Post by 31Airborne on Jun 13, 2022 9:32:41 GMT -5
This was our final event of the regular season, and for my partner (Brad) and me, our favorite river fishing destination. We had a little on the line for this one - we were 3rd in the points race coming into this event. Needless to say, we were a little amped up for this one.
Practice. It was hot, humid, and hazy. Typical summer weather for the Chick. The pads were up and about to bloom, and the grass was coming in strong. WTs were steady in the low 80s. Recent reports suggested the fish were feeding all over the river, so we were stoked about having a fun weekend. The tides didn't favor the traditional Chick bite but then the introduction of the F1 hybrids appears to have lessened the importance of tide on feeding activity. We were able to piece all of this into a practice plan that focused us on a little bit of history, a little bit of exploring, and whole lot of covering water. We found fish almost right away holding in pads, on breaks, and on submerged cover (brush and wrecks). Neither of us could get anything going on moving hard baits but we both were able to find fish, including a few quality fish, on plastix. For the first time in my fishing experience, I was able to get a steady bite during the tide phases that before had troubled me the most (slack high and low, later portion of incoming). Brad was able to do the same using a couple of different techniques. We saw pretty much the entire river during practice, targeting pad fields and ledges in the main channel turns. We were finding fish in numbers and we were finding quality. Brad had a number of 3+/4-lb fish; I had a 6+ and a couple 4-lb class fish. These were scattered, not bunched up. As we made our way thru the practice we quickly surmised we'd have to cover a ton of water in order to find the bites we needed. We'd also have to cycle back thru our top spots at different periods in the tide, just to be sure we optimized our chances for catching the better fish. We charted all of our catches on FRI nite and developed a [very] short list of stops to get us started. With that, we were set.
TX day. We drew 32 (out of 42 - the computer-generated number gods must hate us). We had the last little bit of outgoing tide early that morning so getting to our first stop and getting settled in quickly was key. To our surprise, no one was on our first stop (a community hole of sorts). Didn't take us long to hook up on keeper number 1 - a solid 2+ lb fish. A couple of other boats rolled in on us so we never really got to work the area the way we would have liked. After the last of the outgoing tide was gone we jumped to our next stop (the spot where I caught the 6+ the day prior). We had a couple of blow-ups but no hook-ups. We worked the area pretty hard with nothing to show for it. On to stop #3. The tide was coming in at a pretty good clip by this time, and we had had a really solid incoming tide bite in practice, so we were pretty confident we'd finally get a few active fish to show themselves. Didn't take long. Brad hooks up on keepers 2 and 3. I hook up on #4 - a solid 4.3 lb fish. We continued to work this area over, making several passes. Each time were able to hook up. We managed to fill out our limit (maybe 9 lbs) by 9:30. Our first cull came at 10:30. We were able to dump the shorties for better keepers but the bigger fish (other than the 4.3) never showed up. We bounced from spot to spot, working the pad and grass edges methodically. We caught fish everywhere we went. We just never got anything that would help. It was fun, but it was a bit frustrating. We ended the day with 5 for 13.62. We achieved our goal of beating the two teams ahead of us in the points but didn't place high enough to overtake the leaders. We finished 2nd, behind a very talented husband-wife team who'd led the points race from day 1. Congrats Mike and Allison!
Observations: 1) WTs held constant in the low 80s throughout the week. The Chick was its usual tannic color. Clear for the most part w/ 4+' of viz. As always, it clouds up a bit on certain periods of the tide. 2) The SAV is coming in thick and lush. If you could find the fresh hydrilla you usually found fish. Pads are also coming in strong. 3) Most of our bites came on the outer edges of the pad fields, even at higher portions of the tide. We did a catch a few back in the pads fields, but the better fish were more oriented to the outer edges. 4) Drain and creek confluences were key. Yeah, we caught fish from the large, contiguous pad fields, but the fish were more stacked up where water was flowing out thru a distinct channel. 5) We did have a good ledge bite going in practice and were able to pull a couple keepers from ledges on TX day. Sharper breaks were best. Sharper breaks with wood were special. 6) The fish were actively feeding all week and from what we saw, they were looking up. Most of our bites came from working baits over the tops of the pads and grass. 7) We had quite a few bites where the fish chased out baits out. They wouldn't hit it while it sat atop a pad but once it broke clear of the edge (any edge), they nailed it. 8) There were tons (I mean tons) of fry in the pads and grass beds. Everything and anything that had spawned this spring was taking cover in the pads.
Hard to believe the 2022 regular season is over. It just flew by. All of our attention shifts to Kerr for the summer as we begin our prep for the regional championship in SEP. Have never fished Kerr in the summer so this will be a learning experience for me. I have a couple of trips planned already - late Jul and mid AUG - to get some summertime TOW in. Hoping to pick up on enough background to help w/ our practice going into the regional event.
