The weather lately has been enough to drive you crazy. The temperatures have been good for October, but the skies most days are cloudless and from about 10 or 11 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m., the wind has been steady and strong enough to make boat control, let alone casting accuracy, difficult.
I was out Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday and Saturday at Rush Creek, Sunday at Salt Fork. I picked up three bass Thursday, all less than 15 inches and all after 5 p.m. Saturday was a little better, again with three bass (and one crappie), one of the bass a 15-inch keeper. I also missed five bass on various lures, but I couldn't tell if any were keepers. Whether that told me anything about here to fish Saturday in the club championship will remain to be seen.
I didn't try to go to Piedmont, site of the second day of the championship, before Sunday's cutoff date for practice, because I have a good idea of where I'll fish in any case and, frankly, I didn't want to spend the money to drive over.
Sunday, Lindsey and I went to Salt Fork. We hadn't been there this year but we've usually had a good time there in the past, even if the fishing was slow. There's always a good chance to see eagles and osprey as well as other wildlife such as Turkeys and foxes.
Unfortunately, the wind was even stronger than previous days, no eagles were around and the only other wildlife we saw were squirrels and chipmunks.
Lindsey did catch two bass, one on a Super Fluke and one on a crappie jig, but I was skunked.
In hindsight, Salt Fork was probably a bad choice because of the wind and sun, but I don't know if Knox would have been any better.
If I have a day to get out this week, Knox will probably be the target. I have some ideas about what to try there if the wind would just died down.
I apologize for not having the results of the Cranberry championship yet. I know Bub Cooksey won the tournament, but I don't have any details yet.
Showing posts with label fishing report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fishing report. Show all posts
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Getting ready for Dillon
The last two Wednesdays, I've spent a few hours at Dillon, just trying to get a feel for the lake before my next tournament, a club (Southern Ohio Bassmasters) event on Aug. 7. I've caught fish each time, but no great numbers or any exceptional size.
I'm always kind of torn about prefishing a lake I'm as familiar with as I am Dillon. Too many times I've had a pattern fall apart on me because of a sudden change in weather and water conditions. On the other hand, I like to see how the fish are behaving and to see if I can catch any in areas that have sometimes been productive in the past although I maybe haven't fished often in recent years.
I'll probably go to Dillon one more time before the tournament. There are at least two areas I want to check out because I haven't fished there since May. I can't worry about "burning out" fish because, frankly, I'm sure almost every spot on the lake will be fished by someone in the week before the tournament. There's always a lot of pressure on the lake and, among the regulars at least, there are no "secret" holes. But will the techniques I like to use produce fish, or will I have to try other baits or techniques?
I have been fishing that like from the first year or so after it was filled, but I can still get skunked there.
I'm always kind of torn about prefishing a lake I'm as familiar with as I am Dillon. Too many times I've had a pattern fall apart on me because of a sudden change in weather and water conditions. On the other hand, I like to see how the fish are behaving and to see if I can catch any in areas that have sometimes been productive in the past although I maybe haven't fished often in recent years.
I'll probably go to Dillon one more time before the tournament. There are at least two areas I want to check out because I haven't fished there since May. I can't worry about "burning out" fish because, frankly, I'm sure almost every spot on the lake will be fished by someone in the week before the tournament. There's always a lot of pressure on the lake and, among the regulars at least, there are no "secret" holes. But will the techniques I like to use produce fish, or will I have to try other baits or techniques?
I have been fishing that like from the first year or so after it was filled, but I can still get skunked there.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Restoring confidence
The best way to restore confidence after a bad day on the water (like I had last Sunday at Seneca), is to get bac on the water and catch a few keepers. It doesn't have to be a great day (but it helps), just catch a few keepers.
Most of this week has been hot and muggy ad I just couldn't get inspired to go out. Friday morning would have been a nice morning to be out, but I wasn't. However, it did get me energized to go out in the afternoon.
Of course, by the time I headed for Dillon, the cloud cover had broken and it was sunny and muggy again. Still, the first place I stopped yielded a 12-inch bass on a black/blue flake stickbait. I didn't catch another keeper until an hour before dark, but my final total of three 12-inch largemouth and one little smallmouth was enough to make me feel I hadn't lost my touch entirely.
I even spotted two adult bald eagles as I headed up the lake, which made the trip worthwhile whether I had caught anything or not.
Bottom line: I'm looking forward to hitting the water again.
Most of this week has been hot and muggy ad I just couldn't get inspired to go out. Friday morning would have been a nice morning to be out, but I wasn't. However, it did get me energized to go out in the afternoon.
Of course, by the time I headed for Dillon, the cloud cover had broken and it was sunny and muggy again. Still, the first place I stopped yielded a 12-inch bass on a black/blue flake stickbait. I didn't catch another keeper until an hour before dark, but my final total of three 12-inch largemouth and one little smallmouth was enough to make me feel I hadn't lost my touch entirely.
