Sloppy Floyd/Largemouth/06*14*2006

[Guest]

If you are heading out to Sloppy Floyd, I will go ahead and warn you to be prepared for some slow fishing. The bass did not, seemingly, have a great spawn, and I do believe that the lack of a good spawn has thrown the fishing all out of wack.

If you are fishing from a boat, you will be able to catch some fish that are hanging in the deeper parts of the lake, but if you are fishing from shore, catching quality bass will be difficult.

Fishing the top lake, I would suggest using a drop-shot with a small crawdad or a small finesse worm, and fish slowly in the deeper areas of the lake. Also, fishing small jigs, like the Strike King Bitsy Bug can produce a few, if fishing around the bridge.

Fishing the bottom lake has the chance of producing more fish, but you are going to have to fish well off the bank to get them. If you are fishing around the bank, look to only catch 10-12" bass that are less than 1 lb. Using a suspending jerkbait fished along the first break line will produce fish in the early part of the morning, after the topwater bite ends. After that, fishing a C-rig with a 4-6" plastic will produce. Also, fishing the drop-shot has the chance of producing fish, if you can find the depth that they are holding.

If you can hit the water before sunrise, and can get the fish on topwater, you can catch 3-4 quality fish. You have to fish quickly, and cover a lot of water. Buzzbaits have produced a few fish, and poppers have produced a few fish. Another suggestion is using a fluke, but don't use a pearl colored one. Go with something that has a little silver or blue. The fluke I have been using is made by a fellow in Tennessee, and it's electric blue color with silver tinsel and silver glitter.

If you head out to Sloppy Floyd, look for a dark blue Ford Ranger with a "Native American and proud of it" license plate on the front of it. I will have a sticker in the middle of the rear window that is the American flags' colors, that says NO FEAR.

Good luck and tight lines.

 

[jason]

That place is tough on some days and easy on others. My son caught a largemouth just over 9lbs there last fall and we had several in the 3-4lb range on the same day. On our next trip, we totally bombed.

 

[Fishin' Junkie]

Hey nwgabassmaster, do you know any tricks at the Rocky Mtn. fish area? I fished it a couple of weeks ago and caught a few, but the biggest one was maybe 2 lbs. I've heard there are some monsters in there. emoCool

 

[Guest]

Yup, that's the way that it goes sometimes. Starting this year, I was catching a lot of 3-4 lbs. largemouth in January and February, fishing on the right hand side of the bridge, next to the boat ramp, and casting out toward to pump arm that extends into the water. There is a table of rock that is a good 10 ft. or so long, and it tops out in about 3-4 ft. of water, and it goes down to 6-8 ft.

I was using a suspending Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue, and was tearing them up. Come March 1st, I went fishing, and ALL the fish were gone. Where I was catching 4-5 fish from there, I didn't even get a sniff. Then, about 2 weeks later, the males went on bed, and I did not see a single female, at all. In years past, I could see a lot of females, from 3-6 lbs., on the beds. This year, though, nothing but males.

This past Wednesday, my girlfriend and I went down to Brushy Branch, and totally bombed. We had the small warmouths hitting, that were under the rocks, but that was about it. She and I went back up to Sloppy Floyd, since it's a short hop from where Hwy. 100 comes back into Summerville to Sloppy Floyd, and she didn't get a single bite on "Big Reds", which are large worms. I managed to get a small 10", < 1lb. largemouth on a T-rigged Zoom 4" Icicle Finesse Worm, with a 3/16 oz. weight, and a 1/0 Gamakatsu EGW Offset Worm hook. I had cast it out, into a deeper area of the water that is adjacent to the shallows, and instead of letting it sink, I swam it back. During the retrieval process, Brittany (my gf) asked me something, and I looked over at her to address her question, and totally forget that I even had a lure in the water.

Well, I was awoken to the harsh pulling of my rod in my hand, and I set the hook on that little fellow, which, when I set the hook and began to fight it, felt like a monster! That thing fought like it was a cat on it's 8th life! emoLaugh

I suggest a few techniques above, but I honestly believe that when you fish the middle of the day, from 12-4 PM, downsize in the lure and presentation, fish slower, and you will have a lot more success. Personally, I am wanting to fish more Smithwick Rattlin' Rogues, and to see if they bait sitting in front of them will tick them off.

I suggest even using a "finesse" C-rig. Small weight, long leader, small hook and small lure. Also, the drop-shot should be getting some attention this year, and come this Wednesday, I will have a drop-shot rigged up. I am going to place the lure about 3 ft. above the weight, and to see if I can catch fish in that manner.

