Palmer Lake Fishing Report
If that doesn't produce, switch to smallmouth: hit the main-lake rocky points and humps with a drop-shot (3/16 oz, green-pumpkin or slim shad Roboworm).
Bass are biting hard right now — largemouth and smallmouth both locked into pre-spawn/spawn mode on the 68°F water, with a full moon tonight pushing waves of fish shallow. Hit protected coves and hard-bottom flats on the north and northwest banks starting at first light tomorrow.
THE CALL Largemouth and smallmouth are your primary targets for the next three days. The water hit 68°F — optimal for aggressive feeding and spawning activity — and the full moon tonight (plus a 4/5 solunar rating) has fish moving up in waves. The recent warming trend (+7.3° over recent readings) has pulled them shallow, and the steady pressure (30.11 inHg) will extend morning windows before the afternoon wind builds.
WHY IT WINS
- 68°F is the sweet spot for both largemouth and smallmouth spring aggression — pre-spawn staging females are feeding up, and males are fanning beds.
- Full moon + warming trend = multiple waves of fish moving onto spawning flats, especially on protected north and northwest banks.
- Wind forecast: Day 1 (Sunday) starts calm then rips to 30 mph by afternoon, Day 2 (Monday) 17 mph. That means the first 2-3 hours of light each day are your best window for shallow fish before boat control becomes an issue.
START HERE Go to the largest protected cove on the northwest side of Palmer Lake. Look for the deepest pocket with a hard bottom (gravel/sand mix) and scattered laydowns or sparse weeds — that will hold staging bass and spawning fish. If that cove is exposed to the north wind, slide to the cove directly south of it. The thermal imagery (May 28) shows warmer pockets in these northwest coves.
THROW THIS
- Primary bait: 1/2 oz white or green-pumpkin chatterbait with a twin-tail trailer. Burn it through the flat and kill it at the first hard object (stump, rock, weed line). Retrieve fast enough to keep the blade thumping — active fish will smash it.
- Backup bait: 3/16 oz Texas-rigged green-pumpkin Baby Brush Hog or a white/chartreuse spinnerbait with double willow blades if the chatterbait gets short strikes.
- For smallmouth specifically: Have a jerkbait (X-Rap or Vision 110 in silver/blue) tied on for the gravel points and humps just off the flats.
BEST WINDOW
- Days 1 & 2: Fish first light (6:00-8:30 AM) hard. On Day 1, the 30 mph wind will shut down the shallow bite by 10 AM — be off the water or switch to a protected wind-block bank by then. On Day 2, the wind hits 17 mph, so you get a longer window (6:00-10:00 AM), then slide to the lee side.
- Day 3: Lighter winds expected (check hourly before go) — extend the morning window.
NEXT MOVE If the shallow flat bite dies after 45 minutes (no followers, no blowups), pull out to the first secondary point or creek-mouth channel edge adjacent to that cove. Slow down with a 3/8 oz football head jig (green-pumpkin/watermelon) dragged on the bottom — those fish are staging and need a bait put in their face. If that doesn't produce, switch to smallmouth: hit the main-lake rocky points and humps with a drop-shot (3/16 oz, green-pumpkin or slim shad Roboworm).