Fish Catching Travel
The Order of the Pork Rinds.
For the second day of fishing on 5 different places in 6 days I met my brother Shoedog at Fayette County for a little bass fishing before the Super Bowl. Now folks I have not fished both days on a weekend in I can not remember when. I will admit I am spoiled. (Thanks Team Nancy) Everyday I am thankful that I can fish when I want. It is so much better fishing during the week. But most everyone is not in that position, and with the water a lot busier it seems like it is harder to find a way to fish. But all is not lost, you just have to stick with it, do what you do, and make it work.
I found that out yesterday on the Powderhorn, when I was able to whack the trout. So with the goal of finding 2 completely different fish in 2 different places, we put the boat in at Fayette and took off across the lake. And then a funny thing happened, I got a text from my friend Clyde in Arkansas who was at Norfork Lake in Arkansas putting his boat in. That text says it all, about all of us fisherman. “Trying to beat the pork rinds out when I realized I r one.” I love it!
We started on one of the big points about halfway up, throwing deep crankbaits off a big point. The sun was not up when I caught the biggest of the day right off on an Strike King XD5 in a shad pattern. He knocked the stuffing out of it, and if my memory serves me right, it was the last on we caught on a crankbait all day.
So of course the next order of business was throwing that jerk bait. Now I have fished a lot of bass in a lot of places, but there is no better jerk bait lake on the face of the earth. If you read my stuff you know we have had some spectacular days there throwing small jerk baits. Maybe today could not be described as spectacular, but when I can get in the boat, catch 39 bass, and then get home in time for the Super Bowl, it is a great day in my book.
Shoedog with a Husky Jerk in the mouth of a nice Fayette slot bass.
I feel like a broken record when I tell you about Fayette. The bass we caught were in the grass in about 3 to 6 foot of water. I think that is what makes Fayette such a good jerk bait lake, the depth of the grass, its location off the bank, both factors conducive to jerk bait fishing. It really simplifies Fayette. No matter what the conditions, there are always some fish located there.
What a great lake, love a slot limit that lets you put a bunch of these in the boat.
Of course there was a ton of traffic. Basically most of the fisherman were in the back ends of the coves in grass beds throwing plastics. Later in the day, more were offshore fishing those breaks out in deeper water. We just did what we do, jerked and jerked. We caught fish with a jerk/jerk/pause/jerk, letting it set just a few seconds. Now few were slamming it, they were just there. But they bit all day. And though nothing bigger than 4 came over the side, it was a consistent bite all day from nice bass.
Our best place was a little cove off of one of the main lake points. We had put 8 in the boat first thing, then kept fishing until we found a cut in the point leading into a small cove with brush on one side. They were right in the cut about 4 foot deep, and they were eating. It had a stick up with a grass bed off to the side of it. We caught 14 off that one little spot in about 20 minutes. I find that on Fayette, once you find them you can refish it several times, catching fish most of the time. The fish seem to really be baitfish oriented there, contributing to the consistency we catch fish there on jerk bait.
As far as equipment, we fish jerk baits in the 4 1/2″ range almost exclusively in the silver/black back on lighter rods with 10 lb. test. I probably shouldn’t say this, but we rarely break any off with that light line, though Shoedog did break one off today. So keep it light, and think about what the lure is doing, it really is a finesse technique. Make that bait into a struggling baitfish, then hang on.
We caught fish on points in the backs, in that one cove off the main lake, and then the usual long banks with grass. The rest were just scattered. For us Fayette is simply fishing until we find them. It is small enough to cover lots of different types of water, then it just becomes a matter of finding a way to catch them, and for us it has been the jerk bait.
Now I am still working on a video from the Gulf the other day, so the video camera stayed in the bag. Hard to do a time consuming editing and downloading of a video when you have only have so much spare time because you have to go fishing. So for those of you who have not seen this one from last year, it says it all about jerkbait fishing on Fayette. Watch the technique, it may vary with how hard you jerk it based on conditions, but this is the way it happens there.
And last but not least, I learned something from Clyde’s text and fishing the weekend in 2 completely different places for 2 completely different fish. It is not how busy it is, nor how many other boats are fishing, it is about figuring it out. You have to set everything aside and get the job done. The ultimate goal every time we go out is to put fish in the boat. Cloudy, windy, or whatever the weather brings, are just conditions we have to adapt to. Other fisherman are just another condition. You can let it get to you, or you can put on your big boy pants and get after it. Those other guys fishing are just like us, they are not the enemy, they are just another condition to be added to the fishing equation. Ultimately we are all brothers in the “Order of the Pork Rinds“.
So thanks for reading my stuff. With mama gone for the week I intend to keep after the 5 different places in 6 days project. So keep stopping in. There is no better day than one spent on the water. And I will forever be a proud member of the “Order of the Pork Rinds”.
Good Luck and Tight Lines.
