The Chick; fished 10-8

[Jmax]

Went today with a newly found friend from this forum Mr. ChooChooSnakeMan and we had a very good time. It was a little (lot) windy and a little bit of waves but we managed to boat 55 bass, 1 catfish, 8 yellow bass, and a white. Out of the bunch we had for sure 6 nice keepers and 2 more that might have gone if we had checked. Under the day's conditions we were very happy with our success.

Mr. CCSM caught most of his on a white rooster tail and he did very good on this with light line reeled in slow. He also caught his in the afternoon on a finess worm six inch junebug in color. I caught mine on a silver buddy, a puppy, a white buzz and a Hawaian Wiggler this morning and in the afternoon on a pumkinseed zoom worm with the chartruse tail.

The shallow bite was along grass beds mostly in the 2 to 3 ft range on flats in the main lake where we could get out of the wind and waves. Some of our better fish came out of the grass when we fished our baits over it. The water is back up a few inches from where it was and the grass was not showing.The afternoon bite was on bluffs up Wolftever on the steep drops where the water was 15 to 25 ft. By the way there polo-dog we went by your house and waited a couple minutes to see if you might see us and come down but didn't see anyone so we left. In all it was a very good day and the time went by so quickly we almost missed the Tn and GA game. We lost track of time and left at 3:30. Got there at 7:00 a.m. Keep them wet, jmaxemoLaugh

 

[polo-dog]

Great to hear that you did so well. Were most of the fish that you caught near the grass beds or on the bluff? Was there much surface movement today? It was really dead yesterday, maybe I wasn't holding my mouth right.

 

[Jmax]

Hey Polo-dog, We spent most of our time out in the main lake fishing the grass and there was so much waves and wind if there was much surface action we couldn't have seen it if we had wanted to. There was a couple blow ups by the boat we saw but they were very close. I think we caught about 35 out in the lake along the grass and in it, 15 off the bluff in Wolftever and 5 up Wolftever in the back towards the sloughs. I think with the water so much cooler, 73 degrees, the fish are moving shallow. Saw several schools of shad bust as my buzz went through them.

 

[polo-dog]

Very interesting. Did you start catching fish right after you got out there? What time did you get out? Yesterday it really looked like the fish were just starting to move a little at 8:45 when I had to leave but nothing was going on anywhere on the flats. The only fish that would do anything were dinks. I would expect that the next few days with stable weather and sunshine that things will really get going out there. Hopefully I'll get out there a few mornings this week.

 

[Jmax]

I know the first point we hit nothing, spent maybe 10 minute. The second and third point we hit CCSM got a hit but missed it, I got nothing, spent maybe 20 minutes. The third point CCSM got two in the boat and we spent maybe 10 minutes and trolled to the next point and hit the goods there. The point was a little deeper and CCSM was kicking me on that rooster and I had been throwing my puppy, I switched to the silver buddy and I started catching up. The fish were a little deeper and just off that grass point the water dropped to 12 feet. When we hit that point it was about 8 a.m. I would say. We got there at 7 and I do not waste time fishing anywhere if we are not hitting fish. I move fairly quickly. That area there was the best area and we stayed in there for the rest of the morning. It was an area of about 15 to 20 acres I'd say. Scattered grass of different thickness and depths from 2 to 12 feet but most of the fish I would say hit in the less than 3 foot range.

 

[polo-dog]

Jmax, I did the same thing yesterday but didn't try enough of the deeper areas adjacent to the shallow flats. I just didn't have time to try it. It seems that we think alot alike. It's good to know that the fish were where you thought they might be when they weren't at your first pick of areas. Figuring out where they go when they aren't where they were the last time you were there is great. Understanding fish movement is what I'm really striving to learn more about from an hour to hour and a day to day basis.

 

[jason]

Sounds like the fall bite is really picking up. With the upcoming refuge closure, I'm looking forward to coming down to the main lake.

 

[Jmax]

You are right when we got to the area where I have been catching fish, the fish were not there however they will usually not move far unless something major happened. They will normally just move deeper or more shallow and do it with the least amount of travel. They had moved about 150 yards to a point that was next to deep water that had access to even deeper water near by. As the morning went on the fish seemed to move in a little more shallow and by mid morning we were catching them in water three foot just off of a 10ft cut. The other reason I felt the fish were still there is the bait fish were still there. Shad and bream were all in the area. I forgot that CCSM caught a bream on that rooster also. Lots of fun and you just have to go at it with a plan and illiminate the water and type of place until you find them again.

 

[ChooChooSnakeMan]

Good Morning Everyone!,

Jmax has pretty well given the details of our trip on 10/8. I would just like to add that I had a great time! Jim is a super fisherman and it was a pleasure to fish out of the back of his boat! What Jmax didn't tell you guys was that when we got finished (the day passed really fast) and we compared notes, we both discovered that each of us was holding back so as not to make the other guy look bad!!!!! I'm sure we would have caught hundreds, well thousands, well --------- you get the point, if we each hadn't been trying to not show the other guy up! Ha Ha who am I kidding, I'm talking to a bunch of fishermen here so I know you all know what was going on. (Every man for himself and catch em all!!). Seriously, we had a great time and I'm really glad to have made a new friend in Jim. He knows his stuff and his reports on this forum are a super resource. Everyone stay safe and get out on the water and enjoy God's creation!

ChooChooSnakeMan
2000 Viper Coral 202/ Merc 225 EFI

 

[polo-dog]

Good post ChooChoo, I'm glad that you had such a good time. Catchin' a bunch of bass is always my favorite passtime. I too am just amazed about the "Creation" that's out there. It's neat to be able to figure it out every once in a while. It's very complex.