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Post by Live Bait JunkEE on Jan 5, 2015 11:48:45 GMT -5
great weekend -- another Anna fisherman has been hypnotized by the wonderful waters of SML!!!!!! welcome to the club --- big bait still? --- looks like I might try one more escape trick on the wife. lol
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 5, 2015 12:27:31 GMT -5
Lee - we caught fish on smaller bait down around mid-lake - and others were as well. The bite might have been better on alewives than peanuts, but I think we got at least one on a peanut.
I got all my big bait in the mid to late afternoon - up to just before sunset - they tend to move up a bit shallower just before dark.
As to fish movement - a lot of what moves them is their available food source and then also the water conditions. In the summer, they need cool enough water with enough oxygen and then some food to eat. When we have very hot summers and strong thermoclines setup, they tend to get pushed down some. In the spring/fall, the water is great and they can be anywhere they want to be - so they choose to be near food, but they will be scattered up. In the winter, they school up - I guess to collectively minimize energy spend on chasing food - and again, will be near the food. All certainly are not in one place at a given time and all don't move up or move down - I'm convinced there are at least two main groupings - if not more - some that stay more up-lake, and some that stay more mid/down. Perhaps this is due to the change in stocking procedure some years back from when they used to stock all in one location to now where they stock in numerous spots from up as far as Moormans to down towards the dam (and equivalent on the Blackwater side).
But in rough generalites - you can expect a large number of fish to move down-lake in April, then move back up around mid-lake in late May or early June - they will tend to move up the lake some in the fall, and maybe early spring. But again - when folks are chasing fish mid-lake, we've caught them up-lake - and when everyone is chasing fish up around Moormans we've been catching them mid/lower lake - different groups of fish.
Go look for the bait and water conditions that the fish can stand - and then fish near that and you'll be rewarded...
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 5, 2015 12:29:40 GMT -5
great weekend -- another Anna fisherman has been hypnotized by the wonderful waters of SML!!!!!! welcome to the club --- big bait still --- looks like I might try one more escape trick on the wife. lol Live Bait JunkEE - to be fair, ArchEnemy is/was a SML guy till he sold his place at SML a few years back and tried to get Anna scratch his striper itch since it was close to home - sounds like it's not getting the job done for him
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Post by archenemy on Jan 5, 2015 12:31:12 GMT -5
Haha I never truly was an Anna fisherman. I had a place on sml until last year and have resorted to Anna since its close to the house.
I will drive the extra 2 hours each way and spend the hotel money for sml long before I go back to Anna.
Quality versus quantity any day !
Sent from my XT1080 using proboards
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2015 13:46:34 GMT -5
Anna is a great Lake for the summer. You know for people who want to leave the fish alone on SML. I'd rather kill fish from a put and take Lake in the summer.
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lund1
New Member
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Post by lund1 on Jan 5, 2015 15:07:40 GMT -5
Hi Mike, I've been wanting to ask a question for a while but don't want to appear even more ignorant them I am...but I've gotta ask after seeing that outstanding report....are "creeks" defined as a cove that actually ends in a tributary to the lake? No matter how small? I fish the BW exclusively and pore over the map to best identify prospective fishing grounds...there's several "coves" that end in shallow, even swampy backsides, but very few actual creeks. At least thats how it looks to me. Is it just a major difference in the profile of SML? or am I miss-understanding the strategy? I'm also confused by the pattern....my limited understanding was fish school up deep in the channels in the winter...I've been focusing on the mouths of the few creeks I can ID...assuming they move in to the creek to feed, then move out. Needless to say I'm not catching 80 - 100lbs of stripes a day. I've been on this board a long time...sometime active, sometime lurking...and that report is friggin' awesome. Congratulations on a fantastic day!
Here's one for Yammy
Be on your side..I'll stay on my side. There aint no reason for you to hide. It's so lonely with peanuts and little Ales while those mongo's take you for a ride, ride, ride.
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irons
New Member
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Post by irons on Jan 5, 2015 15:12:16 GMT -5
Nice few days there. I still think I would rather be at the bay right now. But if I lived at the coast I would prolly be divorced with no job from fishing all the time.
