Got out on the lake with the Rickster today to see if the Stripers are getting any closer to their summer patterns. So far the lake has been slow to warm with the temps still barely just over 80 degrees. We really need 85+ on the surface to help set up a solid thermocline and so far we just haven’t had any real hot weather to help generate that much heat. I expect that will change shortly though as we move into August so it won’t be long…
Got out for a quick trip up the lake after hearing about some awesome action early this morning. Turns out all the action was in the morning; we didn’t do well but it was a nice day to be on the water and in the end, getting to watch Rick commit another “classic moment” is what days like this are all about…
More on Short day trip with Rick (aka: Snaggy), Friday May 15th
Had one of my best “May” days ever! I boated 9 fish ranging from 4 to 9 lbs. Fish were caught many different ways including surface, trolling leadcore, trolling umbrella’s and jigging. All told it was beautiful on the lake with mild temps and little to no boat traffic.
The weather has been so nice I decided I wanted to get out again even though I wasn’t expecting to catch much given the prime and recent fishing being reported. My best chances would be up the lake but I didn’t have any gas and I wasn’t planning on hiking up that far even after I did fill up. I fished from 8:30 to 1:00 on the South side from Big Creek up to BB. For the day I landed one 8 lb Striper and lost one in FBB as I was headed back to the dock. That last fish was most likely a big fish. It hit a large spoon, 12 colors out, after I had marked two fish at 40 ft.
Took the boat out for a short day trip to see what was going on up the lake. I got to the dock around 7:30 and was fishing by 8:30 up around Gainesville Marina. I spent most of the day looking and didn’t see much. I’m not sure if I missed all the surface activity but I did hear of a few people catching fish earlier in the morning. I wasn’t so lucky. Late morning I did get over some fish and was able to boat one small Striper along with a spotted bass. These fish were all hugging a 15-25 ft bottom and didn’t seem to want to turn “on”. I caught my fish jigging swim baits and did have quite a few window shoppers so they were “coming up” but just not taking it. The water temp up in this area was over 70 and sometimes as high as 72. There was a slight wind and the prime for the day was around 11:00 but the BP stayed high and I would say that was the main reason they never really turned on for me. Later in the day I heard of some fish being caught between 3-5 and noted the BP was dropping for a few hours right at the same time.