Fishing 8/17

[polo-dog]

Went fishing today and had a blast, litterally! Started off fishing in the shallow weeds in the Patton Island area in Harrison bay. Very little or no activity and only one small hit on a buzz bait. No fish moving so I didn't stay long. Fished a couple of points that usually hold fish on the ends of them this time of year but didn't get any hits. A little more activity however. Most of the fish activity seemed to be over deep water, 20-30 ft deep. No fish marked in a stumpbed in Harrison bay state park in 5-10 ft of water. Decided to chart some new territory and found the cut that runs out from one of the sloughs out of Harrison bay state park out to the river channel. Found lots of huge balls of bait that were tightly packed which usually means that they are being harrassed by something but they were all out over 30 ft of water and didn't mark anything underneath them so all I did was look for the most part. Went accross to the Dallas Island hump out from Chester Frost park and there were bait on the upper end of it right next to and downstream from the small green can/marker but nothing underneath. Hump was about 15 feet on top. It was by then about 9 am and the water flow seemed to start picking up. Upstream from the hump some baitfish balls were on the surface so started to go catch some when huge numbers of fish were on the bottom. I started vertical jigging with a small Kastmaster spoon and started catching a yellow bass up to 12 inches on every drop. Also caught a couple of small bluegills(strange) and two or three bass. On was right at fifteen inches. Wherever I saw lots of comotion on the bottom I would throw out a bouy and it seemed the for some reason the large groups would stay put for a while. This was all over 25 to 30 ft of water bouncing the spoon off the bottom. That action lasted about and hour or so. Caught upwards of 30-40 "stripe" there. Most of them were about even but towards Chester Frost from the big green river marker/can, upstream from the hump. Looked at my maps and could see a deep cut accross the river and decided to see if there were willing fish and bait in that cut. The cut was 30ft deep and there was tons of bait in it, also fish underneath them but I couldn't get them to bite. The current was so strong there I had to use a heavier jigging spoon, mabe too big, to get to bottom and stay in the cut. Decided to try live bait so went into one of the Harrison Bay sloughs and catch some bait and caught a couple hundred with my first cast and was in buisiness. Went back out and still couldn't get a bite. Lots of fish but just turned off for some reason. Decided to hit a spot a buddy told me about near Sequoyah and found lots of everything, caught two crappies(legal size) on the first cast with my double bait rig. Lots of stripe(30 or 40) and a few bass, mostly spots in the 12 to 14 inch range. Then the real fun began, it was about 1:30 and I looked around and there were what looked like bass in a jump about 200-300 yards away, I decided to investigate and the old chug bug worked like a charm. These fish weren't very picky either, I was getting hits on every cast with the chugger but some would just knock it or mouth it so I thought I'd try a buzzbait, they ate that up too but more hookups per bite, missed very few with the buzzer. Then decided to try a spinner bait. The only way they would bite it was on top, "waking" the surface. Caught a couple that way. The chug bug and the buzzer caught me about 40 in all and when I left they were still on and off there. Most were 12-14 inches with 5 or 6 greater than 15 inches but no really big ones. Tons of fun though. Here's a couple of pictures of me and my fishing partner. Sorry so long but it was a long day fishing and after that, my batteries were dead, all three and I go a tow from a "neighbor" that I met out from Hidden Harbor and then a jump from someone else there. If you guys, Scott Lefew and Mr. Allen(can't remember your first name) ever read this forum, yes you did help out the loudmouth of the forum. Thanks again!!!!!!!

 

[DHaun]

Way to go Polo Dog! I recognize that spot...I grew up fishing that area near the nuke. Excellent informative post and glad you got out in the heat and did so well!!! emoWorthy

About how deep were the striper near Sequoyah?

 

[polo-dog]

