Hit Willard Res. this afternoon hoping to find a few panfish (b.gills or y.perch) and had no such luck! Water is crystal clear right now and only saw 1 bluegill and 1 other green sunfish the whole trip. While i had one line out trying live bait at different depths on a slip bobber, i was casting a craftfur jig/pig ties. Managed a coulpe 15" LMB that ended up making the ride home with me.
Caught both in deep water at the farthest extent of my casts, guessing 25+ FOW and just slowly hopping and swimming the jigs along. Natural colors caught them - drk. green/brown/pearl.
From the lake - note how clear the water is!
At home - ready to fillet and drink a beer:
Filleted them up and into the freezer but saved out the thickest (shoulder) meat and cooked it on the grill tonight fresh. Wow............ marinated it in olive oil, lemon juice and diced garlic for about 30 minutes them coated it in italian bread crumbs mixed with paprika, salt and pepper. Then right on the grates over HOT coals. There were 4 fillets so only made 4 shoulder pieces - just about had to fight my daughter for the last bite! Best piece of fish i have had in a long while.
BTW - To any conservation minded bass fisherman out there...... the Ohio limit is 5 fish per day but i limit myself to only 5 fish per LAKE, per YEAR for large and smallmouth bass. It was 1 male and 1 female.

From the lake - note how clear the water is!

At home - ready to fillet and drink a beer:

Filleted them up and into the freezer but saved out the thickest (shoulder) meat and cooked it on the grill tonight fresh. Wow............ marinated it in olive oil, lemon juice and diced garlic for about 30 minutes them coated it in italian bread crumbs mixed with paprika, salt and pepper. Then right on the grates over HOT coals. There were 4 fillets so only made 4 shoulder pieces - just about had to fight my daughter for the last bite! Best piece of fish i have had in a long while.

BTW - To any conservation minded bass fisherman out there...... the Ohio limit is 5 fish per day but i limit myself to only 5 fish per LAKE, per YEAR for large and smallmouth bass. It was 1 male and 1 female.