Post by 31Airborne on Sept 15, 2014 9:51:04 GMT -5
An old Army friend came up for the long weekend. We spent THUR-SUN at SML. Fished the VA West FoM event on SAT.
Practice: Weather was summer-like on THUR. Hot and sticky. Cooled off significantly on FRI but it stayed dry. Bites were far and few between even tho' we marked fish and bait everywhere we went. Focused on main lake & secondary points to start, then gradually made our way back into coves/cuts. THUR was tuff - made a 1000 casts with little to show for it. FRI was a bit better. Found fish holding on secondary pts and adjacent transition areas. Having brush or rock piles close by was key. Our bites in practice came on jigs (greens) and soft plastics (critter baits). No real pattern developed for us - just one fish here, one fish there. Later in the day on FRI we spent a good bit of time scanning areas we'd taken from our map study. Took only a few minutes at our first stop to recognize that fish were staging on deeper breaks, over brush, close to points and coves/cuts in the backs of creeks. We didn't fish any of this. With rain and heavy clouds forecast for TX day we bet on those fish moving up shallow to feed. This was our game plan for the TX.
TX day: We drew #18 (of 20) and made the ~15 min run to the Blackwater arm. Pulled up to our spot and was pleased to see no (zero, none, nada) boats anywhere in the area. Made our first pass along a steep rip-rap bank working topwaters and jigs. Hooked up on a solid 3 lb'er (spook) on the third cast. Had a couple short strikes on the spook after that, then switched to the jig. Keeper #2 nailed a PacTac 5/16 oz jig - solid 3.5-4 lb fish. My partner nails our third keeper on PacTac jig about 15 mins later. Our fourth (and final) keeper came on a critter bait fished on a splitshot rig about an hour later. All of our action came in the first 2 hours. The bite died after that. Lotsa casts with only a few short guys to show for it. We finished w/ 8.97 lbs.
Observations: 1) This was en event in which having sidescan and 3D downscan made a huge diff. 2) Fish were stacked up on breaks along steep banks. Secondary points and coves w/ a channel close by. Everywhere we marked a brush or rock pile along the way produced a fish. Those areas reloaded fairly quickly, too. 3) Greens, greens, and greens. 4) The red treb I had on my spook was buried in the fish's mouth. 5) Our game plan, based on what we learned from electronix work in practice, worked almost to perfection. Our failure to fill out our limit was a function of not adjusting to the weather change. Our bite died as the ceiling lifted and the rain stopped. Our fish came early, from areas between the docks. They pulled back under the docks or to deeper breaks once the sun came out. Saw it on the sidescan but didn't adjust.
Water temps held steady at 77-80 degrees. Water on the main lake was gin clear. Water in the Blackwater arm was a little stained but you still had 3-4' of viz.
Another great job by Russ Nixon and the VA West FoM crew. Looking forward to next season!
peace,
B
Practice: Weather was summer-like on THUR. Hot and sticky. Cooled off significantly on FRI but it stayed dry. Bites were far and few between even tho' we marked fish and bait everywhere we went. Focused on main lake & secondary points to start, then gradually made our way back into coves/cuts. THUR was tuff - made a 1000 casts with little to show for it. FRI was a bit better. Found fish holding on secondary pts and adjacent transition areas. Having brush or rock piles close by was key. Our bites in practice came on jigs (greens) and soft plastics (critter baits). No real pattern developed for us - just one fish here, one fish there. Later in the day on FRI we spent a good bit of time scanning areas we'd taken from our map study. Took only a few minutes at our first stop to recognize that fish were staging on deeper breaks, over brush, close to points and coves/cuts in the backs of creeks. We didn't fish any of this. With rain and heavy clouds forecast for TX day we bet on those fish moving up shallow to feed. This was our game plan for the TX.
TX day: We drew #18 (of 20) and made the ~15 min run to the Blackwater arm. Pulled up to our spot and was pleased to see no (zero, none, nada) boats anywhere in the area. Made our first pass along a steep rip-rap bank working topwaters and jigs. Hooked up on a solid 3 lb'er (spook) on the third cast. Had a couple short strikes on the spook after that, then switched to the jig. Keeper #2 nailed a PacTac 5/16 oz jig - solid 3.5-4 lb fish. My partner nails our third keeper on PacTac jig about 15 mins later. Our fourth (and final) keeper came on a critter bait fished on a splitshot rig about an hour later. All of our action came in the first 2 hours. The bite died after that. Lotsa casts with only a few short guys to show for it. We finished w/ 8.97 lbs.
Observations: 1) This was en event in which having sidescan and 3D downscan made a huge diff. 2) Fish were stacked up on breaks along steep banks. Secondary points and coves w/ a channel close by. Everywhere we marked a brush or rock pile along the way produced a fish. Those areas reloaded fairly quickly, too. 3) Greens, greens, and greens. 4) The red treb I had on my spook was buried in the fish's mouth. 5) Our game plan, based on what we learned from electronix work in practice, worked almost to perfection. Our failure to fill out our limit was a function of not adjusting to the weather change. Our bite died as the ceiling lifted and the rain stopped. Our fish came early, from areas between the docks. They pulled back under the docks or to deeper breaks once the sun came out. Saw it on the sidescan but didn't adjust.
Water temps held steady at 77-80 degrees. Water on the main lake was gin clear. Water in the Blackwater arm was a little stained but you still had 3-4' of viz.
Another great job by Russ Nixon and the VA West FoM crew. Looking forward to next season!
peace,
B