The stripe/yellow bass were in 20 to 30 feet. They were in an area that may have been part of the plant out in the middle of the river. The bottom there felt like there were many vertical structures that the sinker would have to go up and over then fall many feet. There was also a lot of current in the area. The bottom was really strange, I'm not really sure what was down there. On my depthfinder it looked like the bottom was flat but it kept reading up or down a few feet. I don't know if it was part of the outflow of the plant or not. Another interesting thing, this about the bass is that they wouldn't hit a zara spook, even a clear one. They would swirl at it sometimes but they wouldn't take it. They wouldn't take a spinner bait or a rattle trap at any depth. As I said before, they did take a spinner bait that was "waked" but nowhere else in the water collumn. They were really keying on bait on top and the baits that they were hitting were not this year's threadfin hatch, when the bait would jump out of the water they were in the four inch range, not the inch and a half range like the bait that has been on top in the creek and out on the main lake. It was fun to try a bunch of baits on really agressive fish to see what they would take. They were hitting on top over 11 to 16 feet of water and I went over the areas with my electronics and there didn't seem to be any bottom structure/cover that they were over either. The current seemed to be pulling bait across a point/bank not too far from the towers. I don't think I've ever gotten into fish like that in August ever before. I caught and released at least 100 fish and probably more like 120 with about 2/3 of them stripe/yellow bass.

 

[jason]

Is there a bluff wall on the opposite bank?

 

[DHaun]

I used to work as an engineer at the plant and from what I recall that sounds like part of the outlet to me. The intake is upstream of the cooling towers and the outflow is just downstream in a nuke. I also believe there are environmental regulations as to how much the temperature can differ between the two.

Anyway, I rememeber fishing the same spot as a teen in my 14ft alumacraft and seeing the water boil up to the surface and yes, there is also a rock bluff across the channel. I am not sure if the water still boils up like that today but I would imagine it has it's advantages in the hottest summer days with cooling properties of forcing a mixture of cooled (probably oxygen rich) water from the plant and thermocline lower cooler layers towards the surface and also in the winter providing a source of warmer water. Sounds like that combined with bait and a bit of river current equals a good day on the water!

 

[ranman]

I've fished there before! There is also a huge rockpile just out from there closer to the main channel that can be great at times.Sounds like you had a great day,I'm going to check the weather and try to go myself today.The wife and kids are going to FLA. for a weeding this weekend so it's fish, fish ,fish,and more fish
till Monday.

 

[polo-dog]

Yep, bluff accross the river as DHaun said. There is a very strange feel down there. With a worm it felt like vertical walls all in a row. At first I thought that it was a really steep drop with big rocks on the drop but after hitting it from a few angles it didn't feel like that any more. I would tell y'all exactly where the drop was but my buddy told me that one of his buddies had taken him there and told him exactly how to find the area, so I can't reveal the exact location and how to find it. When I got there there were two other people anchored or otherwise staying in the area so it must be a common area to fish. Others have told me in the past many different ways to fish near Sequoyah but it's such a huge area that finding the needle in the haystack in all that water always seemed more of a hassle than what it was worth. My buddy however gave me very detailed instructions as to how to find the area and for once I was able to find it. I'm sure that there are lots of good areas in that whole stretch however.

 

[jason]

I fished that bluff wall one time with my wife and we caught a gazillion spots. I needed something easy for her to fish with so I rigged up a white grub on a 1/4oz leadhead and she started tearing them up. It worked so well, I tied one on and we stayed there for hours. To this day, that is her memory of what fishing is all about...just throw it out, let it fall, and reel in the fish. If I recall, there is also some sort of pump station by the wall that held bigger fish.

 

[ranman]

Polo I admire you for not giving up your buddy's spot.Everything I've told you guys about on here has been something that I found on my own,(I still have a few spots I cant't share)because they where givin to me in confidence.
I read once that proper eticate when someone shows you a hole is not to take anyone else there unless that person has told you its O.K. and not to go back unless that person is with you.I don't know how you guys feel about that but I know some guys that would get really pissed if they took you somewhere and found out you told someone else about it.Not me though my momma taught me to share!

 

[polo-dog]

That sounds right to me too. I think that it is best for us to share concepts and general patterns because I think that most people are hung up on fishing spots and not patterns. When we do that, we miss a lot of good fish. Understanding why the fish are in particular spots is what will keep us on fish moreso than just remembering a bunch of spots. That's why when the pros come to fish a tourney in a lake and there are locals fishing the tournament too that often the locals don't do as well just because the pros are taking info from experiences that they have and figure out where the baitfish are at the time of the tournament and so they don't spend their time fishing spots that they know of instead they only work off of "new" info that is pertinent to catching the fish the week of the tournament. They also understand bait and bass movements and put the info together and fish the depth that they feel most comfortable with if at all possible. Ruling out unproductive water quickly using electronics rather than having to stop and fish it is part of doing that. I can't tell you that this is the way I fish but from reading for years it seems to me that that is how it is done by the best of the best.