Post by 31Airborne on Mar 30, 2024 7:19:51 GMT -5
his was the second stop in our FoM trail this year. We were looking for a little redemption after poor showings on the Chick this year and Anna last year. We missed the perfect weather of the prior week - it was sunny, warm, and calm. We carried on the 2024 tradition of fishing in the rain on this event.
Practice - WTs were in the mid 50s mid lake down, a few degrees cooler up in the rivers. I made my first run up into the Pawmunkey arm. It was heavily stained but fishable. After a few hours of probing and scanning with little to show for the fishing I did I came back down to the mid lake area. Started catching fish almost immediately. No size to them but keepers nonetheless. Just about every point held a fish. I played this pattern out for the rest of the day without landing any quality fish. The following two days I spent down lake, working points and ledges on channel swings. Found fish right away, including a few quality fish. I ran thru a combination of new and familiar stuff as I closed out day 2.
My partner came in late on day 2. After filling him in on what I saw, we decided to continue our work down lake on day 3. We found fish right away on points and wood along transition lanes between main lake points and the first set of secondary points. We landed a few more quality fish, including my partner's chunky 7 lb'er. From that point we put down the rods and picked up the notebooks. Spent the rest of that day and the next charting points and transition lanes that set up like the place where he caught the big girl. We developed a solid target list for tournament day, then we turned our attention to the weather. The forecast for TX day was a moving target right up to launch - heavy rain and winds. It was just a question of how much wind and when it would kick in.
TX day - The rain started long before we woke up. We had a light, steady rain leading up to launch. It started getting heavier as we approached blast off (about 1/4" per hour). Fortunately, the winds were fairly calm (a good thing - that first run in the pouring rain was about as unfun as it gets). The bilge pumps were already screaming when we came off plane to hit our first stop. We got bit almost right away. After a flurry of punks, we managed to boat a couple of solid keepers. Not the size we were looking for but keepers just the same. We played out our game plan, cycling thru a short list of points and transition lanes. We closed out our limit around mid-morning after weeding thru a bunch of small fish. After exhausting our target list, we ran back to our starting place and boated two more good keepers, including a chunky 3.6 lb fish. The rain stopped around 10 and the wind started kicking up. When this happened, the bite slowed dramatically. We made our last cull about 30 mins before weigh-in - another nice 3 lb fish. That was it for us. Our 5 fish weighed 11.68.
Observations: 1) WTs held steady in the 50s all week. We did see low 60s a couple times during practice as the sun came out. The cold rain on TX day didn't hurt things much. We had 56* at launch; fished mid to upper 50s all day. 2) Water clarity was a mixed bag: clear down lake (6-7' of viz), slight stain mid lake (3-4' of viz), more heavily stained in the rivers as the overnite rain started coming in (we had approx 1.5" of rain late FRI into SAT morning). 3) Slow presentations were the deal for us - jigs, shakyhead (incl my partner's 7-lb fish), TX rig, and c-rig. Fish were tight to the deck or cover. I had one fish all week on a moving bait (DT-8). Nothing doing for us on jerkbaits, spinners, or chatters. No secret on plastix - greens. 4) 4-6' was the magic zone for us during practice; 4-8' on TX day. We fished out to the 15-20' range, hoping to find the quality fish we had in practice but they never showed for us. 5) Sharp drops were the key for us. The vast majority of our bites came on places where the contour lines were packed tight. If a sharp drop had a stump, laydown, or brush on it, all the better. These places reloaded quickly and often. 6) All of our fish were pre-spawn. We did see a few beds but no bedding activity. 7) It was key for us to make lots of casts to target areas. Sometimes a slight change in direction or casting angle meant the difference between no bite and a vicious strike. This was especially important on transition lanes. 8) Secondary points out-produced main lake stuff. Points with red clay or rock were better than sandy points. Rounded points out-produced long, tapered points. Having sharp drops on the adjacent transition lanes was important. 9) Wind blowing across a point was better than wind blowing in on it. No wind, no bites. 10) We marked bait all over the place. Saw numerous pods in creeks in all parts of the water column.
Once again Anna stumped us. While we did do better than last year and we did jump on the points list a bit, the better fish we caught in practice eluded us on TX day. We made lots of adjustments throughout the day; none of them were the right one. The front we fished in was pretty significant. Grateful the strong winds we saw in the forecasts didn't come in until we got off the water. The magic window was as the rain was falling. I have to own up to some execution issues. I missed a bunch of bites early in the AM. Some of it was rain, some of it was being bundled up in bulky wet weather gear, some of it was the cold air, all of these are excuses. Fishing in the rain is a fact of life in this sport. Gotta have the appropriate gear. My wet weather gear worked very well, but it's dated. Will do some homework on newer, less bulky outer layers as part of my prep for our next event.
