Leesville 8/4

[piper]

Greetings friends,

The wife let me escape for a few hours this afternoon.  I put in about 2pm or so and fished until 6pm.  Water temp about 82 deg. I noticed the water was about 3-4ft below normal .  The wind was ridiculous along with a moderate amount of boat traffic. I had to take refuge in a small cove to get set up.     I wanted to break in the new (to me) fold n troll.. I really like that thing..perfect for my small fish n ski. I trolled deep driving cranks (braided line, no leadcore) from mouth at goat island (I think they call it)  back up to the 1st cove before the dam.  Marked a number of fish but nothing doing .(pic 3)  I then drove up to Tri county marina and checked things out. Not sure what these are..perhaps just shad but pretty cool (pic 2) and finally made my way back toward dam hanging around the rock walls and bam...my pole got hit... I finally real in this beautiful walleye... about 21" and 3.5lbs.. I wish I brought ice..she was perfect eating size...Outside of that I simply marked a ton of fish. Not sure what they are but saw a number of schools like the 3rd pic throughout the lake.

 

[Shadslinger]

Congratulations man, Ive trolled leesville for years and never caught a walleye. Nice fish

[piper]

Thanks man..actually the talk on here got me curious so I headed to the rock walls as folks mentioned. I will say I have a smaller procraft (17.5ft) and stayed pretty close to the bank..maybe 10ft or less off. The walleye hit the 2nd pole out which was about 14 ft or so off the bank. I really wanted to get a pattern before the fall as I want to take my father out. He's from Wis where the walleye are gold.

[blueheron]

Piper, Approx. what speed were you trolling when you caught it?

[piper]

Not sure exactly. I dont have a GPS antenna yet to track on my Lowrance.

[Shadslinger]

Optimal trolling speed is around 2-3mph usually in a s pattern

[blueheron]

Fished with my 11 yr old son last night from 7:00 - 9:00.  Pulled deep divers from rock face at Eagle Point Shores (marked some nice bait balls and fish there) down to just past Tri-County.  No hits but did have one big school of threadfin surface in front of us. Trash was minimal.  Wind seems to have cleared things up a bit.

[piper]

Stopped by yesterday for a few hours.. Water back up about 4-5 ft and trash everywhere... I see why folks get frustrated with the lake..ayayaya

[blueheron]

What I know about the trash and water levels:

Leesville can be frustrating for weekend fishermen due to water level fluctuation and trash. It does not lend itself well to casual weekend fishing. Although AEP has no schedule that they have to keep, there is a few general assumptions that can be made. The lake is typically the highest on Thurs. eve and Fri. morning. As the day winds down on Fridays, the lake begins to drop and it will usually reach its lowest point sometime Monday morning. During the week, power is made by letting water out of SML through the turbines while minimal flow is maintained at Leesville dam. Power usage is greatest during the week and this is when AEP can make the most money selling hydro power into the grid as needed so they want maximum pool at SML and minimal pool at Leesville to maximize the potential power available. On Fri. you end up with Leesville near max capacity and the trash pushed down the lake toward the dam. Friday evenings, they reverse the turbines at SML and use excess grid power to begin draw down on Leesville, pumping it back up into SML throughout Saturday and Sunday. By Sunday evening, Leesville lake is typically pretty low and launching boats at some of the ramps can be sketchy, use caution navigating in the upper reaches both due to trash and shoals.

The turbines reversed at SML cause the current to run backwards and the trash begins to move up the lake towards the dam usually ending in a big debris field around Sportsmans Point and Brumfield. The constant current from Pig River usually traps it, keeping it below Toler's Ferry Bridge. This usually means that the lake is most stable during the weekdays. Of course storms and rain events sometimes cause changes in the pattern but my experience is that this is the average. If there is a need for extra power in the grid, like really hot days, you may sometimes see the lake low on Wed. or Thurs. or sometimes during the holidays, or spring striper run in the Staunton you might see some variation in the pattern as they try to maintain a specific CFS for the spawn.

This is one of the reasons I asked about trolling speed, current in the lake switches back and forth. This can mean a speed change for trolling up vs. down lake and can change the position fish are holding in.

[grasscutter]

www.aep.com/environment/conservation/hydro/

Here is a link to the lake levels....might help to decide if you are gonna fish or stay home lol.....updates each hour....generally but not always you will find leesville low on Sunday am as they pump back sat night into smith.....the lower the better for largemouth fishing....anything over 609 or so I stay home cuz of the mess

[piper]

Thanks for the link. Went out yesterday to try some different tactics. The water was much better except right at the dam. Had to clear a bit of debris to put in/take out.  Looks like its down another 2 feet from yesterday...May have to give it another shot