Saturday 7/15 early am

[chrisw]

Got up in the middle of the night and towed the boat to the ramp. Planned to use artificials only and spend some time motoring around until finding some promising signs to cast from. After scanning some main lake and lower creek areas, ended up in the back of a well known creek starting with a ‘B’. Decided to throw the cast net a couple of times to see what was making the marks and ended up with a 6 or 7” herring. Decided ‘why not’ and dropped it down on 2 oz to about 15 feet, where there was a lot of activity. Spent the next hour or so casting randomly and watching the sonar. Saw numerous marks come to investigate my bait, but no takers. I figured my bait must be dead, and when I pulled it up around 6:15, I was right. I had lots of company in the area, some of you probably exchanged waves with me. I didn’t see anyone else bring anything in, but most were just getting set up when I was leaving.

Water temp was 84F.

If only I hadn’t killed my bait, I’m confident I would have been on the board.

[herringbone]

Thanks for the report, Chris. Keeping bait alive can be tougher to do in these hotter months. Get back out there and catch us some fish.

[bigun3]

Jul 15, 2023 7:21:25 GMT -5 chrisw said:

If only I hadn’t killed my bait

      Just an observation. I've seen the thermocline set up in water 35' deep, at 13-14 feet in the very back of creeks in shallower water this time of year. Dropping the bait below the thermocline, instant death.