A little help for a Merrill Creek Reservoir first timer?

[IrishAngler]

Gents,

Taking the almost 2 hour drive and doing some kayak fishing for Largemouth at Merrill on Saturday. Any pointers would be appreciated. I'll have a typical selection of baits; jerks, cranks, chatters, etc. And I really like Ned Rigs lately.

But it's a big place and any help would be appreciated. I don't expect exact spots but some help with color selection and general areas of lake and depth would be great.

Thanks lads!

[Jigman13]

Keep your eye on the wind forecast...

[rwp2101]

What Jigman said. The way that reservoir is situated the wind seems to always be blowing 5mph more than the forecast. If I were going, based on what windfinder is saying currently, I'd plan to be off the water by 2pm.

I can't give you any help beyond that because I only fish it come summer. So, if you plan on heading back come summer, shoot me a PM.

It's a beautiful place to fish.

[AndyS]

A lake on top of a mountain=always windy.

Stump fields get HAMMERED all day, I would choose the flats, rocks and weed beds.

[IrishAngler]

Appreciate the help all - thanks for taking the time to respond. One shock was an absolute mirror-lake day - no wind. "gusts" to about 5 mph. The guy are the ramp says he had never seen it so calm. So I got lucky with that. I was tentative about going there in wind in a kayak and no power - paddling only.

Tough day for fishing but wow, what a gorgeous setting. Got one at 14" inches or so. Tons of smallies bedding that wouldn't take any presentation. Some fellas I was there with figured it out and nailed some smallies later in the day on the small stuff. The big presentations and swim baits equated to nothing.

That was completely new fishing to me as I am used to the smaller and shallower lakes. Will keep at it.

again - thank for the replies!

[rwp2101]

Glad to hear the weather was nice, and sorry the bite wasn't better. I haven't done much bed fishing but I do recall one day where there wasn't so much as a ripple on the water and it was VERY tough bed fishing.

Thanks for letting us know how you did!

Did you try for any largies or hear of any being caught? You think they're still pre-spawn?

[IrishAngler]

There were definitely LMB being caught. Most seemed to be super tight to the bank so likely still on beds. The one I got was in about 6-8 feet of water on a Ned Rig. Seemed like finesse fishing is what they fell for.

[rwp2101]

Thanks Irish, if I head out there in the yak over the next few months I’ll shoot you a PM to see if you’re interested in joining.