Gotta send out some props to our division lead (Andy) and his team for the job they did this year. They were superb at keeping things safe while allowing us to resume some degree of normalcy.
peace, B
Practice. It was hot, humid, and hazy. Typical summer weather for the Chick. The pads were up and about to bloom, and the grass was coming in strong. WTs were steady in the low 80s. Recent reports suggested the fish were feeding all over the river, so we were stoked about having a fun weekend. The tides didn't favor the traditional Chick bite but then the introduction of the F1 hybrids appears to have lessened the importance of tide on feeding activity. We were able to piece all of this into a practice plan that focused us on a little bit of history, a little bit of exploring, and whole lot of covering water. We found fish almost right away holding in pads, on breaks, and on submerged cover (brush and wrecks). Neither of us could get anything going on moving hard baits but we both were able to find fish, including a few quality fish, on plastix. For the first time in my fishing experience, I was able to get a steady bite during the tide phases that before had troubled me the most (slack high and low, later portion of incoming). Brad was able to do the same using a couple of different techniques. We saw pretty much the entire river during practice, targeting pad fields and ledges in the main channel turns. We were finding fish in numbers and we were finding quality. Brad had a number of 3+/4-lb fish; I had a 6+ and a couple 4-lb class fish. These were scattered, not bunched up. As we made our way thru the practice we quickly surmised we'd have to cover a ton of water in order to find the bites we needed. We'd also have to cycle back thru our top spots at different periods in the tide, just to be sure we optimized our chances for catching the better fish. We charted all of our catches on FRI nite and developed a [very] short list of stops to get us started. With that, we were set.
TX day. We drew 32 (out of 42 - the computer-generated number gods must hate us). We had the last little bit of outgoing tide early that morning so getting to our first stop and getting settled in quickly was key. To our surprise, no one was on our first stop (a community hole of sorts). Didn't take us long to hook up on keeper number 1 - a solid 2+ lb fish. A couple of other boats rolled in on us so we never really got to work the area the way we would have liked. After the last of the outgoing tide was gone we jumped to our next stop (the spot where I caught the 6+ the day prior). We had a couple of blow-ups but no hook-ups. We worked the area pretty hard with nothing to show for it. On to stop #3. The tide was coming in at a pretty good clip by this time, and we had had a really solid incoming tide bite in practice, so we were pretty confident we'd finally get a few active fish to show themselves. Didn't take long. Brad hooks up on keepers 2 and 3. I hook up on #4 - a solid 4.3 lb fish. We continued to work this area over, making several passes. Each time were able to hook up. We managed to fill out our limit (maybe 9 lbs) by 9:30. Our first cull came at 10:30. We were able to dump the shorties for better keepers but the bigger fish (other than the 4.3) never showed up. We bounced from spot to spot, working the pad and grass edges methodically. We caught fish everywhere we went. We just never got anything that would help. It was fun, but it was a bit frustrating. We ended the day with 5 for 13.62. We achieved our goal of beating the two teams ahead of us in the points but didn't place high enough to overtake the leaders. We finished 2nd, behind a very talented husband-wife team who'd led the points race from day 1. Congrats Mike and Allison!
Observations: 1) WTs held constant in the low 80s throughout the week. The Chick was its usual tannic color. Clear for the most part w/ 4+' of viz. As always, it clouds up a bit on certain periods of the tide. 2) The SAV is coming in thick and lush. If you could find the fresh hydrilla you usually found fish. Pads are also coming in strong. 3) Most of our bites came on the outer edges of the pad fields, even at higher portions of the tide. We did a catch a few back in the pads fields, but the better fish were more oriented to the outer edges. 4) Drain and creek confluences were key. Yeah, we caught fish from the large, contiguous pad fields, but the fish were more stacked up where water was flowing out thru a distinct channel. 5) We did have a good ledge bite going in practice and were able to pull a couple keepers from ledges on TX day. Sharper breaks were best. Sharper breaks with wood were special. 6) The fish were actively feeding all week and from what we saw, they were looking up. Most of our bites came from working baits over the tops of the pads and grass. 7) We had quite a few bites where the fish chased out baits out. They wouldn't hit it while it sat atop a pad but once it broke clear of the edge (any edge), they nailed it. 8) There were tons (I mean tons) of fry in the pads and grass beds. Everything and anything that had spawned this spring was taking cover in the pads.
Hard to believe the 2022 regular season is over. It just flew by. All of our attention shifts to Kerr for the summer as we begin our prep for the regional championship in SEP. Have never fished Kerr in the summer so this will be a learning experience for me. I have a couple of trips planned already - late Jul and mid AUG - to get some summertime TOW in. Hoping to pick up on enough background to help w/ our practice going into the regional event.
Gotta send out some props to our division lead (Andy) and his team for the job they did this year. They were superb at keeping things safe while allowing us to resume some degree of normalcy.
peace, B