Post by 31Airborne on Mar 7, 2021 7:25:45 GMT -5
This was the opening event for our 2021 FoM season. After a cold winter and being shut in due to all of the COVID restrictions this was a much anticipated trip. The LR forecast a week out was perfect - stable weather conditions w/ highs in the 50s and overnite lows in the 30s. Got in late WED afternoon and after settling in checked the weather one more time. You know the saying about VA weather: If you don't like it wait 5 minutes. Somebody ordered a hard cold front. Was 47* when I put in on THUR morning. Was 27 on FRI morning. And we had a lil wind.
Practice. The focus here was simple - find bait and check water temps. Anyplace w/ bait and decent WTs would be a good thing. We covered a lot of water. Heavily stained (maybe 1' of viz) up in the rivers and larger feeder creeks. WTs were about 2-3 degrees warmer than mid lake. Water mid lake was perfect for me - 2-3' of viz but cold. Some of the backs of creeks were heavily stained but fishable. Found bait just about everywhere we went. It was concentrated, for the most part, from the middle of creeks and longer coves back. Baitfish was more prevalent up in the river. More scattered down lake. Saw lots of birds. They were stacked up like cord wood from Becky's/Betty's up. Huge flocks of them. Didn't take long to see why. The shad die-off was in its final stages. Tons of 2" baitfish everywhere, flittering around on top or just below the surface. Easy pickins for the birds. And the bass.
We fished our ***es off for two days without a fish to show for it. Had a couple of hard hits on a crankbait, had one hammer my c-rig only to wrap me up in a brush pile. That was it . No takers on the jerkbait, the blade, the jig, the chatterbait, or the dropshot. I mean not even a sniff. We marked fish everywhere we went. Everything was tight to the deck - holding on breaks, on top of brush, or on top of rocks. Needless to say, we were a bit puzzled. As we went thru our mental notes the nite before the TX I kept thinking about the warmer water and higher density of bait. My partner says, "Let's do the exact opposite. Let's go down lake to the clear water and see what's what." We had some stuff we'd both long wanted to explore so that's what we did. We explored new water.
TX day. Was grateful for calm winds at launch. Was cold but the absence of wind made it manageable. Made the run south to a series of secondary points that would be in direct sunlight ~all day. Marked some interesting stuff - rock/brush piles, ledges, some really cool duplex points, but nothing to show for the first 90 mins of fishing. Then, in a 10-minute span, we managed to finally hook up. We were on a long, tapered point that had a small flat area on top (lots of these on SML). It also had fairly steep drops on one side and the end. The other side had a more gradual slope. It was littered w/ brush. The first fish (a chunky 3.4) hammered my c-rig as the bait cleared the end of a brush pile. Fish #2 did the same thing about 10 mins later, this one was a solid 2.75. About then the wind shifted from to the north and the bite died. We worked that point and about 100 others just like it without a bite until ~1 PM. Had a peanut slam my c-rig and shake off about half way to the boat. Had another break me off about 30 mins later. Didn't see it but felt the head shake. It was a good one. And that was it, doods. We finished the day w/ 2 fish for a little over 6 lbs.
Observations: 1) WTs were all over the map. Saw 47-50.1 on WED afternoon; 45-48 on THUR; was 40.1 FRI morning at the state park ramp, never got above 44; 44-46 on TX day. 2) Water is heavily stained above the 122 bridge. Some pockets are clearer than the main channel. Mid lake area has a slight stain. Some pockets/creeks are worse/better than others. 3) Baitfish tended to be in the stained water, was more scattered in the cleaner water. As mentioned above, signs of the shad die-off are everywhere. 4) We marked fish from 6' to 35'. Fished it and everything in between. Nothing suspended, nothing schooling (that we saw). Everything was tight to structure or cover. 5) The 2 fish we caught had been up shallow for a while. They were dark, not pasty. 6) The 2 fish we boated came out of 8-10' of water. The peanut was in <5' (on rock). The one that broke me off was in ~8' (on wood).
