Post by mwardncsu on Apr 19, 2019 16:02:45 GMT -5
Weather: 4/17 - 82 degrees, mostly sunny then clouds rolled in before evening. Light breeze until after dark - much stronger wind on lower end of the lake. 4/18 - upper 50’s rising to high 80’s. Cloudy to start morning with some sprinkles - then cleared up and wind picked up - 10+ with gusts to 20. Almost full moon that was high in the sky about midnight
Water: 58-62, visibility of a few feet to negative visibility
Techniques: Gizzards (7-10") on freelined planers on Wed late afternoon; plugging points from Halesford Bridge down to Bernards from around 10-12a; Back to shad on Thursday
I took a few days off at the end of this week to do some striper fishing and came up to the lake about 3pm or so on Wednesday - jumped in the boat and headed over to a creek to try and net some shad for Thur and then joined a buddy for the rest of the afternoon. We had a fish on within 5 minutes of pulling baits just off the main channel - turned out to be our only fish of the day.
We fished a number of creeks & areas but that was the only one to play - but was a good fun 35.5" fish that went 17 lbs or so.
Jumped off with him at dusk and hit Bojangles for some dinner on my way to another friends - we headed out around 9:30 or 10 with the plan of plugging some points and then hitting a light on the way back for some ales to go with the gizzards. Bunch of boats out - we hit a number of points - he was throwing a white Xrap and I Was throwing a Thunderstick as I forgot and left my tackle tray in the truck. The ales are NOT on the banks yet - sounds like most night fish are still coming off deeper diving plugs. He had one good hit but that was all we found. Got down around Bernard and the wind was whipping. Came back above the bridge and hit a light and two throws and we had more ales & blue backs than needed.
Up and on the water a little after 6:30 on Thur AM - wanted the light out as we were running up lake and knew there was a bunch of debris out there - and it was - from a bit below Indian all the way up to Hardy were some big logs & other landmines. Fished way up for the morning and finally managed to get one fish to bite - a fiesty 29" striper and after a quick pic back it went. We headed down and dropped him off around noon - then I stopped for some lunch and then back out.
Hit a nearby creek for some bait and for a 6 dozen or so more in the 6-8" range and then tried a new area I'd not fished before - was rewarded with a board getting buried toward the back of the creek/cove - fighting the fish as some dude with his son come flying in on their jetski - proceeding to run right down the bank I had been pulling the boards even after I tried to wave them off - ether clueless or an intention douche. The fish was a nice healthy 32" / 13 lber that fought like something much bigger... love the spring fight!
I circled there again then made a move - hitting some points / shoals on the lower end of the Blackwater - missed one or two then finally raised one fish - this one under 30" and about 8 lbs.
The wind had picked up pretty strong and was becoming annoying - I took that as a sign to go look for bait - hit a good bait creek and found it barren except for some very small, scattered pods - moved back up the lake and checked every places as I wanted to load up knowing Friday was likely to be a wash-out with the storms - but could not find anything even with a lot of sonar work and throwing.
Put the boat in the slip about dark - was debating getting up early before the storms today but with less than 5 hours of sleep the night before my body decided otherwise..... Things started to get nasty at the lake but also towards home in NC so I packed up and headed on back to NC cutting the trip short. Next time.....
(Thanks for the pic Craig!)
Water: 58-62, visibility of a few feet to negative visibility
Techniques: Gizzards (7-10") on freelined planers on Wed late afternoon; plugging points from Halesford Bridge down to Bernards from around 10-12a; Back to shad on Thursday
I took a few days off at the end of this week to do some striper fishing and came up to the lake about 3pm or so on Wednesday - jumped in the boat and headed over to a creek to try and net some shad for Thur and then joined a buddy for the rest of the afternoon. We had a fish on within 5 minutes of pulling baits just off the main channel - turned out to be our only fish of the day.
We fished a number of creeks & areas but that was the only one to play - but was a good fun 35.5" fish that went 17 lbs or so.
Jumped off with him at dusk and hit Bojangles for some dinner on my way to another friends - we headed out around 9:30 or 10 with the plan of plugging some points and then hitting a light on the way back for some ales to go with the gizzards. Bunch of boats out - we hit a number of points - he was throwing a white Xrap and I Was throwing a Thunderstick as I forgot and left my tackle tray in the truck. The ales are NOT on the banks yet - sounds like most night fish are still coming off deeper diving plugs. He had one good hit but that was all we found. Got down around Bernard and the wind was whipping. Came back above the bridge and hit a light and two throws and we had more ales & blue backs than needed.
Up and on the water a little after 6:30 on Thur AM - wanted the light out as we were running up lake and knew there was a bunch of debris out there - and it was - from a bit below Indian all the way up to Hardy were some big logs & other landmines. Fished way up for the morning and finally managed to get one fish to bite - a fiesty 29" striper and after a quick pic back it went. We headed down and dropped him off around noon - then I stopped for some lunch and then back out.
Hit a nearby creek for some bait and for a 6 dozen or so more in the 6-8" range and then tried a new area I'd not fished before - was rewarded with a board getting buried toward the back of the creek/cove - fighting the fish as some dude with his son come flying in on their jetski - proceeding to run right down the bank I had been pulling the boards even after I tried to wave them off - ether clueless or an intention douche. The fish was a nice healthy 32" / 13 lber that fought like something much bigger... love the spring fight!
I circled there again then made a move - hitting some points / shoals on the lower end of the Blackwater - missed one or two then finally raised one fish - this one under 30" and about 8 lbs.
The wind had picked up pretty strong and was becoming annoying - I took that as a sign to go look for bait - hit a good bait creek and found it barren except for some very small, scattered pods - moved back up the lake and checked every places as I wanted to load up knowing Friday was likely to be a wash-out with the storms - but could not find anything even with a lot of sonar work and throwing.
Put the boat in the slip about dark - was debating getting up early before the storms today but with less than 5 hours of sleep the night before my body decided otherwise..... Things started to get nasty at the lake but also towards home in NC so I packed up and headed on back to NC cutting the trip short. Next time.....
(Thanks for the pic Craig!)
