Leesville Lake Saturday 5-28 Trip Report

[chrisw]

Thanks John, that’s good. So when people say “fish points”, they really mean the edges, the drop off next to the point, the change in contour lines at the right depth. Not on top of the point necessarily.

And yes, noon on a Saturday after a cold front came through on Friday night is not the best timing, although it sure was comfortable weather for the fishermen.

[johnr]

Yea that’s right. Points are an area where fish tend to gather at certain times. On every point there are and handful of “spots” where the action happens, and that’s where you want to be. It’s not always the “point”, sometimes it’s the cut on either side. Sometimes it’s in the creek channel that swings up against the point. Sometimes it’s wayyyyy out on the end where it drops into a canyon or a flat.

Not all areas are created equal. There’s a whole slew of factors that go into creating productive areas, and this is where the biology knowledge and map study come into play. Identify these generally good areas, and then you can focus in on the key features in these areas. And then you can find that handful of good spots on the key features. Once you figure out a few of the variables on a given day, the equation tends to solve itself.

So how’s this play out for summer fishing?? First the fish need food, and they’ll be targeting the most abundant food source in their area. So what’s their area and why? Well we know stripers need some thermal refuge in the summer, which tends to mean access to deeper water. They’ll also want some refuge from human disturbance which also means deeper water and submerged timber. They also need food, and alewives tend to be the most abundant bait in areas of deeper water on this lake. So where are alewives and why? They’re moving in and out of the creeks as the world turns, because creeks have more alewife food at night but don’t offer much thermal or disturbance refuge during the daytime. The stripers will always be following the alewives during the typical dusk, overnight, and dawn feeding windows. Once the sun gets up, traffic starts and temps rise, the fish will seek refuge. They’ll still be hungry, just have to find them and feed them. So fish structure early, then find the trees nearest those feeding structures.

[herringbone]

Great info, Johnr!

[piper]

Hey Chris, check your messages. Love me some Leesville lake.