Total Bust this Morning

[Bill Babler]

Wow, did I have on my struggle britches this morning.  Decided to launch at Baxter instead of running all the way up the James.  Probably a huge mistake.  Launched at 6:15 to what looked like a perfect morning, especially with a storm front on the horizon.

Had not been on the Rock since the 19th. of August mostly because of a Summer vacation and a full slate otherwise on Taney.

Hit the bank early with a buzz bait a plopper and a Spro  popping frog.  One fish on each.  Did not see any surface activity in the slightest.  Surface temps in the Big Indian were 83.9 at the start and remained that number between there and Campbell Pt. the rest of the morning.

Could see fish most everywhere I fished and they were just not feeding for me.  If they were suspended and the drop shot or the spoon headed their way they would scatter and run from it.  Had 2 fish on the drop shot with a brown/purple Yamamoto cut tail and that was it on that, nothing on the jigging spoon.

Thought I would give the flutter spoon a shot and tried the Dixie Jet 3/4 oz. the 6" Lake Fork and the 1/2oz. Kastmaster.  Had 2 fish on the Lake Fork and both of  them measured together would not have been a keeper, trying to eat that 6" spoon.

Tom Murphy the owner of Dixie Jet was up here last week and gave me a call to tell me he could not get bit on it.  Usually September and early October are hot on the Jet, but it is flamed out right now.

There are some pretty small shad out there and seeing a few on the surface with nothing chasing them I tied on a small Keitech on a 1/4 oz. tungsten head and swam it.  Caught a giant on it all of 13 inches a skinny LM and that was that on the swim bait.

Dragged out the Pig Sticker in 1/2 with a small Yamamoto split tail trailer and caught 2 on that and they were just baby's.  I even pulled out ole Ned and hopped him around a bit to no avail.  Got to be sorry if you can't entice even one on a Nedder.

It was 11:30 by then and I had taken a big enough whipping so I came home to a pot of Venison Chili to help with my sorrows.  I will tell you there were enough fish that if I had clients they would have eaten a live crawler, but that would have been the only saving grace for me this morning.

Good Luck 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Bill Babler said:

Wow, did I have on my struggle britches this morning.  Decided to launch at Baxter instead of running all the way up the James.  Probably a huge mistake.  Launched at 6:15 to what looked like a perfect morning, especially with a storm front on the horizon.

Had not been on the Rock since the 19th. of August mostly because of a Summer vacation and a full slate otherwise on Taney.

Hit the bank early with a buzz bait a plopper and a Spro  popping frog.  One fish on each.  Did not see any surface activity in the slightest.  Surface temps in the Big Indian were 83.9 at the start and remained that number between there and Campbell Pt. the rest of the morning.

Could see fish most everywhere I fished and they were just not feeding for me.  If they were suspended and the drop shot or the spoon headed their way they would scatter and run from it.  Had 2 fish on the drop shot with a brown/purple Yamamoto cut tail and that was it on that, nothing on the jigging spoon.

Thought I would give the flutter spoon a shot and tried the Dixie Jet 3/4 oz. the 6" Lake Fork and the 1/2oz. Kastmaster.  Had 2 fish on the Lake Fork and both of  them measured together would not have been a keeper, trying to eat that 6" spoon.

Tom Murphy the owner of Dixie Jet was up here last week and gave me a call to tell me he could not get bit on it.  Usually September and early October are hot on the Jet, but it is flamed out right now.

There are some pretty small shad out there and seeing a few on the surface with nothing chasing them I tied on a small Keitech on a 1/4 oz. tungsten head and swam it.  Caught a giant on it all of 13 inches a skinny LM and that was that on the swim bait.

Dragged out the Pig Sticker in 1/2 with a small Yamamoto split tail trailer and caught 2 on that and they were just baby's.  I even pulled out ole Ned and hopped him around a bit to no avail.  Got to be sorry if you can't entice even one on a Nedder.

It was 11:30 by then and I had taken a big enough whipping so I came home to a pot of Venison Chili to help with my sorrows.  I will tell you there were enough fish that if I had clients they would have eaten a live crawler, but that would have been the only saving grace for me this morning.

Good Luck 

 

sounds as though some areas of the lake the bass have broken summer camps.  with so much bait on the surface, there are times that the bass will stay deep, but make those short bursts up the bait and then back down.  really difficult to catch when like this.  i believe that for quite a while the catching is going to be very sporadic.  maybe this is why that i used to dove hunt this time of the year.

one thing to keep in mind when the bait is very small, a maribou jig on some really tin line can turn a bad day into a good one, and as you mentioned bass can not turn down live bait.

bo

[Quillback]

Man that is tough fishing.   I sure don't have any recommendations.  Might make a trip to TR next week, but I will set my expectations pretty low.  Maybe the big storm will shake them up.

[Bill Babler]

I'm kind of with Bo on this deal, early to mid September is a good time to either be Dove hunting or slamming Big Silver Salmon in Alaska.  Bill Beck used to just hate September on the Rock.  He told me that's why he took up golf because of September days just like today.

For the next two weeks I'm pretty full guiding, but only 1 of those days is on the Rock, as all the rest are on Taney and they are munching like pigs down there, so not to worry.

Good Luck out there.

[Randy Moore]

Sue and I struggled as well trying a variety of lures - finally caught 3 nice smallmouth in 20 min (all right at 15") on the ole reliable ned's rig around Noon.  Key for us was a nice breeze and believe or not the sun popping out.  The bite did not last long - 1 fish on PB&J and 2 on green pumpkin.  We were in a cove between points 10 and 11 on the James.  Surface temp was 82.4.  We expected much better with a front looming but it was not to be.  At least the fish we caught were nice.  Boat was sitting in 18 to 20 feet - bait thrown between 10 and 15 feet.  Surprised by quality of fish that shallow.  Every fish hit hard or engulfed the rig shortly after it hit the water.

[cheesemaster]

6 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Wow, did I have on my struggle britches this morning.  Decided to launch at Baxter instead of running all the way up the James.  Probably a huge mistake.  Launched at 6:15 to what looked like a perfect morning, especially with a storm front on the horizon.

Had not been on the Rock since the 19th. of August mostly because of a Summer vacation and a full slate otherwise on Taney.

Hit the bank early with a buzz bait a plopper and a Spro  popping frog.  One fish on each.  Did not see any surface activity in the slightest.  Surface temps in the Big Indian were 83.9 at the start and remained that number between there and Campbell Pt. the rest of the morning.

Could see fish most everywhere I fished and they were just not feeding for me.  If they were suspended and the drop shot or the spoon headed their way they would scatter and run from it.  Had 2 fish on the drop shot with a brown/purple Yamamoto cut tail and that was it on that, nothing on the jigging spoon.

Thought I would give the flutter spoon a shot and tried the Dixie Jet 3/4 oz. the 6" Lake Fork and the 1/2oz. Kastmaster.  Had 2 fish on the Lake Fork and both of  them measured together would not have been a keeper, trying to eat that 6" spoon.

Tom Murphy the owner of Dixie Jet was up here last week and gave me a call to tell me he could not get bit on it.  Usually September and early October are hot on the Jet, but it is flamed out right now.

There are some pretty small shad out there and seeing a few on the surface with nothing chasing them I tied on a small Keitech on a 1/4 oz. tungsten head and swam it.  Caught a giant on it all of 13 inches a skinny LM and that was that on the swim bait.

Dragged out the Pig Sticker in 1/2 with a small Yamamoto split tail trailer and caught 2 on that and they were just baby's.  I even pulled out ole Ned and hopped him around a bit to no avail.  Got to be sorry if you can't entice even one on a Nedder.

It was 11:30 by then and I had taken a big enough whipping so I came home to a pot of Venison Chili to help with my sorrows.  I will tell you there were enough fish that if I had clients they would have eaten a live crawler, but that would have been the only saving grace for me this morning.

Good Luck 

 

Bill, what is the water clarity over there at Baxter? The James has good color - at least it's perfect for what I like. 

[Bill Babler]

Cheese, it really varies from a James River greenish to a blue super clear.  Up in the Baxter area in the creeks is the greener water and the main lake is blue.  Caught all 10 of my school age bass out of the clear water.

[196champ]

I had it pretty slow this past weekend as well, compared to the catching that had been taking place. 

I noticed the bait to be extremely small as well.  Took off on my milk run between Campbell Point and Shell Knob, manged 15-20 each morning, mainly on the small 1/4oz swimmer. 

I did start to throw that wing ding, little george deal and caught some nice, suspended LM's they were down 30, over 80 just inside the Kings.  Boy they were really slamming that thing.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, 196champ said:

I had it pretty slow this past weekend as well, compared to the catching that had been taking place. 

I noticed the bait to be extremely small as well.  Took off on my milk run between Campbell Point and Shell Knob, manged 15-20 each morning, mainly on the small 1/4oz swimmer. 

I did start to throw that wing ding, little george deal and caught some nice, suspended LM's they were down 30, over 80 just inside the Kings.  Boy they were really slamming that thing.

awesome!

bo

[Pepe]

what is the wing ding little george thing?