cptenn94
Well-known member
Well once again I went to lake junior. I have been at least 5 times this year, with nearly all ending in failure to hook any fish(or get bites).
I did manage sometime in january to catch 2 decent sized trout to give to my coworker who was moving to a new job. However since then, I struggled to get any bites at all.
During one trip, I learned the importance of having a anchor while fishing on the lake in a nearly empty 2 seater canoe. I spent most of the time on the water having to paddle and manuever myself from hitting the shore. Then on another trip I decided to take my kayak which sits lower in the water than the canoe(and thus would not be blown by the wind as easily), and brought a anchor. However my kayak really is not very well made for fishing. It has almost no room to hold any gear, and barely is able to have room to hold the rod. That was uncomfortable, and fruitless. Then I decided to try my luck fishing from the shoreline. I managed to get a few bites but no hookups. But nearly every time I had time to go fishing there, it was cold rainy or miserable.
Finally I managed to go fishing on a relatively nice day. I spent most of the not getting any bites. However I did get the pleasure of watching a young girl gleefully catch trout after trout on the shoreline on her purple fishing rod. You could just tell she was having a blast. Eventually when I was about to give up, and call it a day i managed to get a bite, and then a hookup. I caught a small trout, that had kind of a blurry pattern to it, not like the more distinct spots and lateral line of the hiwassee trout.
I fished the spot a little longer, and then once I noticed the spot where the girl and her father had been successful was now open. Then I moved to that spot. On one of the first few minutes of fishing there, I managed to get another hookup, and landed another trout. This one was more normal, and was larger than the small trout I had caught before. My newfound success gave me renewed enthusiasm for fishing that day. After a couple more hours of some bites, but no hookups, It was nearly time for me to leave. At this time the wind had begun blowing and chopping the waters a bit, and I had finally found part of the wad, and was getting successful bites. I then managed to hookup a third fish, around the same size as the second. I tried to get a fourth before I had to leave for work, but I ran out of time and had to leave.
All in all, I have learned that fishing on a lake for trout is MUCH different from fishing a river for trout. Currently I think I prefer fishing the hiwassee over lake junior.
I have learned that spinners, tend to be more difficult to operate on a lake than the river.
To conclude I will share what I have found to be successful.
I was fishing predominately with orange floating powerbait nuggets with small worms on a size 6 or 8 gold light wire hook, on a carolina rig. I had 2 rods dedicated to carolina rig, and I started fishing spinners with the third rod, and wound up carolina rigging it as well.
Carolina rig with bright color bait seems to be the ticket right now with the cold weather. Live bait helps as well. The little girl and her dad who seemed to catch their limit within a few hours I believe fished mostly with corn.(I found some corn that was near the area they were fishing)
To conclude I want to thank whomever in the past made a fishing report on this site about lake junior, for mentioning how the fish like to stay in wads when newly stocked(which they were this last wednesday). It definitely helped me in my fishing today, and helped me make sense of why some people were catching plenty of fish while others nothing. Sometime when I have a whole day to dedicate to fishing, I might load up the canoe(with a anchor) and try my luck chasing the wad.
I did manage sometime in january to catch 2 decent sized trout to give to my coworker who was moving to a new job. However since then, I struggled to get any bites at all.
During one trip, I learned the importance of having a anchor while fishing on the lake in a nearly empty 2 seater canoe. I spent most of the time on the water having to paddle and manuever myself from hitting the shore. Then on another trip I decided to take my kayak which sits lower in the water than the canoe(and thus would not be blown by the wind as easily), and brought a anchor. However my kayak really is not very well made for fishing. It has almost no room to hold any gear, and barely is able to have room to hold the rod. That was uncomfortable, and fruitless. Then I decided to try my luck fishing from the shoreline. I managed to get a few bites but no hookups. But nearly every time I had time to go fishing there, it was cold rainy or miserable.
Finally I managed to go fishing on a relatively nice day. I spent most of the not getting any bites. However I did get the pleasure of watching a young girl gleefully catch trout after trout on the shoreline on her purple fishing rod. You could just tell she was having a blast. Eventually when I was about to give up, and call it a day i managed to get a bite, and then a hookup. I caught a small trout, that had kind of a blurry pattern to it, not like the more distinct spots and lateral line of the hiwassee trout.
I fished the spot a little longer, and then once I noticed the spot where the girl and her father had been successful was now open. Then I moved to that spot. On one of the first few minutes of fishing there, I managed to get another hookup, and landed another trout. This one was more normal, and was larger than the small trout I had caught before. My newfound success gave me renewed enthusiasm for fishing that day. After a couple more hours of some bites, but no hookups, It was nearly time for me to leave. At this time the wind had begun blowing and chopping the waters a bit, and I had finally found part of the wad, and was getting successful bites. I then managed to hookup a third fish, around the same size as the second. I tried to get a fourth before I had to leave for work, but I ran out of time and had to leave.
All in all, I have learned that fishing on a lake for trout is MUCH different from fishing a river for trout. Currently I think I prefer fishing the hiwassee over lake junior.
I have learned that spinners, tend to be more difficult to operate on a lake than the river.
To conclude I will share what I have found to be successful.
I was fishing predominately with orange floating powerbait nuggets with small worms on a size 6 or 8 gold light wire hook, on a carolina rig. I had 2 rods dedicated to carolina rig, and I started fishing spinners with the third rod, and wound up carolina rigging it as well.
Carolina rig with bright color bait seems to be the ticket right now with the cold weather. Live bait helps as well. The little girl and her dad who seemed to catch their limit within a few hours I believe fished mostly with corn.(I found some corn that was near the area they were fishing)
To conclude I want to thank whomever in the past made a fishing report on this site about lake junior, for mentioning how the fish like to stay in wads when newly stocked(which they were this last wednesday). It definitely helped me in my fishing today, and helped me make sense of why some people were catching plenty of fish while others nothing. Sometime when I have a whole day to dedicate to fishing, I might load up the canoe(with a anchor) and try my luck chasing the wad.
