The Last Cast

[Chunk n' Grind]

Well, I spent the last two days fishing TRL for the first time. What a beautiful lake. The fun's over and I have to head back home tomorrow to Colorado. I caught plenty of SM's and KB's, but they were all sub-legals. I caught a real nice White on Monday but didn't get into any others. Thanks to the many tips on here I got most all my fish on grubs off points in 12 - 20 foot water. Today I was seeing lots of fish on the screen suspended around 20 to 40 feet. Out of curiosity I trolled a DT Rapala through one big meatbball of fish I saw on the finder. They were suspended over 90 - 100+ feet of water. No sooner I got the lure down I got a nice, chunky 3+ LM. I released him and tried it again. Trolled back through the same spot and got another one that went 2. Tried it a third time and hooked one that pulled much harder than the 3 pounder. He shook the lure about 10 feet below the boat. Now, I don't normally "troll" for bass but I was wondering if anyone does it much here? As much as I would have liked to fish a little longer I had to get the rental boat back to Big Cedar.

That last cast was tough. But I had a great time here. Hope to come back next year.

[CMAC]

CnG:

I have heard of this tactic more on Bull Shoals than the Rock, but others on here will know for sure.

[Bill Babler]

You probably could not have picked a better pattern for suspended staging fish. Now, they are on the move, moving up and getting it done. Thanks for the post.

[Hunter91]

Troll for walleye during the summer and catch alot of Kentuckies out in the middle of "nowhere" usually good fish too.

[Chunk n' Grind]

Just a little addendum to my last post. Some last minute changes in plans allowed me to fish one more day this past Saturday. (Yea like I needed an excuse to get out one more time!) Man, what a difference from my results of last Monday and Tuesday. I fished the west shoreline across from the State Park Marina. There's a long, narrow point that sticks out that's a partially submerged park or picnic area. I caught twenty fish in that general area, five of which went 16" to 20". 2/3 LM's and 1/3 SM's. I botched at least a dozen pick ups on 4" smoke grubs. Seems like they'd hit it on the sink and quickly swim towards the boat with it or just pick it up by the tail. I lost several good fish that were barely hooked. I also picked up a few straggler LM's back in the coves on a Strike King Red Eye Sexy Shad. I also trolled a deep running Bill Norman crank bait through some suspended fish and picked up a couple more. All in all I had a great day.

I'm back in my office in Colorado daydreaming about TRL. I'm also admiring my chewed up right thumb. I hope it doesn't heal too quickly!

Again, thanks to everyone for the valuable information you all have posted on here. It was great to go out on an entirely new lake I've never fished before and piece it all together.

[motoman]

Glad to hear you got some more time in Chunk..........and with great results!

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Thanks for posting, I'm getting down this week and have been itching all weekend for some reports.

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Did that front/storms move through while you were there? (just curious on water clarity)

[SRV1990]

Thanks for the info, Chunk... and glad to see the grub bite is still on! I'll be there Wed thru Sun this week, so hopefully the lake stays productive.

Tom

[Chunk n' Grind]

Glad to hear you got some more time in Chunk..........and with great results!

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Thanks for posting, I'm getting down this week and have been itching all weekend for some reports.

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Did that front/storms move through while you were there? (just curious on water clarity)

Motoman,

Yes, I got pretty wet out there on Saturday to say the least. The wind was an issue too. But it seemed like my best grub bite occured when there was white caps rolling in and I could barely keep the boat steady while fishing off the points. One thing I can say is I caught all my LM's in much deeper water than I did last Monday and Tuesday. I was getting bit from 20 to 40 feet deep directly off the points. In some cases I was anywhere from 50 to 100 yards off the nearest visible tree. Another thing I noticed was the fish seemed very particular about line size. I could throw the same exact head and grub on a bait caster loaded with 12 pound flourocarbon and not get a single bite. Then, if I used my spinning rod with the same rig on 8 pound flourocarbon it would be like A-U-T-O-M-A-T-I-C. The water clarity seems to be getting a little better all around the dam area. I didn't venture any further than the Hwy 86 bridge to the main point across from Indian Point so I couldn't say anything about the rest of the lake. I tended to focus on smaller areas and fish them thoroughly. Funny, I'd watch numerous boats come through and fish a spot before me and not even get so much as one bite. Then I'd move in, micro-fish it and come up with a fish or two. I watched one cove in particular get pounded by four boats. When they moved on I gave the spot a little rest them moved in and instantly got 2 nice LM's on a Sexy Shad. Go figure.

