Fish Catching Travel

Click on the logo above and see all the cool stuff for 2016.

The best balsa baits on the market.

Weather

55/68   Cloudy with scattered showers becoming severe in the afternoon.  Heavy rain possible – 100% chance.  Wind 10 -15mph.  (They were right on.)

Solunar Time

•   Best Times  4:03A – 6:03A
•                         4:28P – 6:28P
•  Good Time   10:16A – 12:16P

We knew no matter what the rain was coming so we got out on the water right after daylight hoping to get in a half day.  And it was exactly that.

One thing that I really enjoy is trying to figure out when we are somewhere we do not usually fish is what to do, were to do it, and what to use, and what is often the most important question, in what to order to do it in.  The morning fishing is still slow, and we probably made a mistake by heading back in a creek to see if we could catch some whites and stripers.  They were there, but the bite was slow.  As usual we put 5 in the boat as it headed towards noon.  It was a small walleye, largemouth, Kentucky, white bass, and another whooper bluegill.

One of several really big bluegills I have caught this week.

It was just as it has been, and we knew the big bite was coming as noon approached.  The question was would the rain hold off so we could get after them.  So a little before noon it was time to see if we  could put a few bass in the boat.  It was getting cloudier and windier, and it looked like it was going to be good, as long as there was no lightning we would fish rain or not.

As the water temp has dropped and the fish have backed off it finally sunk in my pea brain where we needed to concentrate.  So it was out of the back of the creek to coves near the main lake.  Normally we find small bass and crappies in the back of coves this time of year, but they are just not there.  So where to look?

Talk about good eating, to bad this one went back.

With the bass and crappies fat, full of eggs, and ready to spawn, but not in the back ends, they had to be staging in those coves waiting for the water temps to edge towards 60 degrees to hit the beds.  So it was time to concentrate on the areas where the deeper water swings in by the bank and gives them a place to hold and wait for the warming to come.  So we hit a cove, using jerkbait, and Shoedog hooked and had a walleye pull off, then caught the one above.

He then missed another bite, and then caught a big fat Kentucky.  We were so excited we might have established the first semblance of a pattern this week that he threw it back before we got a picture, but it was a fatty and the biggest we have caught yet.  Then it happened, big ass lightning, and the storm was coming over the hill.  Our buddy Clyde texted us from work and said it was ugly in town so we headed to the ramp and we just got the boat on the trailer when it hit.

The rest of the day it poured.  Over the years rain like that has been the best, or the worst thing that ever happened.  The air temp was in the low 60’s so we will see tomorrow what effect it had.  That is one thing that is easy to ascertain, we will drive to the back of a couple of pockets and a creek and go to the runoff and check the water temp.  When the lake is in this state it will either suck them in to the runoff, or finish them off and the bite will really suck.  When they do migrate to the warmer water in the runoff it is nothing short of awesome.  We will see.

There was one really cool thing today, a turkey extravaganza.  A couple of turkeys were gobbling on a ridge and we saw 2 fly the back of the creek when a couple of big gobblers came out on the flat and started strutting.  A bunch of hens showed up and were running all over the place.  Really an awesome show.  I never have started hunting them because I need another outdoor hobby like I need another hole in my head.

When we left we stopped at a little tackle store about a mile from the tackle store I ran from 74 – 76 prior to guiding.  Jerry has owned that store off and on for over 50 years.  We were shooting the breeze about the tackle business when I mentioned I worked for Tad’s Fishin’ Machine Lure company  in the 70’s and we made tons of spinnerbaits.  My favorite spinnerbait of all time was the Buzz King.  We made it after Rick Garlough, one of our locals, won a major BASS tourney on Bull Shoals with it. When they folded I bought around a 100 poured heads and made my own baits until they were gone.  And then of all things he said I have some wires with painted and poured head in the back.  I almost fell over, and there they were, the Buzz Kings.  Those things were at least 40 years old and maybe older.  Who knows, I may have made them.  So I talked him out of a dozen and I am in lure heaven.  Now that is crazy.

*******************

Aren’t you tired of fishing yet. We are tired of seeing all the pictures !!!!!  Had to give you a rash of stuff !!!!!!! I love those days of catching many fish.  Safe travels. Trying to make it to Coleto this year has been rough. I will make it.

joe

I am not tired of fishing, I will rest when I am dead!  This trip has been every other day, which means tomorrow we should kill them.  It keeps me fishing.  As usual thanks for your comments.

*******************

Tomorrow we will be back at it.  It will be interesting to see what the rain has done, but it really does not matter, we are fishin’.  I will fish tomorrow and Friday, then Fayetteville to see the parents and home Saturday.  Funny how a week seems like a long time, and then it is almost over.  Like the passing of days in our lives a week seems like a long time, but it is the blink of an eye.  So tired or not it is time for the push to the end.  And I am sure on the way home Canada plans will be on my mind.  And I really will be needing a dose of salt.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

(Sorry if the editing and spelling is worse than usual, it is tough to get it done after fishing all day, but I am not complaining.)