Post by 31Airborne on Sept 10, 2020 9:07:37 GMT -5
Had TUES off as part of the Labor Day weekend. Not sure who thought that one up but am glad they did. Put in at the state park just before sunrise for a day on our lake. Not a lot of catching but I did see some more new water, learnt a little something, and enjoyed a few hours of peace before the lake exploded w/ rec boaters. There's an awful lot of working-from-home and virtual schooling being done from the water. Just sayin' . . .
Expected to see cooler WTs after the recent break in the heat. It was some cooler but not a lot. Saw 77 at the state park at launch, 79 at my first stop a little bit south of there. Started out throwing top water baits. Not even a sniff. Switched to a LC 1.5 squarebill and got bit almost right away. Nothing noteworthy but a fish at least. Switched to a medium diver as the sun rose. Nothing on the DT10 but I did have a couple solid bites on a Rock Crawler. One of these was the fattest 14" fish I'd ever seen. This thing had a gut on it that looked like it had been eating for weeks. Easily +2 lbs, maybe close to 2.5. When the moving bait bite played out I switched to a jig and the c-rig. Managed a short on each. I bounced around the midlake region for an hour or so before settling in on a series of secondary points inside a feeder creek. Was working a large brush pile when I heard the unmistakable sound of a PWC coming in. A little girl (no way she was 16 and no way she has been trained to drive this thing) passed me well within the 50 ft range. She was followed by an elderly couple in their bowrider. They passed inside the 25 ft range. At least they waved. Was too busy holding on to get boat numbers. As soon as I regained my composure I packed it up and went in.
I have to call one on myself. As I was running out to return to the ramp I cut off (badly) a couple in a pleasure boat who were trying to go into the adjacent cove. I did not see them but then I was so incensed with what had just happened I didn't really look. It was reckless and it was wrong. It was also pretty darn dangerous. Not real proud of myself but I will not let this lesson go to waste. We have to be vigilant all the time. Getting mad at stupid stuff on the water is no excuse for doing more stupid stuff on the water. Learn from my near miss, folks.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 77 to 81 (at 11 AM). Water had a good stain to it but there was easily 3' of viz. 2) Lots of sediment in the water. Almost looked like pollen in a couple places but there aren't a lot of pine trees on SML. They'll pollinate a couple times a year. Dunno if that's true for hardwoods. I know there's been some rain recently but figured that would've cleared up by then. Thoughts? 3) I saw quite a bit of bait activity in the back half of creeks and in some main lake coves/cuts. No surface or feeding activity anywhere around the baitfish. 4) I marked fish holding just above the deck in 8 - 15'. Some were holding on breaks, others on rock, and some on wood/brush. My best bite of the day came off of a submerged brush pile in ~10' in the back of a creek. I managed to get it out of the brush before it shook off. Never saw it but it was heavy. Slammed my c-rig. 5) All of my crank bait bites occurred after the bait deflected off of something. Wood, rock, docks, didn't matter.
6) Secondary points were better than mainlake points today. Best points had sharp breaks on at least one side. 7) No surprises or secrets on baits - shad patterned crank baits, green jigs and plastics. 8) Save for the strike described in #4 above slow presentation bites were kinda weird, almost like the fish were sneaking up on it. Had several swing-n-misses on the c-rig where the tail on my bait was torn off.
Guess I'm going to have to temper my expectations for midweek outings. At least until things cool off. I'm going to take some time to cool off, too. Bad things happen when we react out of rage. Stay calm, stay alert, stay alive.
peace,
B
Expected to see cooler WTs after the recent break in the heat. It was some cooler but not a lot. Saw 77 at the state park at launch, 79 at my first stop a little bit south of there. Started out throwing top water baits. Not even a sniff. Switched to a LC 1.5 squarebill and got bit almost right away. Nothing noteworthy but a fish at least. Switched to a medium diver as the sun rose. Nothing on the DT10 but I did have a couple solid bites on a Rock Crawler. One of these was the fattest 14" fish I'd ever seen. This thing had a gut on it that looked like it had been eating for weeks. Easily +2 lbs, maybe close to 2.5. When the moving bait bite played out I switched to a jig and the c-rig. Managed a short on each. I bounced around the midlake region for an hour or so before settling in on a series of secondary points inside a feeder creek. Was working a large brush pile when I heard the unmistakable sound of a PWC coming in. A little girl (no way she was 16 and no way she has been trained to drive this thing) passed me well within the 50 ft range. She was followed by an elderly couple in their bowrider. They passed inside the 25 ft range. At least they waved. Was too busy holding on to get boat numbers. As soon as I regained my composure I packed it up and went in.
I have to call one on myself. As I was running out to return to the ramp I cut off (badly) a couple in a pleasure boat who were trying to go into the adjacent cove. I did not see them but then I was so incensed with what had just happened I didn't really look. It was reckless and it was wrong. It was also pretty darn dangerous. Not real proud of myself but I will not let this lesson go to waste. We have to be vigilant all the time. Getting mad at stupid stuff on the water is no excuse for doing more stupid stuff on the water. Learn from my near miss, folks.
Observations: 1) WTs ranged from 77 to 81 (at 11 AM). Water had a good stain to it but there was easily 3' of viz. 2) Lots of sediment in the water. Almost looked like pollen in a couple places but there aren't a lot of pine trees on SML. They'll pollinate a couple times a year. Dunno if that's true for hardwoods. I know there's been some rain recently but figured that would've cleared up by then. Thoughts? 3) I saw quite a bit of bait activity in the back half of creeks and in some main lake coves/cuts. No surface or feeding activity anywhere around the baitfish. 4) I marked fish holding just above the deck in 8 - 15'. Some were holding on breaks, others on rock, and some on wood/brush. My best bite of the day came off of a submerged brush pile in ~10' in the back of a creek. I managed to get it out of the brush before it shook off. Never saw it but it was heavy. Slammed my c-rig. 5) All of my crank bait bites occurred after the bait deflected off of something. Wood, rock, docks, didn't matter.
6) Secondary points were better than mainlake points today. Best points had sharp breaks on at least one side. 7) No surprises or secrets on baits - shad patterned crank baits, green jigs and plastics. 8) Save for the strike described in #4 above slow presentation bites were kinda weird, almost like the fish were sneaking up on it. Had several swing-n-misses on the c-rig where the tail on my bait was torn off.
Guess I'm going to have to temper my expectations for midweek outings. At least until things cool off. I'm going to take some time to cool off, too. Bad things happen when we react out of rage. Stay calm, stay alert, stay alive.
peace,
B
B