Post by mwardncsu on Dec 5, 2016 12:07:29 GMT -5
Weather: 37 rising to very low 40's, light sleet in the morning, a cooolllldddd rain in the afternoon, light & variable winds
Water: 55-57, visibilty of 5 feet or so - too clear right now for good bait catching
Techniques: Pulling silver-dollar to de-valued / deflated dollar-bill sized shad on freeline planers (4) and a light-line
After the tournament on Saturday, Sunday was my day to fish. It was cold out on Saturday night and I didn't feel comfortable going out by myself to catch bait so fortunately a buddy had several dozen silver dollar or slightly larger baits in his home tank and said to come get a few dozen on Sunday AM - so I did
I fished down his way for most of the morning with only a couple of rolls both in the same spot that did not hook up.
I tried a couple of other creeks on the mid-lake area during the morning, deciding to stay down as I was going to be picking up Nathan and his cousin about 2 for the afternoon. While pulling one creek I started marking what I thought at first was fish, but if it was the baits that drug right through them and the swimbaits I tossed into them got no love - so I figured it was big bait and I broke out the nets to try and get some larger gizzards - no dice, even using a couple of different nets including my deep-water net - I think a combination of the clear water and it not being that cold yet had the bait scattering before the net could catch them.
I moved on to the creek where I was going to pick up Nathan and it was full of bait as well - this time I was able to net some, though not that many given how carpeted the creek floor was with them.... unfortunately it was just silver-dollar sized as well
Off we went - I had planned to run quite a ways up the lake but it was cold & raining so we decided to check out a few creeks along the way - found a few fish in a Dec/Jan spot and got one to the boat - pulled that creek a while longer and missed one in another little spot that I've caught a number in the winter but it was a quick tug and gone....
We moved on up, but stopped short of the original target yet again to see if we could find some without making such a long cold run.... we did
Missed one right off the bat but managed two more along that stretch. Both times Nathan had the rod in his hand, once feeding out line on the board when it all of a sudden buried - the other time as it was pulling the board and bait over a submerged log - the exact same log and way it happened when I caught one in that spot a few weeks back :shock:
We had one more chance in that creek - Nathan's cousin Ricky had the rod but missed the hook-up. So we packed it in, retrieved a few boards we had broken off on submerged timber and moved further on up - stopping yet again - this time in the stretch where my 39.5" came from last week and near where the 38" Tournament Big Fish came from the day before - we pulled and finally had one very fast quick tug where none of us could get hands on the rod before it dropped the bait. That was about all the daylight we had, and it was a cold ride back down the lake to drop them off and then back to the slip so we packed it in. The three fish were 26-29" range, but at least saw some stripes and had some action along the way! Ready for that big bait to slow down a little and get to be easier pickings and then it will be game on until it gets too cold!
Water: 55-57, visibilty of 5 feet or so - too clear right now for good bait catching
Techniques: Pulling silver-dollar to de-valued / deflated dollar-bill sized shad on freeline planers (4) and a light-line
After the tournament on Saturday, Sunday was my day to fish. It was cold out on Saturday night and I didn't feel comfortable going out by myself to catch bait so fortunately a buddy had several dozen silver dollar or slightly larger baits in his home tank and said to come get a few dozen on Sunday AM - so I did
I fished down his way for most of the morning with only a couple of rolls both in the same spot that did not hook up.I tried a couple of other creeks on the mid-lake area during the morning, deciding to stay down as I was going to be picking up Nathan and his cousin about 2 for the afternoon. While pulling one creek I started marking what I thought at first was fish, but if it was the baits that drug right through them and the swimbaits I tossed into them got no love - so I figured it was big bait and I broke out the nets to try and get some larger gizzards - no dice, even using a couple of different nets including my deep-water net - I think a combination of the clear water and it not being that cold yet had the bait scattering before the net could catch them.
I moved on to the creek where I was going to pick up Nathan and it was full of bait as well - this time I was able to net some, though not that many given how carpeted the creek floor was with them.... unfortunately it was just silver-dollar sized as well
Off we went - I had planned to run quite a ways up the lake but it was cold & raining so we decided to check out a few creeks along the way - found a few fish in a Dec/Jan spot and got one to the boat - pulled that creek a while longer and missed one in another little spot that I've caught a number in the winter but it was a quick tug and gone....
We moved on up, but stopped short of the original target yet again to see if we could find some without making such a long cold run.... we did
Missed one right off the bat but managed two more along that stretch. Both times Nathan had the rod in his hand, once feeding out line on the board when it all of a sudden buried - the other time as it was pulling the board and bait over a submerged log - the exact same log and way it happened when I caught one in that spot a few weeks back :shock: We had one more chance in that creek - Nathan's cousin Ricky had the rod but missed the hook-up. So we packed it in, retrieved a few boards we had broken off on submerged timber and moved further on up - stopping yet again - this time in the stretch where my 39.5" came from last week and near where the 38" Tournament Big Fish came from the day before - we pulled and finally had one very fast quick tug where none of us could get hands on the rod before it dropped the bait. That was about all the daylight we had, and it was a cold ride back down the lake to drop them off and then back to the slip so we packed it in. The three fish were 26-29" range, but at least saw some stripes and had some action along the way! Ready for that big bait to slow down a little and get to be easier pickings and then it will be game on until it gets too cold!