I even spotted two adult bald eagles as I headed up the lake, which made the trip worthwhile whether I had caught anything or not.
Bottom line: I'm looking forward to hitting the water again.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Knox and Kokosing
The weekend proved to be a mixed bag. I didn't plan to go fishing Saturday, but my wife decided to go to Knox County with my daughter, who was judging a 4-H dog match. So I figured "why not go?" and headed north as well. Since I wouldn't have a lot of time on the water, I decided to visit Kokosing Reservoir, a small lake I never fished before.
In the three hours or so I had to fish, I worked around most of the lake (except for the dam). The lake is shallow -- the deepest water I found was 8 feet (towards the dam), a despite having the electric almost as shallow as it will go, spent a lot of time kicking up mud or even digging into the bottom.
Still, I found some fish around the shallow cover (nothing big) and caught four on hand-poured Senko-type baits, so I considered it a decent evening n a new lake. April would be a better time to visit, especially if the water is a little high.
Since it was dark, I turned on the lights and the trailer lights went out again. After I lost the lights coming back from Rush Creek Thursday, I thought I had fixed them. Obviously I hadn't found the right problem.
With the help of another fisherman I tried to find the real problem, but couldn't and had to drive home without trailer lights.
But the worst thing was what I discovered when I crawled under the back of the truck to check the wiring there. Didn't find any problem there, but it slowly dawned on me that I wasn't seeing something I should -- my spare tire was missing! The cable that holds up the tire was cut, clean as a whistle. Someone had stolen the spare.
I don't know if someone stole it while I was on the water or if it had been stolen earlier, either at Rush Creek or at home. I did hear from a fellow member on the OGF site that he had had some problems with thefts at Kokosing and I've alo heard of some problems at Rush Creek, but there were a number of people around at both sites, so who knows?
Sunday, I simply redid all the trailer wiring connections and that fixed the main light problem, so my daughter, Lindsey, and I finally took off on our planned afternoon fishing excursion to Knox Lake.
Because of the trailer work, we didn't get there until 6 p;m., but we caught fish.
I caught two 17-inch and one 15-inch bass, as well as some smaller fish, while Lindsey boated a 16-incher. All the fish hit hand-poured Senkos from Bob's Outdoor Supply in Newark. She was using the black/blue flake I've been catching most of my fish on recently and I used a green pumpkin/purple flake version.
All the fish were very shallow except one, and it was in only about five feet of water.
Not a bad afternoon, especially since I got to fish with Lindsey, who has been fishing with me for 20 years Unfortunately, she doesn't have the chance to go with me very often these days, so I really enjoy it when it happens.
In the three hours or so I had to fish, I worked around most of the lake (except for the dam). The lake is shallow -- the deepest water I found was 8 feet (towards the dam), a despite having the electric almost as shallow as it will go, spent a lot of time kicking up mud or even digging into the bottom.
Still, I found some fish around the shallow cover (nothing big) and caught four on hand-poured Senko-type baits, so I considered it a decent evening n a new lake. April would be a better time to visit, especially if the water is a little high.
Since it was dark, I turned on the lights and the trailer lights went out again. After I lost the lights coming back from Rush Creek Thursday, I thought I had fixed them. Obviously I hadn't found the right problem.
With the help of another fisherman I tried to find the real problem, but couldn't and had to drive home without trailer lights.
But the worst thing was what I discovered when I crawled under the back of the truck to check the wiring there. Didn't find any problem there, but it slowly dawned on me that I wasn't seeing something I should -- my spare tire was missing! The cable that holds up the tire was cut, clean as a whistle. Someone had stolen the spare.
I don't know if someone stole it while I was on the water or if it had been stolen earlier, either at Rush Creek or at home. I did hear from a fellow member on the OGF site that he had had some problems with thefts at Kokosing and I've alo heard of some problems at Rush Creek, but there were a number of people around at both sites, so who knows?
Sunday, I simply redid all the trailer wiring connections and that fixed the main light problem, so my daughter, Lindsey, and I finally took off on our planned afternoon fishing excursion to Knox Lake.
Because of the trailer work, we didn't get there until 6 p;m., but we caught fish.
I caught two 17-inch and one 15-inch bass, as well as some smaller fish, while Lindsey boated a 16-incher. All the fish hit hand-poured Senkos from Bob's Outdoor Supply in Newark. She was using the black/blue flake I've been catching most of my fish on recently and I used a green pumpkin/purple flake version.
All the fish were very shallow except one, and it was in only about five feet of water.
Not a bad afternoon, especially since I got to fish with Lindsey, who has been fishing with me for 20 years Unfortunately, she doesn't have the chance to go with me very often these days, so I really enjoy it when it happens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)