10-20-12

[Feathers and Fins]

Went out to the lake at 07:00ish. Launched at PC and ran down to the dam doing some pre-season scouting for ducks. For you waterfowlers there were lots of smileys around a few redheads and cans blue wings still present but more greenwings now and even saw a couple swan's

For the fishing report.

Hit rocky branch and found some shad and tried them, mostly whites and hybrids so i left and ran to Beaver shores. I cant say I have ever been tired of catching bass but after 70 i stopped counting, most were 12 to 14 inches but did manage a few in the 18'' class. I was working 15 to 20fow trolling flicker shad.

One of my passes took me into deeper water 25 to 30 fow and the graph lit up with shad and fish marks so I started working that depth on the troll. 18 Crappie from 9'' to 16 inches very nice thick backs on them kept a few for the fryer which I beleive my wife was very happy to see. Troll speed was 2.1 to 2.4 mph

No stripers to speak of and only a few short walleye.

[chris3179]

Thx for the update. I grew up around Stuttgart and we have a farm in Clarendon. That is where most of my duck hunting has taken place. This year I am going to give beaver a shot. These scouting reports are great. I was hesitant about hunting and then we had a pretty kick butt teal season.

Were you throwing those kietechs again? Congrats on the good fishing day.

[Feathers and Fins]

No kietechs today just having fun trolling

[Stump bumper]

I was back up closer to PC between the Islands and found lots of whites in the 35 to 45 feet of water range on a jigging spoon in the afternoon. We did pull some crank-baits around the 15 foot level and got one 16in mean mouth, 2 large whites and a 14in crappie but the big schools were much deeper. We had to move a lot to keep on the shad balls but once we located big shad balls the action was fast.

I did catch one striper but it was not much longer than my jigging spoon, but he was trying to move up the food chain.

Ran to the back of the coves and there are no shad or fish in the back despite a good wind guess it will have to get cooler to push them back into the coves.

Surface temps were around 63 degrees the big fish will start moving when it gets down to 50 degrees.

[Feathers and Fins]

Yup, I was checking my Logs this morning and looks like still about 2 to 3 weeks before the shad will be in the coves, Shad are scattered bad right now like you said you have to keep up with them and that is where trolling outshines most anything else. I cant wait for the shad to get in the back of PC this year with water so low unless you know the channel and the obstacles its going to be fun watching guys try and get to them.

But on the possitive side of that, there should be a great flyrod bite on them early and late as the flat is very large now and when they move onto it to feed backs will be out of water. I really hope to get out a few days when noone else is around and try and video it, I will bet it is a heck of a show.

[BlueWave]

I can't wait to come down with the fly rods. Almost came down this week end but waiting 2 more weeks!!

[jeb]

Fished from PC and Avoca coves up to Ventris today from 7am to 10am. Did pretty well. 18 black bass, 3 over 2lbs, a few more legals. All casting and winding. The fish are all over the place. Some came on main lake areas, some in the back of coves, some mid-cove. The biggest concentration of shad I saw was in the middle of the Avoca Cove in front of the docks, but not close to the docks. More in the middle. I watched a few boats come through and fish the docks while I was pulling them in behind them. Water temps anywhere from 60 to 66. Swim jigs, drop shot and jigging spoons where the big hits.

[Feathers and Fins]

Jeb I think way to many people are fishing shallow when the most fish are deep, If this holds up I am thinking that we should have a wide open surface bite in a few weeks when the shad start going to the surface when it warms up in the afternoon. Whats your thoughts?

[jeb]

Could be. But I'm thinking more A-rigs reeled fast enough to keep them up near the surface. It was about this time last year I started throwing the A-rig and it was awesome. So it'll be interesting to see how it works this year. Of course, it's a much different lake than it was last year too, with the low water. Suspending jerk baits will start showing up on my deck too, as the water continues to cool.

[Feathers and Fins]

Fully agree on the A-rig time of year, Im guessing 3 maybe 4 more weeks looking over the coldfronts and temp swing predictions. Funny you brought up the A-rig I havent heard a thing about it for at least 8 or 9 months, Guess it wasnt the end all be all fishing bait people said it would be. But im betting it becomes the hot topic again this winter as people start throwing it again... BTW ive managed to collect about 20 or 25 of them with the lake dropping, they come in more shapes and sizes then womens shoes apparently