Shell Knob Area - 9/11 - 9/12

[196champ]

Fished the Shell knob Area Saturday and Sunday Morning.

Stayed off the bank both days and had a few spots produce, mixed bags.

Saturday was tougher, had 15 or so, most off of 2 spots.

One deep dock and a main lake gravel roll off, 30ft, dixie jet and a small swimmer, very few keepers.

Sunday was a bit better, found a few more gravel spots that produced and leaned on them pretty good.

Multi species kind of day, on the spoon and swimmer again.

Crappie, walleye, bluegill, Spots and LM's

Doubled up once and had a solid 4lb LM

Lake was very quiet compared to this summer, glad to see that!

[Quillback]

That's some good fishing, thanks for the report!

[willyfish]

That is a great day in my book for this time of year, well done. I bet if you took a poll the next 30 days would rate as some of the toughest fishing of the year. Its just so nice to be out there when the leaves change and it cools down, fishing is secondary. Not to mention there is less traffic too.

[Johnsfolly]

Great day fishing and catching! Great report and love the photos!

[Zulu]

I would take that day. Good stuff.

[m&m]

Looks like a smorgasbord. Nice day for sure  

Mike

[Champ188]

Well done, 196Champ. I went Tuesday and fished 8 hours for a dozen or so LM's and spots. I did have a couple of nice keeper LM's early that were pretty shallow. Otherwise, the rest came on football jig on long gravel points and a shaky head around some bigger docks. As others have reported lately, the prime depth range was 20-30 feet. 

Ready for more of the shad to move into the creeks and bring the bass with them. Yes, fall can be tough on all of us, but once we start getting consistently cool nights, there's always the chance of finding a big school of fish feeding on flats or points in the creeks. Not necessarily talking about visually schooling --- you will sometimes locate and catch them fast and furious on a mid-size crank bait.

You guys who like to chunk the big swim baits (like Huddleston, the big SPRO's, etc.) should keep in mind that very soon, large gizzard shad will begin cruising the banks and the big LM's will follow. I find the midlake area best for this ... Fisher Creek, the Cows, Schooner Creek, White's Branch, etc. Not a deal where you're gonna get a lot of bites, but a good chance to catch a sho-nuff good ol' biggun.

Get out there and get started on some fall fishing and good luck! You may have to grind a while to find some, but they are usually bunched up when you do find em.

[196champ]

I noticed some large gizzards porposing in one of these main lake locations last weekend.

I also remember seeing this more than ever in the past few years, visually and on the graph through the water column.

Has there been an increase in these larger shad over the last few years or have i just not been paying attention?

[Champ188]

Bill? Are there more of them now? Or do you ever get close enough to the bank to see them? 😆😂

[196champ]

I'm on the Bill plan too, haha!

When i see them doing this i am rarely within 5 casts of the bank 🤪

At first i thought they were bass surfacing but after sitting and watching for a while it is usually a gizzard shad gymnastics show