If you ever have the chance to hit Sloppy Floyd on Wednesdays, PM me, and we can exchange contact information, and we can get together and see if we can figure the fishing out together. LOL Two heads are better than one, especially on a tough fishery like Sloppy Floyd.

And if you are like me, just blame the rangers.............it's been a long lived rumor that they feed the fish at night, which makes them less likely to eat during the day when anglers are fishing for them.

Another thing that I ask of anglers that fish Sloppy Floyd is to KEEP their limit of 12-15" bass. Trust me, I have caught more than I can recollect.

One other thing is when you get the chance to talk to the rangers, question them to see if they are ever going to stock the new species of bass that are more aggressive. I sincerely believe that if they were to stock 100 of these bass in each lake, the fishing would improve greatly over a time span of 6 months.

 

[Guest]

Ah, yes, the good ole Rocky Mountain PFA. The biggest thing that I can tell you to do during these months, which unlike it's counterparts, gets BETTER in the hotter weather, is to slow down and fish the lakes slow and methodically.

If you are fishing ANY of the three lakes (Antioch are open year round, Heath is open 1st - 10th of each month), try fishing the rip-rap with Rebel Pop-R's and with flukes. The fish in my avatar came from Heath in May of 2005, on the rip-rap dam, and was caught on a hand-poured fluke..........pearl white with a red stripe down the middle of it.

As you well know, the lakes are chock full of timber, and although each individual section of timber is capable of producing bass, there are some that are better than others. Look for the ones with LESS timber than the rest, and also look for the ones that have deeper water on the outside of the timber-line.

Also, fish the peninsulas that are found on each of the lakes. On Heath, if you leave the ramp area, and bear to the left, you will have part of the lake that eventually goes off to the right. Follow that around, and find the peninsula. On the left hand side of it, about 5-6' of the actual peninsula, there is a great rock pile. Fish it with a spinnerbait that mimics a shad. I caught a good 3 lbs. bass of that rock pile in 2004, on a Retreiver Lures spinnerbait, 3/8 oz., and it had pearl white and black strands. It's a very light wire spinnerbait, a lot like Terminator, but without the price. They are not made of titanium, though, and if a bass gnarls it up, you will have to fix it again. They do, however, run true right outta the bag.

If you fish on the East side of Antioch (I hope that I am right, it's the side that is on the right, if you come into the main entrance), go up and fish the 2nd and 3rd cove to the right of the lake. Great fishing can be had.

As for lures, I mentioned the Pop-R, spinnerbaits, and flukes...........but you can also try jigs, as I caught a good 4 lbs. bass off a jig around stumps that had a deeper water coming around it, and I have done very well with catching bass on fallen timber with a T-rigged creature bait.

I have also had a great deal of success with a C-rig, but I was using a 6" Zoom Trick worm. The color varies from day to day, but bubblegum is a good color, believe it or not, as is the shad looking colors. I have also fished the bubblegum trick worm weightless around the same places that I have fished the T-rigged plastics, and you will pick up more fish.

I hope that this helps. The Rocky Mountain PFA has produced several bass over 10 lbs., and countless fish over 5 lbs. If you are looking for a double digit bass, look to fish around the beach area. In the past, a lot of the bigger bass have been caught in that area.

Feel free to PM me, and we can try to see if we can hit it together, and I can show you these spots in person.

 

[jason]

nwgabassmaster, my son wants to ask "What is the heaviest bass you've caught on Sloppy Floyd?"

 

[Guest]

In all the years that I have fished it, I would have to say that it has been around 5 lbs. Nothing spectacular, but it did put a good bend in the rod.

With that being said though, I have seen bass in there that were double digits, and pushing 15 lbs. LOL I was fishing for gills on the back end of the bottom lake, and there used to be a stump back there. Not sure if it's still there, as I don't fish back there often. At any rate, I had a rather large and aggressive looking bass chasing a small crappie jig. emoEnforce He was on a seek and destroy mission. Only having 6 lbs. test, I thought the better of trying to catch it.

I have seen many bass come from the top lake that were in excess of 5 lbs. I just haven't been able to crack the big bass code for it. Starting the next time I go, anything between 12-15" is going to the house. Both lakes are over-populated with these size bass, and it has an even greater population of bass from 4-10". It's unreal the amount of small bass in there.

With cuts in the funding, places like Sloppy Floyd aren't able to manage the lakes as they would like, so, I am hoping that through word of mouth, that anglers will help out and start keeping some of the better eating bass, and will release the ones that are between 15-30".