Post by 31Airborne on Mar 19, 2015 16:40:50 GMT -5
Partner (Steve) and I opened the 2015 at SML w/ the VA West crew. Another great show by Russ Nixon and his team. 37 boats showed up for this event - a significant jump from last year. Shaping up to be another fun season.
BLUF: we weighed one fish for 4.17. Had three bites all day - lost one at the boat and the other bit the tail off of a swimbait. TX (very tuff) did not go like practice (very productive). This was yet another lesson in making (or failing to make) proper adjustments.
Practice: Had two very different days weather-wise during practice. THUR was sunny and warm with a perfect breeze. FRI was cool, cloudy, and dead calm. There was a 20-degree temp swing from THUR-FRI. This, combined with the fact that much of the backwater areas had only recently thawed out, made for challenging conditions even in perfect weather. On THUR Steve and I were able to put a couple of patterns together that yielded good fish in places that were not as likely to be affected by the change in weather. Steve had a solid jerkbait bite going on secondary points with wood and docks. I was on a swimbait bite in feeder channels and drains that produced a chunky 21" fish and a couple other solid keeps. We used FRI to scout/map other similar areas, looking for bait in clearer water. We made the run up into the rivers until we hit the mud line, then worked our way back towards midlake. We both charted a number of potential spots, some in clean water and some in stained water. Practice told us to stay in the cleaner water to optimize the jerkbait bite since that was the most consistent.
TX day: A cold rain came thru FRI nite dropping air temps to 39. Water temps dropped 4-6 degrees. The rain held off for blast-off then picked up and stayed with us until 2 PM. We pull into our first spot and found it open. After about an hour Steve hooks up on number 1 - a solid 2-2.5 lb fish that smokes his jerkbait. Fish comes off at the boat. We work towards the back of the creek to the area where I caught the 21"er on THUR. Had a wicked strike but only a bit-off tail to show for it. That was at ~1030. We didn't have another bite until 2 when Steve hooks up on number 2 - a healthy 4.17 lb'er. That was it.
Observations: 1) Water midlake is clear w/ 6-10' of viz. There was a well defined mudline in the rivers making its way down - inside the mudline it was chocolate milk. Just outside the mudline the water was stained but you still had 2-3' of viz. 2) Most of the bait we marked was in main creek channels or holding at creek mouths. We saw very little bait in the backs of creeks and mainlake cuts. 3) We charted all kinds of fish - some suspended from 5-15', some hanging on the bottom, some holding on brush and wood. 4) The first set of secondary points in creeks were best for us. 5) During practice I had bites on cranks (shad patterned med divers), tubes (docks on/near main lake points and associated transition lanes), jig (greens and black/blue), and a blade (Andy's). None of these worked on TX day. 6) Water temps were all over the map - saw 46.7 on THUR at launch (state park). Water warmed to 51.3 that afternoon. Saw 42.5 FRI morning at the state park. Warmed to 47 that afternoon. Water was down to 40.4 SAT morning at the state park; 44 degrees at our first spot. It barely warmed to 45 in the afternoon. water was warmer up in the rivers where it had some stain - 46-48 degrees.
Wish I had more to offer y'all but SML remains a work in progress. Even as close as it is, it's been tuff getting away this winter. Weather hasn't helped. Steve and I did manage to break the code a bit on quality. There are some good fish in SML. We managed to find a few and learn a bit this trip about where they live and feed. One step closer to putting it all together. We have Kerr and Anna coming up in APR. The long range forecast looks good so far. Warming water on familiar lakes will certainly add to our confidence.
peace,
B
BLUF: we weighed one fish for 4.17. Had three bites all day - lost one at the boat and the other bit the tail off of a swimbait. TX (very tuff) did not go like practice (very productive). This was yet another lesson in making (or failing to make) proper adjustments.
Practice: Had two very different days weather-wise during practice. THUR was sunny and warm with a perfect breeze. FRI was cool, cloudy, and dead calm. There was a 20-degree temp swing from THUR-FRI. This, combined with the fact that much of the backwater areas had only recently thawed out, made for challenging conditions even in perfect weather. On THUR Steve and I were able to put a couple of patterns together that yielded good fish in places that were not as likely to be affected by the change in weather. Steve had a solid jerkbait bite going on secondary points with wood and docks. I was on a swimbait bite in feeder channels and drains that produced a chunky 21" fish and a couple other solid keeps. We used FRI to scout/map other similar areas, looking for bait in clearer water. We made the run up into the rivers until we hit the mud line, then worked our way back towards midlake. We both charted a number of potential spots, some in clean water and some in stained water. Practice told us to stay in the cleaner water to optimize the jerkbait bite since that was the most consistent.
TX day: A cold rain came thru FRI nite dropping air temps to 39. Water temps dropped 4-6 degrees. The rain held off for blast-off then picked up and stayed with us until 2 PM. We pull into our first spot and found it open. After about an hour Steve hooks up on number 1 - a solid 2-2.5 lb fish that smokes his jerkbait. Fish comes off at the boat. We work towards the back of the creek to the area where I caught the 21"er on THUR. Had a wicked strike but only a bit-off tail to show for it. That was at ~1030. We didn't have another bite until 2 when Steve hooks up on number 2 - a healthy 4.17 lb'er. That was it.
Observations: 1) Water midlake is clear w/ 6-10' of viz. There was a well defined mudline in the rivers making its way down - inside the mudline it was chocolate milk. Just outside the mudline the water was stained but you still had 2-3' of viz. 2) Most of the bait we marked was in main creek channels or holding at creek mouths. We saw very little bait in the backs of creeks and mainlake cuts. 3) We charted all kinds of fish - some suspended from 5-15', some hanging on the bottom, some holding on brush and wood. 4) The first set of secondary points in creeks were best for us. 5) During practice I had bites on cranks (shad patterned med divers), tubes (docks on/near main lake points and associated transition lanes), jig (greens and black/blue), and a blade (Andy's). None of these worked on TX day. 6) Water temps were all over the map - saw 46.7 on THUR at launch (state park). Water warmed to 51.3 that afternoon. Saw 42.5 FRI morning at the state park. Warmed to 47 that afternoon. Water was down to 40.4 SAT morning at the state park; 44 degrees at our first spot. It barely warmed to 45 in the afternoon. water was warmer up in the rivers where it had some stain - 46-48 degrees.
Wish I had more to offer y'all but SML remains a work in progress. Even as close as it is, it's been tuff getting away this winter. Weather hasn't helped. Steve and I did manage to break the code a bit on quality. There are some good fish in SML. We managed to find a few and learn a bit this trip about where they live and feed. One step closer to putting it all together. We have Kerr and Anna coming up in APR. The long range forecast looks good so far. Warming water on familiar lakes will certainly add to our confidence.
peace,
B