Good luck to you Moto. Hope you get into them.

[motoman]

Motoman,

Yes, I got pretty wet out there on Saturday to say the least. The wind was an issue too. But it seemed like my best grub bite occured when there was white caps rolling in and I could barely keep the boat steady while fishing off the points. One thing I can say is I caught all my LM's in much deeper water than I did last Monday and Tuesday. I was getting bit from 20 to 40 feet deep directly off the points. In some cases I was anywhere from 50 to 100 yards off the nearest visible tree. Another thing I noticed was the fish seemed very particular about line size. I could throw the same exact head and grub on a bait caster loaded with 12 pound flourocarbon and not get a single bite. Then, if I used my spinning rod with the same rig on 8 pound flourocarbon it would be like A-U-T-O-M-A-T-I-C. The water clarity seems to be getting a little better all around the dam area. I didn't venture any further than the Hwy 86 bridge to the main point across from Indian Point so I couldn't say anything about the rest of the lake. I tended to focus on smaller areas and fish them thoroughly. Funny, I'd watch numerous boats come through and fish a spot before me and not even get so much as one bite. Then I'd move in, micro-fish it and come up with a fish or two. I watched one cove in particular get pounded by four boats. When they moved on I gave the spot a little rest them moved in and instantly got 2 nice LM's on a Sexy Shad. Go figure.

Good luck to you Moto. Hope you get into them.

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Thanks for the details Chunk!

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I was down there a few weeks ago and ended up with good results using similar techniques. We stayed well away from the trees where everyone was pounding spinnerbaits, and kept the boat in 30+ feet of water throwing finesse plastics. with 8lb test and methodically working over certain spots. It was tedious, and we surely worked for them; but it paid off! We caught some nice smallies, when most struck out completely.

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Thankfully I just put a new 2nd trolling motor battery in. Last time I was down, near the end of the day; juice was running low. A fresh battery will help me hold those windblown points through the day.

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You mentioned you were getting bit on the fall, I was thinking of throwing 1/4 oz jigheads on the grubs in the wind, you think that would be too quick a fall for 'em?

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I will throw lighter if the wind permits, but then it hinders casting distance.

[Chunk n' Grind]

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Thanks for the details Chunk!

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I was down there a few weeks ago and ended up with good results using similar techniques. We stayed well away from the trees where everyone was pounding spinnerbaits, and kept the boat in 30+ feet of water throwing finesse plastics. with 8lb test and methodically working over certain spots. It was tedious, and we surely worked for them; but it paid off! We caught some nice smallies, when most struck out completely.

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Thankfully I just put a new 2nd trolling motor battery in. Last time I was down, near the end of the day; juice was running low. A fresh battery will help me hold those windblown points through the day.

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You mentioned you were getting bit on the fall, I was thinking of throwing 1/4 oz jigheads on the grubs in the wind, you think that would be too quick a fall for 'em?

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I will throw lighter if the wind permits, but then it hinders casting distance.

I was using strictly 3/8 oz. heads. I tried some 1/2 oz. ones in deeper water with no luck. I'm kind of embarassed to admit that early in the morning I wasted more than an hour of my time throwing spinner baits up in the trees before backing out and switching to jigs. Oh well, ya live and learn, right? But when it comes down to preferences I'd rather catch one blade or top water fish than two jig fish.