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.
I started the day by looking in the no wake zone of Aqualand. Much to my surprise there were a few fish around and I was able to bag one on the “going away” troll. As I exited the buoy markers, he bit and it was a nice way to start the day with a nice 10 lb Striper.
I proceeded to troll out to the mouth of Flowery but didn’t see much. I then turned up lake and cruised to Orr. Here I found lots of fish in both deep and shallow water. Doug told me he boated a 30 lb’er Monday from this location so I worked it hard. After trolling up two fish in the deep water, I jigged for 45 minutes and managed 4 more. 6 fish in just over an hour wasn’t bad but they were small; 7-9 lbs isn’t anything to get excited about right now.
Leaving fish in search of something bigger, I headed over to Shady Grove. Here I didn’t see anything till I got to the shore back in a deep water pocket. Sure enough, the fish were stacked, aggressive and BIG! My first two were 12 -14 lbs like this one:
The really cool thing about these fish is they were strong. I could barely stop them when they first bit and they were taking 30 lb Spider like it was 8 lb mono. The 4th fish I hooked must have been really big. I was using my “heavy” rod spooled with 40 lb Firewire and I couldn’t stop this fish. He grabbed my big Daredevil and never quick taking line. After loosing quite a bit to him I turned the drag a little tighter and he snapped the braid like it was thread. I’ve never had that happen before and generally I don’t like to mess with the drag when fighting a big fish but he was headed for the trees so I didn’t have a choice.
After boating 5-6 at this spot I ran down to the dam, Bald Ridge and Shoal. I spent some 30-40 minutes doing recon but didn’t mark much of anything. Heading back to the Sisters and the mouth of Flowery to finish the day, I trolled one fish in front of Flowery out by the channel and then jigged one at the end of my dock bringing the day’s total to 14-15 fish. Not a bad effort all things considered.
Some key points that made the day a success:
1) It was cloudy most of last night and around 10:30 this morning it started raining. Clouds lingered all day which I’m sure helped my cause.
2) The full moon was this past Tuesday and though the fishing was tough that day, clouds rolled in Wednesday and most guides did all right. I think we may have missed a bad “cycle” this full moon with the cloud cover keeping the fish from “feeding out” during the night.
3) The fish this summer have hung tight to the timber like I don’t ever remember. Though I’m finding fish out in open water, they aren’t nearly as cooperative as I’d like. This could be moon related but no doubt todays fish were more aggressive when they were in shallow water and over or in the trees. This makes fishing harder but somehow easier too (more bites) so you’ve got to choose your poison. You can spend a lot of time with the big open water fish that aren’t aggressive or you can go to the trees and roll the dice with a lot more bites but unfortunately, a lot more risk!
As September rolls around, I expect more of the same pattern. With the water temps still warm, I fully expect there to be some awesome fishing the next few weeks. With any luck this pattern will hold through till October so I’m thinking we still have a 3-6 week window of great fishing.
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.
I started around noon and didn’t expect much activity. After speaking to Doug, it appeared as though the best bite was early in the morning. Still I decided to fish different water to see if I could find any hungry fish out and about. My first stop was Young Deer and it held fish way in the back. They were moving shallow, up in some 30 foot water and close to a dock, and they were constantly moving. Doug said he caught them hard earlier in the morning and I could tell they were fished out. Still I tried and after 45 minutes, I only had three to the boat. I saw plenty of fish but they just weren’t biting.
At that point I ventured out to the mouth of YD and spied several out in open water. On my first cast I hooked one down deep, in 100 feet of water, and it was a nice 12 lb’er with plenty of kick. I picked up a couple more fish in the next hour before moving out to the channel. There I found some more and boated 2 while heading toward cocktail cove.
In front of the CC, I started to note some decent bait pods and sure enough, I got a hookup while trolling. This fish was big, around 12 lbs, and underneath it I saw more gathering so I dropped my silver spoon. On my first cast I hooked up and boated a fish I thought to be 15-16 lbs but it looked really fat. After putting it on the boga, I found out it was over 18 lbs! Definitely a fatty and while holding it she started squeezing out some old eggs that were definitely “bad”.
Between CC and the Sisters I picked up another two fish so I ended the day with 10. The good news is the fish are clearly moving out to the channel and deeper water. I bet we’ll start seeing them in all the regular summer spots from now on and hopefully away from the trees!
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 
After avoiding the storms for the first couple of hours, I headed down toward the dam where the recent action has been best. Turns out the fish were tough to find but I kept looking. Persistence paid off and I was able to get us over a school that was eager to bite. After getting one to bite my spoon, David and Zach instantly hooked up and we had our first double of the evening. Those first two fish were around 11-12 lbs but if you ask Zach, his was bigger! After boating three from this first school, it was back to the “search”.
And that was the order of the evening. Lots of looking followed by a hint of “something in the area” followed by “FISH ON”. I asked the boys if they wanted to troll but they insisted on jigging which was definitely tough today. But the reward when jigging a fish is usually more appreciated so I’m glad they stuck it out. In the end we boated 9 and dropped a few more so it was another successful trip. Oh, and guess who got the big fish of the night? That would be Zach..
Be sure to check out all the images from our trip – including Zach’s big fish of the night – by clicking this image:
"Click" image for photo album
Got out with a new fishing buddy whose been wanting to do some “big league” jigging. He knew the boat to get on was the Main Office and she didn’t disappoint. We fished from 3:30 to 8:30 and boated 18 fish. Nick did very well working a bucktail jig/swim bait combo. I was pleasantly surprised to see the fish zero in on that bait and crush it. In fact, we witnessed 2-3 such bites as they played out on the Lowrance. And though we started the day with an open water trolled fish, it would be the only one we caught using this method.
Overall the fishing was tough. It was very hot, 95+, and the humidity was stifling. But I was able to find some fish and though it took a little coercion to get them going, they would bite if you pulled your lure past their face enough times. And that’s exactly what we did. Working the mouth of 6 Mile and some other coves and pockets further out towards the main channel, we were able to get over enough fish to make it a killer day. I ended up with the big fish of the trip right at 19 lbs and Nick got his personal best: this beautiful 18 lb’er!
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.
We fished from 2:00-5:30 and managed about 5 bites. I heard there was a good feed from 11:00 to 1:00 which we obviously missed. And apparently there was another big feed around 7:30 just after we got off the water. Still, we were able to get 3 fish to the boat and Nick finally got to land some Striped Bass. No doubt he was both surprised at their strength and excited to catch some big fish. He got to feel them on a light spinning rod as well the heavier trolling equipment. And at the end of the day, he had a cooler with plenty of meat to feed the family.
Click the photo to see the pics for the day:
