9/19-20 Eagle Rock

[5bites]

We didn't start either morning as early as I'd like but when you're at the lake with your wife and kids it kinda goes that way sometimes. So both days it was around 7:30 before we left the ramp. 

 

Right off Saturday morning we landed on some schooling fish that kept coming up in the mouth of the creek until about 8:30 then it was more or less over. They were all little guys 13" and under but it was entertaining and as easy as it gets. Perfect for kids in the boat. After they quit we went further in to the second channel swing of the creek. I was throwing a wart ko and my oldest son was throwing an h20 square bill (the bigger one) and burning it. It wasn't until we got to where the swing moves away and the bank starts to flatten out some that we started getting bites. Some little ones and he caught a healthy 16" black burning that square bill past a bush. I picked up a swim jig and started skipping it around the bushes. I picked up some shorts and lost a keeper. On this stretch. Again it was kind of a tweener bank that you run into after a channel bank. I fished from here onto the flat and completely to the back just to see. Usually it's not possible to go this far especially this time of year so it was more for fun. I had one short in the back that ate the trailer of the swim jig but not the hook. I lost him near the boat and put the jig back in and he ate it again. I lifted him out of the water setting the hook and he came off. I put it back in and he hit it again! Once more I lifted him out but he came of and apparently had enough. I hit the last channel swing in the back with a wart and caught a few fat 13" fish that had craw antennas in their gullet but that was all on that stretch. I caught a keeper in the last dock out of an empty stall on a 10" worm. He was around 12-15' deep. I pitched the worm to a few random trees but no love. 

Off to another creek and my favorite bank in the Eagle Rock area. It's a channel bank near the back. We immediately started catching them, my son still burning the square bill and I with a wiggle wart mostly. Id occasionally pick up a square bill but this bank is a little steeper than the ones we fished before. Same thing (having fun catching but no keepers) until we neared the end of this stretch and I hooked up with what I was sure was a REAL fish. As it got closer I could see I actually had two fish on the same wart and one was 3-4lbs. I didn't have my net out and in the panick the bigger fish came off near the boat as I was trying to grab her. The other was about 14" lol. Pretty much along for the ride. We fished the flat side that has laydowns scattered all over the flat. When they're there it can be fun. There were a few but they just bit funny. I was throwing the worm and they'd bite it half heartedly or just not eat it real well. I set the hook on several but they'd always come unbuttoned. I should have changed up I know. 

 

 

Day 2 my wife came along which is always better but adds fear to one more person flinging hooks and one more person that can get hooked lol. So far no ER trips have happened but with four in a boat and two of those being 9 and 12 years old you've got to wonder if it's only a matter of time. I normally have a no treble hook rule when we have a full boat but with topwater and cranking obviously we were big risk takers on day 2  Anyway the schooling fish were back again. They moved more though and did stay up as long each time. We caught them though and had a blast. The panick of chasing them around is half the fun. A walking bait was beyond the shadow of a doubt much preferred over anything else. We made the same run as the day before after they went down at 8:30 like clockwork. The fish in the creek no doubt changed. Fewer fish on the tweener bank and more on the last channel bank. I didn't fish the whole stretch because I wanted to get to the other creek sooner. Again same deal but today I was throwing a rock crawler rather than a wart. They weren't right at the beginning of the channel swing like the day before but we started getting bites halfway back and caught several fish down that stretch. If I remember right we got one keeper here too. I tried the flat and laydowns again just to see. Carter caught one off the first tree which was encouraging. It stopped there... I didn't hit all the trees and spent time fishing parts of the creek I'd never fished. Once again on a tweener type bank Carter caught a nice keeper fish winding that square bill like he was trying to keep it away from the fish. I caught another keeper on int inside of the mouth of a cut. Still back in the creek a ways. The remainder of the day we fished the swings themselves and transition areas catching fish steadily but some places where deader than other. Not every spot that fit the "pattern" had a concentration of fish but several did. 

 

 

I apologize for for how long winded this was. To summarize if you just want to get bit pick up a crankbait that dives at least 5' deep and fish transition and channel banks that aren't staight drops. The wart and crawler obviously go deeper than that but I bet 90% of our fish came in less than 5' and only one past 10'. The better fish were not on the channel bank itself. Most were on those banks that aren't flats but aren't steep by Table Rock standards either. Just sorta flat rocky (not gravel) transition areas. I'll also say if a guy started at it first thing he could have a solid limit or a good start to one fishing the bushes themselves on these transition banks. Just don't sit still. One guy make long pitches and the other throw a shad colored square bill. 

 

I've got a few neat looking screen shots from the graph that I need to load. I'll add them later. 

[Chunk Rock]

Thanks for detailed report! Good reading ,again thanks

[Fishin4Fun]

Thanks for the report.  Great detail!

[Fish24/7]

how neat is that !

sounds like the family had a great time

[m&m]

Thanks for the details.  Sounds like a fun time for the family.

Mike

[Quillback]

Great report, mucho gracias!

[wareaglecamo]

please, never apologize for what you refer to as a "winded" report . . . there is no such thing . . . a great report and I enjoyed every word . . . I can never get enough of forum contributors like yourself . . . your report is right in line with my most recent purchases . . . SPRO ROCK KRAWLERS AND SQUARE BILL LITTLE JOHNS  . . . so now you have really got me PUMPED!!!

[Bill Babler]

wonderful report glad you all got them nipping.

[kdc]

Thanks for the report 

[5bites]

Thanks guys. If my rambling somehow helps one of you catch a fish then I'm glad to report. I wish we would have had better quality but everyone was having fun. I didn't keep track but we just caught a bunch of fish both days. 

 

Here are some screens of the fish we were chasing on top. Sure I could have spooned some but I like being on the ready and waiting to fire a cast into the boiling water.