Went out with Jonathan today to get him back to the mindset of fishing. He's been going to school for almost a month now and with our Funfest Striper tournament coming up this Saturday, I wanted to make sure he still knew how to reel in a fish! Fortunately he got some practice even though the lake was as packed as I've seen it all year. The boats were out big time along with 3-4 foot waves throwing us around non stop. Still we fared well all things considered boating 8 and missing a few that weren't taking the lure hard but instead just pecking at it. When this happens you'll get a lot of "nibbles" that don't stick when trolling and we had at least 4-5 which is a lot in one day.
Got out on the lake today after being away to see Mom for a few days. It's been a full week since I was last on the water and for the most part, nothing much has changed. Fish are still scattered from Browns Bridge down to the dam. The surface temps were a bit cooler compared to the beginning of August but that's to be expected considering how much rain has fallen the past week.
Hit the lake for a "solo" trip to see if there has been any movement of the fish from their recent haunts. I noted they were moving quite a bit at the end of last week and I'm hoping they're thinking about coming out of the trees. Typically we're seeing a lot more of them out in the open by now in the summer but 2010 has been anything but typical. At this point we're still catching them in shallow water, suspended just in and over the trees, which makes for some difficult jigging and/or trolling. Snags abound and it can get frustrating and costly when you have to fish the trees all day long.
Had David and his son Zachary on the Main Office tonight for a late day summer trip. Thunder and lightening were circling around the lake and I was afraid it might interfere with our plans but we rolled the dice and stayed. Turned out to be a good gamble 
Took out Jonathan and his buddy Nick for a short afternoon trip today. After spending the first half of the day in school, I thought they might like to hit Lanier and catch some Stripers. I knew the time wouldn't be ideal but I felt I could boat a few and it turns out I was right.