Post by mwardncsu on Dec 30, 2014 14:53:49 GMT -5
Weather: Cold - temps in the low to mid 30's, light & variable winds, overcast skies, spitting snow off and on through the morning
Water:47-48, visibility of a few feet
Techniques: Big gizzards on freeline planers (3), gizzard on a lightline float (1), alewives and small giz on downlines (2) and alewive on lightline (1)
Time Fished: 8:00-12:30
I was fished out of big bait yesterday, but had 12-18 alewives and small giz in the tank - and with snow in the forecast I was on the fence about chasing birds and maybe downlining some bait. Late last evening I got a message from Jason54 that he had loaded up on bait right at dark the night before and had more than he'd need and offered to hand some off to me if I wanted them. Heck ya - don't have to ask that twice
- moved off the fence and alarm set for 6:30 am hoping for a repeat of earlier that day.
Got on the boat about 7:10 and had to retie some rigs and then went chasing birds until Jason and his Dad arrived to the lake to share his fortune of bait. Saw a few birds looking but only some scattered fish at 60' - weather seemed perfect - overcast, not windy - should be just right - right?
Ran on down the lake further to check and nothing there so I headed back up to meet Jason - got back to the creek just after he got there and talked with he and his dad a while then started pulling baits where I caught fished the day before. Had some nervous bait but no swirls - made a lap with no action - decided it was time to take pictures of rods and boards cause it was feeling like one of those mornings....
Had one hit on a board but the hook turned into the bait and I missed the hook-up - and after two more passes over the same spot resulted in a swirl then nothing I cut my losses and decided to make a move.
Went to a creek a bit down the lake that I wanted to try but found one of the guides fishing a spread so I did a U-turn and headed on up the lake a little ways - put out my baits and fairly quickly had action and another swing and a miss
Looped around on the same spot - the fish was still there - and this time the hook found home - or so I though - about 10' from the boat - POP - hook came loose. Looped around again - I'm a stubborn SOB - and there was action/swirls - made one more pass (told you), but this time nothing so I kept on going. Hung a bait or two in the blow-downs along the way - but the next time there was action I stopped the boat, I kept playing out line to the fish, teasing it with little tugs and finally got it to eat - this time waiting a LONG time for it to have the bait. And yep - kicked the skunk off the boat with a spunky 10 lb / 31" fish
Pulled across a point and had a very slow pull down on the board - but again, no hook-up - just a bait stripped of its scales and a bit of skin....
Was about to call it but pulled on a little longer when there was a swirl off one of the boards - and yet another slow, slow pull on the board - I thought I had a bass or catfish until I loaded up the rod and felt the head shake. This fish didn't have the same spunk and pretty much came straight to the boat - even though it was just a bit smaller than the 1st - 9.5 lbs / 30.5"
Pulled in the boards and lines then and spent the next hour throwing for bait that was holding 20-30' deep - netted three before my back said enough was enough, heading to the house about 1:30.
Water:47-48, visibility of a few feet
Techniques: Big gizzards on freeline planers (3), gizzard on a lightline float (1), alewives and small giz on downlines (2) and alewive on lightline (1)
Time Fished: 8:00-12:30
I was fished out of big bait yesterday, but had 12-18 alewives and small giz in the tank - and with snow in the forecast I was on the fence about chasing birds and maybe downlining some bait. Late last evening I got a message from Jason54 that he had loaded up on bait right at dark the night before and had more than he'd need and offered to hand some off to me if I wanted them. Heck ya - don't have to ask that twice
- moved off the fence and alarm set for 6:30 am hoping for a repeat of earlier that day.Got on the boat about 7:10 and had to retie some rigs and then went chasing birds until Jason and his Dad arrived to the lake to share his fortune of bait. Saw a few birds looking but only some scattered fish at 60' - weather seemed perfect - overcast, not windy - should be just right - right?
Ran on down the lake further to check and nothing there so I headed back up to meet Jason - got back to the creek just after he got there and talked with he and his dad a while then started pulling baits where I caught fished the day before. Had some nervous bait but no swirls - made a lap with no action - decided it was time to take pictures of rods and boards cause it was feeling like one of those mornings....
Had one hit on a board but the hook turned into the bait and I missed the hook-up - and after two more passes over the same spot resulted in a swirl then nothing I cut my losses and decided to make a move.
Went to a creek a bit down the lake that I wanted to try but found one of the guides fishing a spread so I did a U-turn and headed on up the lake a little ways - put out my baits and fairly quickly had action and another swing and a miss
Looped around on the same spot - the fish was still there - and this time the hook found home - or so I though - about 10' from the boat - POP - hook came loose. Looped around again - I'm a stubborn SOB - and there was action/swirls - made one more pass (told you), but this time nothing so I kept on going. Hung a bait or two in the blow-downs along the way - but the next time there was action I stopped the boat, I kept playing out line to the fish, teasing it with little tugs and finally got it to eat - this time waiting a LONG time for it to have the bait. And yep - kicked the skunk off the boat with a spunky 10 lb / 31" fishPulled across a point and had a very slow pull down on the board - but again, no hook-up - just a bait stripped of its scales and a bit of skin....
Was about to call it but pulled on a little longer when there was a swirl off one of the boards - and yet another slow, slow pull on the board - I thought I had a bass or catfish until I loaded up the rod and felt the head shake. This fish didn't have the same spunk and pretty much came straight to the boat - even though it was just a bit smaller than the 1st - 9.5 lbs / 30.5"
Pulled in the boards and lines then and spent the next hour throwing for bait that was holding 20-30' deep - netted three before my back said enough was enough, heading to the house about 1:30.