On to Kerr. Familiar water for us - clearly our favorite.
peace,
B
Practice - WTs were in the mid 50s mid lake down, a few degrees cooler up in the rivers. I made my first run up into the Pawmunkey arm. It was heavily stained but fishable. After a few hours of probing and scanning with little to show for the fishing I did I came back down to the mid lake area. Started catching fish almost immediately. No size to them but keepers nonetheless. Just about every point held a fish. I played this pattern out for the rest of the day without landing any quality fish. The following two days I spent down lake, working points and ledges on channel swings. Found fish right away, including a few quality fish. I ran thru a combination of new and familiar stuff as I closed out day 2.
My partner came in late on day 2. After filling him in on what I saw, we decided to continue our work down lake on day 3. We found fish right away on points and wood along transition lanes between main lake points and the first set of secondary points. We landed a few more quality fish, including my partner's chunky 7 lb'er. From that point we put down the rods and picked up the notebooks. Spent the rest of that day and the next charting points and transition lanes that set up like the place where he caught the big girl. We developed a solid target list for tournament day, then we turned our attention to the weather. The forecast for TX day was a moving target right up to launch - heavy rain and winds. It was just a question of how much wind and when it would kick in.
TX day - The rain started long before we woke up. We had a light, steady rain leading up to launch. It started getting heavier as we approached blast off (about 1/4" per hour). Fortunately, the winds were fairly calm (a good thing - that first run in the pouring rain was about as unfun as it gets). The bilge pumps were already screaming when we came off plane to hit our first stop. We got bit almost right away. After a flurry of punks, we managed to boat a couple of solid keepers. Not the size we were looking for but keepers just the same. We played out our game plan, cycling thru a short list of points and transition lanes. We closed out our limit around mid-morning after weeding thru a bunch of small fish. After exhausting our target list, we ran back to our starting place and boated two more good keepers, including a chunky 3.6 lb fish. The rain stopped around 10 and the wind started kicking up. When this happened, the bite slowed dramatically. We made our last cull about 30 mins before weigh-in - another nice 3 lb fish. That was it for us. Our 5 fish weighed 11.68.
Observations: 1) WTs held steady in the 50s all week. We did see low 60s a couple times during practice as the sun came out. The cold rain on TX day didn't hurt things much. We had 56* at launch; fished mid to upper 50s all day. 2) Water clarity was a mixed bag: clear down lake (6-7' of viz), slight stain mid lake (3-4' of viz), more heavily stained in the rivers as the overnite rain started coming in (we had approx 1.5" of rain late FRI into SAT morning). 3) Slow presentations were the deal for us - jigs, shakyhead (incl my partner's 7-lb fish), TX rig, and c-rig. Fish were tight to the deck or cover. I had one fish all week on a moving bait (DT-8). Nothing doing for us on jerkbaits, spinners, or chatters. No secret on plastix - greens. 4) 4-6' was the magic zone for us during practice; 4-8' on TX day. We fished out to the 15-20' range, hoping to find the quality fish we had in practice but they never showed for us. 5) Sharp drops were the key for us. The vast majority of our bites came on places where the contour lines were packed tight. If a sharp drop had a stump, laydown, or brush on it, all the better. These places reloaded quickly and often. 6) All of our fish were pre-spawn. We did see a few beds but no bedding activity. 7) It was key for us to make lots of casts to target areas. Sometimes a slight change in direction or casting angle meant the difference between no bite and a vicious strike. This was especially important on transition lanes. 8) Secondary points out-produced main lake stuff. Points with red clay or rock were better than sandy points. Rounded points out-produced long, tapered points. Having sharp drops on the adjacent transition lanes was important. 9) Wind blowing across a point was better than wind blowing in on it. No wind, no bites. 10) We marked bait all over the place. Saw numerous pods in creeks in all parts of the water column.
Once again Anna stumped us. While we did do better than last year and we did jump on the points list a bit, the better fish we caught in practice eluded us on TX day. We made lots of adjustments throughout the day; none of them were the right one. The front we fished in was pretty significant. Grateful the strong winds we saw in the forecasts didn't come in until we got off the water. The magic window was as the rain was falling. I have to own up to some execution issues. I missed a bunch of bites early in the AM. Some of it was rain, some of it was being bundled up in bulky wet weather gear, some of it was the cold air, all of these are excuses. Fishing in the rain is a fact of life in this sport. Gotta have the appropriate gear. My wet weather gear worked very well, but it's dated. Will do some homework on newer, less bulky outer layers as part of my prep for our next event.
On to Kerr. Familiar water for us - clearly our favorite.
peace,
B