Post by 31Airborne on Sept 16, 2015 11:14:29 GMT -5
Apologize for the late entry. Posted this on another site and forgot to hang it here. B
An old Army buddy (Jerry) drove up from Huntsville, AL to join me again for the FoM West annual open event. Last year's event was in late SEP so some fall weather had had a chance to cool the water off a bit. This year it was typical summer fishing, right down to the last rec boat.
FRI's practice was more scouting and charting than fishing so not a lot of catching to report. We marked fish holding on breaks, wood, and rock in 8-15' along points and banks w/ bluff walls. We also marked baitfish in smaller schools over the main creek channels up to 1/2 way back. A few coves (primarily those w/ deeper water - say, +25') also had some baitfish in them. After an hour or so of charting we fished a few points and bluffs w/ deep divers, jigs, and plastics. We got bit on all. The plastic bite was the most consistent for us. We were able to replicate this in several creeks midlake and in the Blackwater arm.
TX day started off a bit cooler and less humid. Russ had 14 boats show for the event so blast off was fairly simple. We started on our midlake water, working secondary points and submerged wood. We didn't have so much as a sniff for 2 hours even tho' we marked fish and bait everywhere. We bounced across the creek to a bluff wall and immediately started getting bit. Keeper #1 came on a jig - a chunky 3.27 that would be our biggest fish of the day. Keeper #2 came about 15 mins later off of a laydown (plastics). Keeper #3 also ate a soft plastic bait from off of a rocky secondary point. All three keepers came in about a 40 min span. Only thing I could piece together was that we had a patch of clouds pass thru. Jerry (my partner) said he noticed a bit of current flowing thru the docks. Was hard to tell if it was from power generation or wind, but this no doubt had some effect on the fish.
Observations: 1) Water temps ranged from 80 at the state park to 83 in the Blackwater and midlake regions midday. The water had a slight stain to it but you still had ~3-4' of viz. Water was cleaner on the main lake. 2) Baitfish was everywhere in small pods in the front half of creeks and bigger coves. No feeding activity associated w/ this. 3) Fish were tight, tight, tight to cover and structure. I mean tight. You had to hit'em in the head to get them to bite. 4) No topwater fish for us. Not even a sniff. 5) Greens for jigs and plastics. A little orange didn't hurt. 6) Bites were unbelievably light. Even the bigger fish inhaled the jig without so much as a tick or line movement. Bites midday and later were there (I missed 6 fish on the day) but the fish never seemed to eat the bait. It was almost like they were picking up the tail and just sitting there w/ it. 7) Wood was better than rock. 8) Shade was key. 9) Wind blowing across a point or stretch of bank was better than wind blowing directly in on it. 10) Water was 2-3' low. Can only guess they were anticipating heavier rains than what they got last week.
Aside from the stingy bite Jerry and I managed to weigh a solid limit - 5.94 (3 fish). 11.10 was leading it (anchored by a nice 5+ LM) when we left. Was great being on the water after a hard summer of travel. The rec boat traffic wasn't too bad. Russ ran another great event.
Planning for the 2016 FoM team series is already under way. I can't wait.
peace,
B
An old Army buddy (Jerry) drove up from Huntsville, AL to join me again for the FoM West annual open event. Last year's event was in late SEP so some fall weather had had a chance to cool the water off a bit. This year it was typical summer fishing, right down to the last rec boat.
FRI's practice was more scouting and charting than fishing so not a lot of catching to report. We marked fish holding on breaks, wood, and rock in 8-15' along points and banks w/ bluff walls. We also marked baitfish in smaller schools over the main creek channels up to 1/2 way back. A few coves (primarily those w/ deeper water - say, +25') also had some baitfish in them. After an hour or so of charting we fished a few points and bluffs w/ deep divers, jigs, and plastics. We got bit on all. The plastic bite was the most consistent for us. We were able to replicate this in several creeks midlake and in the Blackwater arm.
TX day started off a bit cooler and less humid. Russ had 14 boats show for the event so blast off was fairly simple. We started on our midlake water, working secondary points and submerged wood. We didn't have so much as a sniff for 2 hours even tho' we marked fish and bait everywhere. We bounced across the creek to a bluff wall and immediately started getting bit. Keeper #1 came on a jig - a chunky 3.27 that would be our biggest fish of the day. Keeper #2 came about 15 mins later off of a laydown (plastics). Keeper #3 also ate a soft plastic bait from off of a rocky secondary point. All three keepers came in about a 40 min span. Only thing I could piece together was that we had a patch of clouds pass thru. Jerry (my partner) said he noticed a bit of current flowing thru the docks. Was hard to tell if it was from power generation or wind, but this no doubt had some effect on the fish.
Observations: 1) Water temps ranged from 80 at the state park to 83 in the Blackwater and midlake regions midday. The water had a slight stain to it but you still had ~3-4' of viz. Water was cleaner on the main lake. 2) Baitfish was everywhere in small pods in the front half of creeks and bigger coves. No feeding activity associated w/ this. 3) Fish were tight, tight, tight to cover and structure. I mean tight. You had to hit'em in the head to get them to bite. 4) No topwater fish for us. Not even a sniff. 5) Greens for jigs and plastics. A little orange didn't hurt. 6) Bites were unbelievably light. Even the bigger fish inhaled the jig without so much as a tick or line movement. Bites midday and later were there (I missed 6 fish on the day) but the fish never seemed to eat the bait. It was almost like they were picking up the tail and just sitting there w/ it. 7) Wood was better than rock. 8) Shade was key. 9) Wind blowing across a point or stretch of bank was better than wind blowing directly in on it. 10) Water was 2-3' low. Can only guess they were anticipating heavier rains than what they got last week.
Aside from the stingy bite Jerry and I managed to weigh a solid limit - 5.94 (3 fish). 11.10 was leading it (anchored by a nice 5+ LM) when we left. Was great being on the water after a hard summer of travel. The rec boat traffic wasn't too bad. Russ ran another great event.
Planning for the 2016 FoM team series is already under way. I can't wait.
peace,
B