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 5, 2015 15:35:09 GMT -5
Lund1 - it's great to see you on here - we like the participation more than lurking but it's all good "creeks" above mean the ones that you'd see identified as "X Creek" on the map.... in that they are fed by true creeks - ones like Craddock, Hickory, Witcher, Halesford Creek, Stoney, Indian, Grimes, Beaver Dam, Jumping Run, Lynville, Gills Creek, Standiford , Bulls Run, etc, etc - though I can't say for certain that they "have" to be real creeks - the key thing is there being a concentration of bait fish for a food-source not that far away. Yes - the fish historically school up in the channel in the winter - my guess is they do this to be more efficient in chasing bait and feeding - working together than if they each had to chase it around on their own - allowing them to conserve energy in the cold winter. So far this winter we at least have not hit the big schools that typically appear mid-lake except briefly one morning, and it wasn't a huge school. Sounds like they did show up around the bridge late morning on Sunday... though it seems it has been more scattered pods of fish roaming the channel and you pretty much need to just sit and wait for them to come through or else you'll likely miss them. I'm too ADD to just sit - I have to be on the move The older, wiser ones here can sit in the middle of the channel, kick back in their heated taj-mahal dining & drinking well, listening to the game and patiently wait for a rod to bend over. I, on the other hand, have to throw a net in 46 degree water and 40 degree air temps till my hands fall off, and then ride around, pulling baits with the rain soaking me and wind driving the chill to the bone There is a lot of bait in the channels - at least on the Roanoke side - just down deep - so don't neglect to get out into the channel middles as well - find the bait - the fish will be around at some point. The strategy we took was to find a few fish in each creek - and honestly, we'd get one, maybe two and you'd have to move on to a significantly different area of the creek or a totally different creek. I am sure we could have had the change to jig or down-rod up larger numbers by stalking them in the main channel, keep roaming looking for birds & big schools of bait fish - but again, I'm too ADD. One other thing that may have sort of gotten lost in my report above. We were seeing a fair number of fish down at 50+ feet. When you rip a fish up from that depth, they are likely going to experience barotrauma - or "bloating" - and much of the time they won't go back down. My experience has been up to around 40' is OK, but towards 50 you get this problem. "Fizzing" a striper is NOT recommended - and while there are some folks starting to make a deep release devices, it is not very well proven yet if these truly release the fish successfully - or just get them down where they don't float back up. So if you catch one from that deep and they bloat up, you need to be prepared to keep it - and don't just "release" it for it to float upside down on the surface and die.....
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 5, 2015 15:37:37 GMT -5
Nice few days there. I still think I would rather be at the bay right now. But if I lived at the coast I would prolly be divorced with no job from fishing all the time. I did wonder myself when I saw the 50+ lber Dewayne posted up on Saturday via Facebook..... of course then he posted the 8 lber he caught
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Post by CorneliaGale on Jan 5, 2015 16:24:41 GMT -5
Hope to try in the bridge area next week and see if that school stays around. Will be down all week and hoping to try a few days and see if anything will hit. Hope I can find some bait.
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Post by 2013skiff on Jan 5, 2015 16:47:29 GMT -5
thanks mward for the tips and info...I think I went wrong sunday was not targeting the 5 fish in a school I was looking for the big school...should've dropped the bait on the little 5 fish gathering and got one or two and moved on like you guys did...I go wrong somewhere everytime I go...thanks guys for all the info on this site...much appreciated...thanks lee
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2015 19:17:33 GMT -5
Hi Mike, I've been wanting to ask a question for a while but don't want to appear even more ignorant them I am...but I've gotta ask after seeing that outstanding report....are "creeks" defined as a cove that actually ends in a tributary to the lake? No matter how small? I fish the BW exclusively and pore over the map to best identify prospective fishing grounds...there's several "coves" that end in shallow, even swampy backsides, but very few actual creeks. At least thats how it looks to me. Is it just a major difference in the profile of SML? or am I miss-understanding the strategy? I'm also confused by the pattern....my limited understanding was fish school up deep in the channels in the winter...I've been focusing on the mouths of the few creeks I can ID...assuming they move in to the creek to feed, then move out. Needless to say I'm not catching 80 - 100lbs of stripes a day. I've been on this board a long time...sometime active, sometime lurking...and that report is friggin' awesome. Congratulations on a fantastic day! Here's one for Yammy Be on your side..I'll stay on my side. There aint no reason for you to hide. It's so lonely with peanuts and little Ales while those mongo's take you for a ride, ride, ride. That net of mongos, dragged me by a rainbow... Down by the river. I spotted Bigun. Down by the river. Down....
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 5, 2015 19:30:10 GMT -5
I go wrong somewhere everytime I go... Heck - just by going you are doing the most important thing right
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Post by tommyfishes on Jan 5, 2015 20:42:52 GMT -5
All those beautiful fish and no close up footage..... Glad you guys had a good trip!!
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Post by mwardncsu on Jan 5, 2015 20:58:43 GMT -5
All those beautiful fish and no close up footage..... Glad you guys had a good trip!! We tried.... we have some work to do on the prototype... I'll send you a PM...... we did almost get one good clip but for some reason the camera did no go into record via the connected app.... it would have been awesome as the camera was running off the back channel side, pointing towards the boards & Charlie set the hook into a fish that slammed a board and reeled it right towards the camera.....
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