Just what the doctor ordered

A good day of fishing really can pick up your spirits in a sport that can all so often leave you frustrated, second guessing yourself, and wanting more.  I found just the prescription today for a pick me up.  Yes, I drank the kool-aid.  :)  I had a great day of fishing today on Lake Lanier.  Was able to boat numerous fish in the 3lb range with many more in the 2lb range.  I also landed a nice striper and tore off a few good spots.  The spro mc stick jerk bait seem to be the go to bait today on just about any shallow wind blown point.  The fish are in all stages of the spawn.  Some are still really pre-spawn and others are up on beds.  Most of the bed fish that I have been seeing or catching are largemouth.  The reason for some of the fish getting off today had to do with how they would bite it.  They weren't eating it, but instead "slapping" at it as many of us anglers call it.  I had a hard time keeping them buttoned on the hook. 

I have found the key to getting these fish to bite is using the right combination of equipment to get your bait to run the best.  You probably ask, "What do I mean by that?".  There are a few key important details that will help you get more bites.  They all have to do with your bait running the right depth and giving your bait optimum action.  So here is the gear I throw a jerkbait on and have lots of success.  First is the rod.  A short rod helps me get good action out of my jerks without hitting the water so I go with a G. Loomis MBR 783 IMX.  The rod is a 6'6" med-heavy baitcaster with a fast tip.  On that rod I have a Shimano Chronarch reel spooled with either 8lb or 10lb Maxima Fluorocarbon.  This combination makes for a killer jerkbait set-up.  The line and the rod are the most important tools.  The light lb test maxima has the strength you need to land these big strong bass but allows for the bait to run with great action while also running in the right depth.  Maxima is some of the worlds strongest line.  So you can get away with a thinner diameter.  If you go to a heavy line your bait will not get down deep enough to get a bite.  That is the #1 mistake guys will make.  They are afraid of breaking off a big fish so they go to a 12 or 15lb line and then the bait will not get down in the water column.  The heavy line also can restrict the action of the bait.   

These are a few spots from a few days ago.  Believe it or not I have been spending most of my time looking for largemouth on beds and have had decent success with that program.  The largemouth are not as plentiful in Lanier but there are some big ones if you find them.  Can't get much better then bed fishing when you are in pursuit of a largemouth over 7 or 8lbs!  They are starting to show up in lots of places.  It should be a great week on Lanier.  Tomorrow is the FLW BFL tourney here at Lanier and unfortunately I am not fishing.  :(  I think I am going to go fun fishing and see how my best 5 would do...or should I save myself the pain and agony?!  I might just kick myself for not fishing the tourney.  The reason for not fishing has to do with FLW rules.  FLW requires pro's to also have a co-angler register in order to guarantee your spot.  That way they have equal # of both.  If you don't you have to be wait listed.  Being that I am new to the area I was not able to find anyone that wanted to fish as a co-angler in the tourney.  Everything happens for a reason, so I am not going to lose any sleep over it.  I will still have a fun day on the water tomorrow.

Now I am sure you are curious as to what I use for bed fishing...and I have lots of experience and success at catching big largemouth off beds.  I will give you a little insight into the bed fishing program.  First you have to know that bed fishing is an art.  It takes tons of patience, a good set of eyes to see them, and the understanding of what the bass are doing on their bed.  I have a couple secrets when it comes to bed fishing so here goes nothing.  For years people have asked me to give up the ghost......  

