Fish Catching Travel
The Shoedog called Monday and said we should meet at Fayette County on Tuesday. In spite of the high winds, it was forecast to possibly blow 35 that night, we decided to meet at the 7 the next morning.
When I got to the ramp there was only one trailer, and the wind was howling at 25 out of the SE. Most of the lake was covered in white caps and there were few places to hide. But hide we did. And while it was rough and a hassle, catching fish sure did take the edge off.
Shoedog with the first of several this size today.
First let me say we love that lake. It is one of the best jerk bait lakes on the face of the earth. So with that as the bait of choice for starters, we started fishing fairly shallow. How shallow? We tried to keep the boat in around 6 foot of water. Now that would seem somewhat shallow for this time of year on a power plant lake, but the conditions dictate where you start, and we paid attention to them.
First, the water temp was reading around 78 or 79, not that warm for this time of year. Second, there was a major shad hatch going on. I mean there was shad everywhere, and they were shallow. And third, the lake has really come up since our last trip. With relatively cool water, a nice raise and baitfish everywhere, shallow was the obvious choice. So going with the listen to the fish plan we started throwing jerk bait, using it moderately fast in a jerk/jerk/pause/jerk/pause/jerk/jerk/pause/jerk/pause cadence. Some of them knocked the snot out of it, some were just there when you went to move it.
Fayette is just full of this size.
Shoedog primarily threw a Rapala Husky Jerk in an orange color, I alternated between a Smithwick Rogue Jr and a KVD. They all caught fish, but the Rogue was my primary bait as the KVD ran just a little to deep in that shallow water. But the real key for us on Fayette today, and every other day, is grass. If you can find that nice green grass in that 5 foot range you have fish, period. And over the years we have found that paying attention to what comes back on your hooks is the key to glory. I know that lake has a pretty serious deep bite, but for me until I can not catch fish to beat the band shallow, I will stay shallow. It never lets us down.
There was an interesting distinction today. While the fish were shallow, they were not on shallow banks. There had to be some deeper water close, big flats were not the place. And we did not catch any in the back of any of the coves. They tended to be on the long banks leading into the coves, but with the ability to fish the whole lake severally restricted by the high winds, that was often the only places we could fish.
Another nice bass out of the 34 we put in the boat.
A few boat came and went during the day, but the wind was tough and lots of folks called it quits after a while. But though it was a struggle, we kept after it and we caught fish on almost every bank we were able to fish. While the Shoedog stayed with his jerkbait most of the day, we did throw square bills some, and did have a few cranking. I tossed a swim jig some, but it did not work, no surprise with the shad hatch going on. Many of our bites came in 3 foot of water, the are the shad were really flipping. It pays to give them what they want, where they want it, and with that many shad it was definitely a minnow bait day. When we quit at 3:45 we had put 34 in the boat, not a bad day by any standard.
One thing that has taken me a little while to get used to, is how rude some fisherman are on Fayette. You would think that with hardly anyone on the lake you would not have some knucklehead cut you off. But on Fayette that seems to be the way folks fish, whether there is lots of traffic, or very little. So you just have to suck it up and do what you need to do to catch fish and ignore idiots like those 3 fools in the white center console.
Another thing I saw yesterday that I find really interesting is the explosion of Power Poles on bass boats. Now we have one on the flats boat, and it does come in handy at times, but it never occurred to me to put one on a freshwater boat. And unlike saltwater boats, bass boats are putting on 2. I am sure you are really planted with 2 in the water, and maybe when you are fishing bedding fish on Okeechobee it works great. But overall the Power Pole folks must be dancing around the campfire naked with lampshades on their heads over this trend.
Tomorrow it is off to the Gulf somewhere and the wind will dictate where. The forecast is still for winds up to 25 mph plus with potentially higher gusts. While this pattern we are currently in has mild temperatures, the wind is still blowing with no change expected in the forecast for the near future.
Our Canada trip is right around the corner. With a little over 2 weeks until we go I am starting to make piles. 2 weeks of hardcore fishing for multiple species requires lots of planning and a variety of rods and reels and lures. We will be taking spare everything having anything to do with boats, tackle, clothes, you name it. You can never have to much stuff, and boy do we have the stuff.
So there you have it for today. One or two more days on the water before I leave it to the rest of the world for the holiday. The president of Team Nancy will be out of town, so I will take a few days to do some of those things that stay on that list of things we all are fixin’ to do, and just never seem to get around to doing. Thanks for stopping in and reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
