this year. Some years, they're thick and other years, really sparse. Sparse clumps will really concentrate the pike.

You can fish main lake docks mid-day for bass. Also, there are logs and stumps along the edge of the main flat by the dam that attract largemouth and pike. The thinner the weeds, the easier the fishing. Fish black/blue jig and pigs, carolina-rigged lizards (don't use shiny new sinkers though - gets expensive around the pike), and slow-roll big spinnerbaits.

My favorite though is running way up any of the major river/creek arms until they start to revert to pure river and fish all the big laydown trees and stumps. Alternate between slow-rolling spinnerbaits and flipping jig and pigs down the main branches and into the ends (work your way in). This has been awesome at times for me. I have one stubby tree on a point that produced a largemouth over 4 pounds in a fall tournament one year and then a 5 1/2 the next fall in another tournament on the same lure.

The bass on Secord have shown a consistent strong, but small window for me when they bite really good in the fall. It has usually lasted 1 to 2 hours and will often be around mid-day that time of year. If you fish several days and notice you get more bites quicker around a certain time each day, try to be on the best looking spots each day around that time. It can be really amazing. The fishing outside that window can be really slow so use the time wisely. Good luck.