I think it is very important to have multiple rods prepared when you go in search of bed fish.  Typically I will have 4 rods tied up with different baits when I go out in search of bed fish, but I will also switch baits on any given rod multiple times...if need be.  I always have a 7' Heavy G. Loomis MBR 844 equipped with a Chronarch reel and spooled with 50 or 65lb braid for those fish that are in and around cover....if they won't bite that set-up my back up plan is a finesse spinning rod.  A  6'6" med-heavy G. Loomis SJR 783 with a fast tip, equipped with a Shimano Stradic 2500 spinning reel spooled with 8lb Maxima Fluorocarbon.  As many of you know braid can easily be seen by fish and such turning them off from biting your bait.  But that isn't always the case with bed fish.  It sometimes makes the fish more mad on a bed which in turn can entice a bite.  Other times this plan doesn't pan out and I will switch to the finesse set-up and carefully get them on and out of the bed.  The fluorocarbon is almost impossible to see in the water, so it makes for a great bed fishing line.  When you are fishing a bed fish you have to watch how it reacts to your bait and you throwing in and on it's bed.  I will always have some sort of drop shot bait on my spinning/finesse set-up.  This allows you to keep the bait in front of the fish's face the longest.  Believe it or not sometimes it takes completely pissing them off in order to get them to grab your bait.  The reason is because when bass are on beds they don't eat.  They are strictly protecting their bed.  So they will grab something with their mouth to move it off the bed and protect either the bed or the fry.  If they have already spawned they will be in a stage that is referred to as "guarding fry".  Pretty self explanatory.  What you put on the drop shot can be important.  Even the hook is important.  I like to use a pretty small hook with a light gauge wire but it has to be strong.  My all time favorite hook for this program is a Gamakatsu G-Lock in either a 1/0 or a 2/0.  The small wire makes it easy to get a hook into them with minimal pull and its wide g-lock gap keeps them on.  Plus it is a strong hook for being thin wire.  The bait that I like to use on my drop shot is....well now that is a secret.  All fisherman have to have a few tricks and secrets and this one I am just not willing to give up yet.  But I can tell you to experiment with many different things and see what works for you.  If I am not fishing a drop shot I am usually fishing one sort of bait on the bottom....tube jig, jig, speed craw, and the list could go on.  Like most guys I use bright colors so it is easy to see when the fish picks it up.  After that the rest is up to whether or not you get the fish to the boat and in the net.  If you have any specific questions regarding any of these techniques, patterns, or equipment please feel free to email me.   

Tomorrow I will be back on the water in search of more bed fish and hope to bring you some great photos of the action.  Lets hope I get to stretch the string a bit.  Fish on!         

IGFA record Spotted bass

Monday morning I was invited to join my brother and his friend Michael Bennett to jump on a boat with legend fly fishing guide Henry Cowen for a morning on the water.  Needless to say it was a great pleasure to spend a few hours on the water with Henry in search of stripers and spots on Lake Lanier. 

My brother was able to hook up and land what would have been an IGFA line record spotted bass, but since he is a Peters he opted to just throw the fish back and go for a bigger one.  I think his exact words were, "I will catch a bigger one than that!".  Whether he ever does catch a bigger one or not has yet to be determined and the only real difference is he doesn't have the certificate on the wall.  But the stories and the events that took place will be with us forever.  As you probably have noticed in the background, that is me....yes I am throwing a fly rod.  Maybe it was more; attempting to throw a fly rod.  Thanks to Henry's 3 minute school I am now throwing a fly like a pro.  Thanks Henry.   

The Bait Vortex!

This morning my brother and good friend Michael Bennett took a video of bait on the dock lights,"The Green Monster"; at Lake Lanier. Pretty crazy how much bait will cruise one light. Needless to say there were some giant stripers cruising them as well...but my brother broke one off on the first cast and the school of fish never came back. Try again tomorrow. I forgot to mention that all the striper fishing is being done with a fly rod!

Lake Not-So-Good to me

The 2nd stop of the FLW tour at Lake Norman has come and gone.  As far as I am concerned, I would like to forget about it all together.  I struggled on a lake that is choke full of bass.  After 3 days of competition and many hours of fishing I only managed to weigh 2, 3, and 2 fish respectively.  My total weight was 11.11 and was good enough for 92nd place out of 146 anglers. 

I can tell you that I had a great practice periods.(3 days)  Even the guys I was rooming with were getting tons of bites and catching lots of fish.  I really thought there was no way you couldn't catch a limit.  Fishing held true to it's name, fishing not catching!  The high suns and slack water on the first day made for a tough bite.  I also allowed myself to get frustrated early on day one and my mind got the best of me.  The bite during practice seemed to be best when it was cloudy and the fish would spread out and crush a jerkbait.  The first day of the tourney the high suns drove the fish to feed on the bottom and they held up tight to the docks....even with adjusting late in the day I was not able to boat enough keepers to scrap out a limit(5 fish). 

This is my road roommate and good friend Eric Schultz who was able to catch a nice limit on day 2 but struggled on day 1 and day 3.  Had he been able to catch a limit on day 3 he would have managed a nice check, top 50 is needed to get a check.  He missed a check by about 1 pound.  He finished 61st.  He fished with Bryan Thrift on day 2 who would go on to win the tourney on the pro side! 

This is me en-route to the bump tank with not enough fish in my weigh bag.. :( 

I am back home now in GA and am going to take some time to fish Lake Lanier and also prepare for the next tour stop in TN at Fort Loudon-Tellico outside of Knoxville.  Lets hope my next tour event ends in a better result.  I need to crush at this next tourney.  I will have some good pictures and stories from the next two weeks on Lanier.  Until next time, Fish On!  Stretch the string....