So, TX #1 is in the books. Clearly, I still have some work to do on late winter/early spring fishing on SML. Stayed in a really sweet place near the airport. As much as I love the state park cabins this may be my new SML hide-away.
Hope everyone is safe, sound, and healthy.
best,
B
Practice. The focus here was simple - find bait and check water temps. Anyplace w/ bait and decent WTs would be a good thing. We covered a lot of water. Heavily stained (maybe 1' of viz) up in the rivers and larger feeder creeks. WTs were about 2-3 degrees warmer than mid lake. Water mid lake was perfect for me - 2-3' of viz but cold. Some of the backs of creeks were heavily stained but fishable. Found bait just about everywhere we went. It was concentrated, for the most part, from the middle of creeks and longer coves back. Baitfish was more prevalent up in the river. More scattered down lake. Saw lots of birds. They were stacked up like cord wood from Becky's/Betty's up. Huge flocks of them. Didn't take long to see why. The shad die-off was in its final stages. Tons of 2" baitfish everywhere, flittering around on top or just below the surface. Easy pickins for the birds. And the bass.
We fished our ***es off for two days without a fish to show for it. Had a couple of hard hits on a crankbait, had one hammer my c-rig only to wrap me up in a brush pile. That was it . No takers on the jerkbait, the blade, the jig, the chatterbait, or the dropshot. I mean not even a sniff. We marked fish everywhere we went. Everything was tight to the deck - holding on breaks, on top of brush, or on top of rocks. Needless to say, we were a bit puzzled. As we went thru our mental notes the nite before the TX I kept thinking about the warmer water and higher density of bait. My partner says, "Let's do the exact opposite. Let's go down lake to the clear water and see what's what." We had some stuff we'd both long wanted to explore so that's what we did. We explored new water.
TX day. Was grateful for calm winds at launch. Was cold but the absence of wind made it manageable. Made the run south to a series of secondary points that would be in direct sunlight ~all day. Marked some interesting stuff - rock/brush piles, ledges, some really cool duplex points, but nothing to show for the first 90 mins of fishing. Then, in a 10-minute span, we managed to finally hook up. We were on a long, tapered point that had a small flat area on top (lots of these on SML). It also had fairly steep drops on one side and the end. The other side had a more gradual slope. It was littered w/ brush. The first fish (a chunky 3.4) hammered my c-rig as the bait cleared the end of a brush pile. Fish #2 did the same thing about 10 mins later, this one was a solid 2.75. About then the wind shifted from to the north and the bite died. We worked that point and about 100 others just like it without a bite until ~1 PM. Had a peanut slam my c-rig and shake off about half way to the boat. Had another break me off about 30 mins later. Didn't see it but felt the head shake. It was a good one. And that was it, doods. We finished the day w/ 2 fish for a little over 6 lbs.
Observations: 1) WTs were all over the map. Saw 47-50.1 on WED afternoon; 45-48 on THUR; was 40.1 FRI morning at the state park ramp, never got above 44; 44-46 on TX day. 2) Water is heavily stained above the 122 bridge. Some pockets are clearer than the main channel. Mid lake area has a slight stain. Some pockets/creeks are worse/better than others. 3) Baitfish tended to be in the stained water, was more scattered in the cleaner water. As mentioned above, signs of the shad die-off are everywhere. 4) We marked fish from 6' to 35'. Fished it and everything in between. Nothing suspended, nothing schooling (that we saw). Everything was tight to structure or cover. 5) The 2 fish we caught had been up shallow for a while. They were dark, not pasty. 6) The 2 fish we boated came out of 8-10' of water. The peanut was in <5' (on rock). The one that broke me off was in ~8' (on wood).
So, TX #1 is in the books. Clearly, I still have some work to do on late winter/early spring fishing on SML. Stayed in a really sweet place near the airport. As much as I love the state park cabins this may be my new SML hide-away.
Hope everyone is safe, sound, and healthy.
best,
B
