chick 10/31

[drc]

Put in at skull island today about noon and headed for the cove beside sequoyah. I threw a small jerkbait, crankbait, and a T-rigged Yamamoto grub. I caught lots of small fish on the jerkbait and crankbait and three "keepers" on the grub, all around laydowns in 8-10ft of water. Fishing has sure picked up since I went to HarrisonBay saturday. Oh yeah, the water was very low!

 

[polo-dog]

I too fished today with my college roommate Roger. We had a blast on the water. We got out as the fog was burning off at about 8:30 am. The water temp in Wolftever Creek was 56 degrees. In Harrison Bay it was 64 and on the River it was 67degrees. We started on the rip rap on Hwy 58 as have had some success in years past there in the fall but there was nothing happening there. Fished a couple of sloughs in HBSPark and marked a lot of shad and saw almost no movement. Decided to catch some shad and see if we could get something going. Caught some shad in a HBSPark slough and fished on an outside river bend on the Hixson side. Caught many spots and blue cats, they were stacked up like "cord wood" over 25-45 feet of water. Went for lunch then caught some more shad near Wolftever bridge and headed for Sequoyah. Caught spots and largemouths off the drop in front of Sequoyah. We caught five keepers and lots of shorts, many 13-14 inches. Roger hooked something, we think it was a striper that almost spooled him before I got the boat moving in the right direction but then pulled off. Here are some pics.

 

[DHaun]

Looks like a great day on the water polo-dog! Glad you found them..Thanks for the report!

 

[drc]

Man, looking at those pics just reminded me of how great a day it was. Great temps, little wind, and a beautiful sky, makes me want to get back out there tomorrow(now I'm dreaming, two times in one week.lol).
I snagged three very large gizzard shad today with a little jerkbait and saw lots of them in the water, all were in the 10in range. Saturday when I put in at HarrisonBay I saw a lot of really small threadfin shad. Is that what you were using for bait polo-dog? The ones I caught today would have only been good for big cats or stripers. Don't get me wrong I'd love to catch a LM that can eat a large gizzard shad but I'm assuming the shad your using are smaller. The ones I saw at HarrisonBay boatdock/ramp looked like most would fall through the holes of my castnet. Any pointers?

 

[polo-dog]

We caught all of the worthwhile fish on threadfins. Very few were live, they die quickly even when in a big bucket unless you only keep 30 or 50 or so. The two schools of bait that I netted yesterday probably weighed about 4-6 lbs, hundreds, litterally, if not thousands. I only kept a fraction of the baits I caught and used. The bait comes to the surface in the afternoons but you can usually find them in the shallows in HBSPark or in Wolftever creek. Most of the sloughs off the main lake also have them most years but I haven't been looking for them there in a while. Most of the shad this time of year are big enough to be caught in a 3/8 inch net but I throw a 1/4 inch most of the time, just 'cause I have had it out on my boat deck since July or so when the shad became big enough to catch. I usually use the shad on a drop shot rig and usually start with two baits, one about 6-8 inches off the bottom and the other a couple of feet above that. I usually afix the hooks to the line with a palomar knot but instead of tying it with a single overhand knot, I pass the loop through twice before pulling the loop over the hook. The double loop gives enough resistance that the hook will not move up or down the line. It's similar to what you do to keep braided line from slipping when you tie a palomar. Just find a bunch of fish on a drop that are on the bottom and you will catch a ton of fish. I have been tempted to take a sassy shad or grub or other shad look alike and drop shot it down there to see if it is effective but it's so easy to catch shad right now that I just haven't done it. My partner threw a tx rigged worm for a while and didn't get a bite while I was catching 3+lbers. Out in front of Sequoyah we didn't catch anything but bass other than the probable striper that almost spooled my partner. It was a beautiful day! I too am hoping for more later this week. I hope that the bass heat up a bit. I think that late afternoon they will be moving but in the AMs they are dead.

