4/15/17 - Took a Ride to the Darkside
Apr 17, 2017 8:14:33 GMT -5
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seajay, Jason54, and 3 more like this
Post by R22 on Apr 17, 2017 8:14:33 GMT -5
I headed down to the lake on Friday evening with the intention of catching bait, both to add to the home tank and to do a little fishing. The weather looked promising for Saturday fishing.
I had been communicating with another forum member that had been at the lake for most of the week. He indicated that bait had been hit and miss but after a few hours Friday evening, I was content with the 30 or so baits I had gathered. A nice mix of from 10-14 inches for the home tank.
Saturday Morning
Overcast skies with temperature in the high 50s to mid 70s
Water Temperature - 63-66
Free and lightlined planers, a downline and a float out the back.
Saturday morning was beautiful. I didn't get on the water until 8 am. I had been contemplating heading to Blackwater but never really decided what I was going to do until I got to the mouth of my creek. I only took five baits with me, forcing me to catch more bait at some point in the morning if I planned to fish very much.
SeaJay was a Blackwater tour guide by phone. It has been years since I went to the upper end of the Blackwater side. I decided to scout a bit and catch bait before fishing. I got lucky and bait was pretty easy. I added a combined 2 dozen, mostly large moneymakers, a few mongos and some super alewives. I did mix in a few 6-8 inch baits just to try everything. I wanted to keep catching bait but the amount of purge happening with the gizzards right now is ridiculous. Not so much slime but the foam was terrible. It was a constant battle for the first hour they were in the tank. I felt by adding any more might just spoil the entire tank.
I began fishing the mouth of my bait creek at 10:10 am. Within a few hundred yards and before the entire spread was deployed, an alewife was down. This one came unhooked just before the net. Looked like it was probably a mid 20s inch fish.
Not long after things got a little crazy, a good crazy. From about 10:30 until just before noon things got fast and furious. I ended up with 7, all under the slot. I missed or lost at least 8 to 10 more and broke one off. All fish were caught on moneymakers or smaller gizzards and ales on bankside boards. The mongos got battered around but caught no fish.
As quickly as it started, things seemed to stop just before noon. I fished until 2 pm but never really had much play during the last two hours.
An approaching storm had the pollen looking like a dust storm.
I went back to my bait hole at 2 pm and everything had changed. I hit a few other creeks looking for bait in the way back and was only able to find small bait. Nothing over 6 inches to be found.
Here are a few pictures. They all looked the same and were 25-28 inches and 7-8 pounds.
I had been communicating with another forum member that had been at the lake for most of the week. He indicated that bait had been hit and miss but after a few hours Friday evening, I was content with the 30 or so baits I had gathered. A nice mix of from 10-14 inches for the home tank.
Saturday Morning
Overcast skies with temperature in the high 50s to mid 70s
Water Temperature - 63-66
Free and lightlined planers, a downline and a float out the back.
Saturday morning was beautiful. I didn't get on the water until 8 am. I had been contemplating heading to Blackwater but never really decided what I was going to do until I got to the mouth of my creek. I only took five baits with me, forcing me to catch more bait at some point in the morning if I planned to fish very much.
SeaJay was a Blackwater tour guide by phone. It has been years since I went to the upper end of the Blackwater side. I decided to scout a bit and catch bait before fishing. I got lucky and bait was pretty easy. I added a combined 2 dozen, mostly large moneymakers, a few mongos and some super alewives. I did mix in a few 6-8 inch baits just to try everything. I wanted to keep catching bait but the amount of purge happening with the gizzards right now is ridiculous. Not so much slime but the foam was terrible. It was a constant battle for the first hour they were in the tank. I felt by adding any more might just spoil the entire tank.
I began fishing the mouth of my bait creek at 10:10 am. Within a few hundred yards and before the entire spread was deployed, an alewife was down. This one came unhooked just before the net. Looked like it was probably a mid 20s inch fish.
Not long after things got a little crazy, a good crazy. From about 10:30 until just before noon things got fast and furious. I ended up with 7, all under the slot. I missed or lost at least 8 to 10 more and broke one off. All fish were caught on moneymakers or smaller gizzards and ales on bankside boards. The mongos got battered around but caught no fish.
As quickly as it started, things seemed to stop just before noon. I fished until 2 pm but never really had much play during the last two hours.
An approaching storm had the pollen looking like a dust storm.
I went back to my bait hole at 2 pm and everything had changed. I hit a few other creeks looking for bait in the way back and was only able to find small bait. Nothing over 6 inches to be found.
Here are a few pictures. They all looked the same and were 25-28 inches and 7-8 pounds.
