Martin Lake
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Species
Season
Martin Lake Overview
Top Techniques Reported for Largemouth Bass + Winter
- Texas Rigs (Worming)1
- Largemouth Bass1 Report
Recent and Trending Baits
Fishing Reports
6 Reports on Martin LakeSort by
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Rip Rap
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
61°
Species
Largemouth Bass
Season
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Stumps
Forage
Shad
I went out to the lake with a buddy on 01/15/22. It was our first time ever on the lake, and we were very impressed with it. The conditions this day were not very good, as a massive cold front had come through the night before, dropping the outside air temperatures 30-40+ degrees and making for a very cloudy, windy, and cold day. The water temperature on the lake ranged from 58-76 degrees depending on how far away you were from the warm water discharge, and the water clarity ranged from clear to slightly stained across the lake. After catching a few pre-spawn fish early in the day on a bridge point in 8-10 feet of water on structure jigs (water temperature was 62 degrees on this bridge), we made our way to the warm water discharge to fish a tapering point of an island that was creating an eddy in the current coming from the plant. After scanning the point, we noticed a school of baitfish and scattered stumps throughout the point, and that the point had a nice slow taper from 3 feet on top down to about 11 or 12 feet. After fishing it for a few minutes with no takers, I was finally able to get a nice 4 pound, 7 ounce female to smoke a jerkbait off the point (the fish in the picture attached to the report). I believe that this fish was post-spawn and stopping on this point to rest on her way back out from the spawning flat nearby, mainly due to the warm water (76 degrees in this part of the lake) and the fact that her tail was extremely bloody, so much so that it was dripping blood onto my bibs as I held her up for photos. However, it is possible that she could have been spawning next to one of the stumps on the point in slightly deeper water, and I just happened to get my jerkbait close enough to her to make her bite. After releasing that fish, we fished the point for a few more minutes with no bites, and then caught some fish flipping a jig in the laydowns along the bank at the mouth of the warm water discharge. There are fish in all 3 stages of the spawn on the lake right now due to the varying water temperatures, and it seems to be fishing quite well no matter the conditions. I also believe that there may be a bluegill spawn going on near the warm water discharge, as we idled over several flat, sandy points and saw hundreds of small beds in large clusters, so targeting that could also produce some fish as a secondary pattern. All in all it was a great first trip to the lake and we will definitely be back!
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