 

[drc]

This is what I really need to know. When your looking for shad do you troll around until you see a school on the surface or do you just start throwing the net and hope you come up with a bunch? Sorry for all the questions but this is the first year I have really been fishing on the main lake, up until this year I have usually fished the tailrace below WattsBar dam for cats and stripers and catching bait there is not a problem. This year has been the best as far as catching fish and learning new waters, this board is my only source of info since none of my friends are into fishing.
Seqoiyah is a great fishing spot for big cats but I was unaware of all the bass that can be caught. Earlier this year I took a co-worker catfishing with me at the discharge area. Keep in mind this guy has never caught a fish bigger than 5lbs, he ended up catching this monster at the end of the day. It broke my 50lb digital scale so I'm not sure if the true weight but I think it's close to 65-70lbs. Iv'e caught quite a few in the 20-40lb range in that area But now I can't wait to try bass fishing it. Thanks for the help!

 

[JerDog]

Now that's a fish! When looking for threadfins I use a couple of stratgies. Yes you can look for them on the top...sometimes you will see a flip here and there..other times it is a school on the top. I usually find them in Shallow flats or in bay areas. These fish are a tropical species and so warm water is key! If you don't find them on the surface then they will be down deep. This is when you need to go with the electronics. Check your sensitivity and make it sensitive. When you come across a school on the locator. Throw off your transducer and let it fall (generally 2 ft. per second). This is what works for me. I am always finding new spots where they can be located so time on the water will help you locate these spots.

 

[drc]

Thats what I needed to know JerDog, many thanks.

 

[polo-dog]

drc, There are a few things that help me when I go after shad. First, when I get to the water, I look down at the water from high above if at all possible and just watch for a few minutes. Most ramps are in areas where the ground slopes quickly into the water and so this is advantageous. I look for signs of shad before I go onto the water because what you want to do is go to an area where there are lots of them right when you put in. Look for little "flits", waking schools on top, and for what looks like big black blobs out over the creek channel or at least deeper water. These are all indicative of shad. If there seems to be a particular spot that has the most activity, go there first. Knowing that you are around bait increases your chances of catching them, even if you don't see them right before you throw. Randomly throwing a cast net is the best way to insure that you won't catch any. Once you throw that net into the water it seems that the bait moves away, and they can move faster than what you would think. In the morning, the bait, at least in the Wolftever/ Harrison Bay area, usually is sub surface and you usually have to look for flits. Every once in a while in the morning, especially if it's sunny, they will be mulling slowly on the surface or a few inches down and just look like a dark blob over the creek channel. If there is a chop on the water it's very hard to find them. I try to find calm water to catch them over the channel. If they are not over the channel in the creek, I go to some of the shallow flats in the first few sloughs north of Hwy 58 in HBSPark. The bait right now are in 10 feet or less and usually show themselves by flitting on top or sometimes look like dark spots in inches of water. I use my trolling motor to go along the shore with polarized glasses and shield my eyes as much as possible from above as it really helps to be able to see down into the water. There was only one day this year since July that I haven't been able to catch shad for bait, I had to be happy with a smaller number of shiners that I caught in shallow water but they worked just fine. It the bait is thick on the top, if you have a partner, sometimes you can stand on the front of the boat and you can direct him to a bait ball and just cut the power a few feet back from the bait and catch them but unless the baits are preoccupied by other fish trying to eat them from below, they usually won't stay on top with the big motor on and you have to use the troller. I hope that this info helps.

By the way, great cat!!!!!! I would expect that that one would go 80lbs or better just looking. I found this fish weight estimater: http://www.bassresource.com/bassfishing/fishcalculator.html
and found that a catfish with a girth of 41 inches( the girth if I held that fish on my shoulder and went around it only once) and guestimated a length of 48 inches and came up with 78+ lbs. I think that your fish is bigger than that.

 

[drc]

Polo-dog, If I can't catch any shad now then I'm selling my boat, rod&reels, and net.lol
You have left nothing to question and I'm very thankful.

 

[JerDog]

Ya, what polo-dog said!


You are the man, polo-dog....we are not worthy!!!!!!!!

 

[polo-dog]

JerDog, Pleeeeeeeese. I am too verbose I know but I just can't put it into fewer words, Sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!