June 1st, 2010 – Tuesday

Took a short trip on Lanier today to get my boat ready for the upcoming season. I didn't intend on fishing but if I got my work done quickly, I planned on wetting a line or two… After doing some cleaning and fresh water tank work, I took a closer look at my trolling motor problem. Looks like the deep cycle batteries may be dead as they won't hold a charge. Other than that, nothing major needs to be done. The boat will be serviced early next week and I'll get any replaced that don't measure up to the "load test" my mechanic will do.

Once my work was done, I decided to play a bit. It was around 1:00 PM and maybe the worse time to try but I had a little time to kill. I've been trying to get on spotted bass with spot tailed minnows thinking it would be fun for the kid. One strategic throw of my cast net landed 13-14 large spot tailed minnows from my dock and with the live well full, I headed up the lake in search of spots. I thought drifting BB, in the shade, would be killer. Turned out to be a bust; I couldn't buy a bite. I was marking 80 degree water, some little bait pods out over the channel and even what I thought were some fish mixed in the deep water around the pods. After struggling to catch anything, I called Doug. I asked about the fish I thought I was seeing and he said he thinks they're spotted bass. After trying to target them, I think he's right. They appear small on the graph, won't hit the troll or jig presentation and are almost always singles. To get over fish that would eat, he said to work the channel markers at 20 feet. Turned out he was right!

From that point on I headed north fishing every reef marker I found. Basically I'd drop my bait and get an instant hook up. It was like clock work; the spots were right at 20 feet and I was able to catch 1-2 per stop. As expected, I was able to establish a pattern and with my expectations met, I headed home. Just below the Chestatee cut through by Keith's Bridge ramp, I noticed what looked like a Striper chasing a lone Blue Back. I pulled up to the spot and kept my eyes peeled. Within a few minutes, I saw the little guy surface again for 2-3 jumps and was quick on my cast ahead of his trajectory. My fluke didn't hit the water for more than a second and "fish on". This fish was small, around 5 lbs, but fun and so much stronger compared to the spotted bass I'd been catching. I waited around looking another 5 minutes and sure enough, same sequence of events unfolded. In fact, it may have been the same Striper! Realizing these were in fact small fish, I reeled up and called it a day.

With the start of June we inch ever closer to the summer pattern. I was marking 81-82 degrees in the water just above BB so no doubt the lake is heating up as summer takes hold. We are on a "faster than normal" heat pattern which is fine with me. With any luck they'll be schooling on the southside by the end of this month.