Skunked At Aunts Creek

[inshore]

fishing partner and myself fished from aunts to cedar hollow from 9 to 3. had one bite all day and it was a miss. water temp 46 and pretty clear. found shad deep 60 to 70 feet but no fish on them. saw 3 eagles only a couple of loons and hardly any gulls.

fished deep and shallow with about everything and caught nothing. should have fished the white.

ain't no fish in aunts creek.

[Bill Babler]

I had a really good day up there a few days ago. Narrow you scope down somewhat, and get away from the bank if you are near it. I have not caught a fish in a month that was closer than a deer rifle shot of the bank. Yes we have been getting some reports of shallow fish, but concentrations of fish are deeper.

All 3 Black Bass species are gathering and chasing deep shad. I get a kick out of folks saying they must be shallow as they have crayfish in them. A very good friend of mine that dives here year around says there are huge concentrations of crayfish right now in the 50' depth range. The fish sure do not have to come into the bank to eat them, just drop by the deep shad and have a lobster dinner. That deep water is mid-50's right now.

last week when I was up the James and again yesterday, I had schooling fish, pushing shad completely to the surface. Look in some of these big cove arms for activity. a few evenings ago off the bouy across from point 10 there were thousands of threadfin shad on the top in huge schools.

Take a very close look in Little Aunts Creek, you might see some.

Good Luck

[inshore]

bill thanks for the advice. I did find a ton of shad in 60 to 70 feet of water in cedar hollow usually do really well in that area but found no fish in or around the shad. did check out to 70 to 80 feet at point 10 found one school of shad

again no bass. did notice when we went out that it looked like a guide and 2 fishermen were on that point. I know you

been at this many years but unless I find birds I don't seem to find many fish on the shad. again thanks for your help.

[merc1997 Bo]

I had a really good day up there a few days ago. Narrow you scope down somewhat, and get away from the bank if you are near it. I have not caught a fish in a month that was closer than a deer rifle shot of the bank. Yes we have been getting some reports of shallow fish, but concentrations of fish are deeper.

All 3 Black Bass species are gathering and chasing deep shad. I get a kick out of folks saying they must be shallow as they have crayfish in them. A very good friend of mine that dives here year around says there are huge concentrations of crayfish right now in the 50' depth range. The fish sure do not have to come into the bank to eat them, just drop by the deep shad and have a lobster dinner. That deep water is mid-50's right now.

last week when I was up the James and again yesterday, I had schooling fish, pushing shad completely to the surface. Look in some of these big cove arms for activity. a few evenings ago off the bouy across from point 10 there were thousands of threadfin shad on the top in huge schools.

Take a very close look in Little Aunts Creek, you might see some.

Good Luck

bill

since you have brought up the fact for those that did not really know that crawdads went deep, lets talk a bit further about the food chain. bill and i have both talked many times about following shad schools. shad remains that go to the bottom is a great food source for crawdads. find areas where the bass have been feeding heavily on shad, and fish the bottom with jig. this is especially so on a flat adjacent to the channel where bass have pushed the shad up onto during a feeding spree. this is also a great summer pattern to remember. many time these crawdad feeders will be better quality bass also. i just posted a video a couple weeks ago on you tube fishing with a jig. bass can be seen in the area chasing shad clear up to the surface. but, i am fishing a jig on the bottom underneath where all the activity is going on. these bass were caught from 45 to 25 feet deep. think about food source and how the food chain operates, and it will help in the process of finding bass.

bo

[merc1997 Bo]

fishing partner and myself fished from aunts to cedar hollow from 9 to 3. had one bite all day and it was a miss. water temp 46 and pretty clear. found shad deep 60 to 70 feet but no fish on them. saw 3 eagles only a couple of loons and hardly any gulls.

fished deep and shallow with about everything and caught nothing. should have fished the white.

ain't no fish in aunts creek.

i went fishing yesterday for a few hours and found just as you stated, shad but not really any fish around them. we did catch some bass though. here is something to try next time you see the same scenario. go adjacent to where the shad are, and begin to fish the bottom. i have found over the years that many times when you are not seeing bass with the shad, they will many times be laying flat to the bottom adjacent to the shad flat on the bottom. sometimes you have to try a variety of baits to figure out what it take to trigger a strike, but you can catch some doing this. a spoon banging up and down on their head works a lot of the times. i will also resort to dragging a gizit or a heavy jig. sometimes you are going to find a big area of shad without any bass in the area, but not often. so, as with my trip yesterday, i knew there were bass in the area because i had caught them before. so, when there were none to be had with the shad schools, i just started bottom banging at the same level the shad were. what we caught were 65ft. deep. the channel in the area was 80ft., and the shad were hanging right over the channel. just some food for thought next time you are out.

bo

[jmes]

Great advice Thanks

[bluebasser86]

bill

since you have brought up the fact for those that did not really know that crawdads went deep, lets talk a bit further about the food chain. bill and i have both talked many times about following shad schools. shad remains that go to the bottom is a great food source for crawdads. find areas where the bass have been feeding heavily on shad, and fish the bottom with jig. this is especially so on a flat adjacent to the channel where bass have pushed the shad up onto during a feeding spree. this is also a great summer pattern to remember. many time these crawdad feeders will be better quality bass also. i just posted a video a couple weeks ago on you tube fishing with a jig. bass can be seen in the area chasing shad clear up to the surface. but, i am fishing a jig on the bottom underneath where all the activity is going on. these bass were caught from 45 to 25 feet deep. think about food source and how the food chain operates, and it will help in the process of finding bass.

bo

I hooked and brought up a very large crawfish on a jigging spoon in 82' of water several years ago. I had him snagged right in the crease behind his pincer. I had no idea they lived that deep.

[Champ188]

OK, I'll bite. Assuming you caught the aforementioned crustacean on the bottom, why were you spooning 82 feet deep?

[bluebasser86]

OK, I'll bite. Assuming you caught the aforementioned crustacean on the bottom, why were you spooning 82 feet deep?

I was young, dumb and brand new to spoon fishing and had heard about guys catching them in 80-100 feet of water, had no idea they meant suspended over that deep of water Everything I'd ever done was bottom oriented so I assumed spoon fishing worked the same way. I did drag a goggle eye up from the depths but no bass.

[Champ188]

LOL, bluebasser, one of the good things about advancing years is that eventually you start forgetting a lot of the crazy things you did trying to catch a silly fish. Hey, it's how we learn. And you did catch a giant crawfish. Thanks for lettin' me poke at ya.