Hot weather! Hot fishing! It would have been considered (maxed out) but the camping party was big. 9 license holders, 6 of the 9 were the hardcore fishermen who needs help for their addictions (including myself). The other three were rookies, but had a blast, plus they were our main cooks (my lady included).
Fished the dam. It was a mad house in the morning, but everyone had dissapointing results and left by noon. Some anglers had only 2 to 3 on their stringers (average sized white bass). Most were jigging and working out the legs rock hopping the length of the dam (FRIKKIN MOTIVATED ANGLERS!). We fished the north corner. We were lucky. We had minnows under bobbers and stayed put as the waves of bites turned on and off up until like 10:30am when it slowed. Apparently they (the fish) wanted nothing but minnows under bobbers. That morning we totaled like 40 crappie which ranged from 10 inches to about 13 inches (not bad). Lost about half as many. I was glad there were many of us because hauling the catch up the dam was a pain. Got to camp, cooked about 10 of em, ate, drank a few cold ones and napped.
The afternoon was fun. It was hot and the wind was howlin. My cousin and I threw on lifejackets and floated out to the middle of the little cove next to the East Beach campground (with wind blowing towards shore) and casted Rattlin-Rapalas (red crayfish color and silver/green glass color). We caught a few cigar walleyes and a couple bigger ones. Even caught a whole bunch of little drum. Man, the drum hit the lipless cranks pretty hard! Fun lil guys. They went back to the water. The cigars and the drum at least.
Late afternoon into sundown: went back and caught a few more crappies, but this time the whitebass were hitting. Jackpot! Not many (like 1 to 3 a person), but enough to satisfy the knotches on my belt for the year. My lady caught one whitebass on a minnow below bobber that was almost the size of the one and only wiper I saw caught by another fellow fishermen out there. I'm still confused cause it was hard to tell the difference, but I'm leaning towards calling it a whitebass. Lighter, smaller horizontal stripes compared to the 'official' wiper which took a crayfish. The fellow fisherman's wiper had the deep dark stripes compared to my lady's. His was 17 inches while her (whitebass in question) was 15. One member of the group did the bottom and nightcrawlers deal and had the opportunity to nail a couple nice 18 to 22 inch catfish and like a billion drum which were all released except for the hook swallowers.
The next morning, three of the guys went out and did one last round and ended up catching about only 20 crappie between the 3 of them. Mixed bag of crappies and whitebass. I slept in preperation for the drive home and what I caught the day before satisfied my crave anyways.
Overall it was a good trip. Got some to eat for the next to 2 weeks and that's if it even lasts that long (Don't worry fellas, we didn't come anywhere near our group total limit). Think SOUTH REPUBLICAN BAG LIMITS. "Oh yeah, now I remember..."
I'm burnt, exhausted and ultimately, satisfied. This will probably be my 1st and last time out there for the year. My return may be when the duck season opens, but I'm sure my other waterfowling spots will keep me too busy to go back. Some of y'all will probably be relieved that this is my camp's last fishing trip out there ;D. It's ok, those some of y'all I'm talkin bout' only feel so with good intentions so I don't blame ya. Truthfully, I respect your concerns.
I will post pictures later on when developed. Good luck to everyone.
HAPPY FISHING FELLAS!!
Fished the dam. It was a mad house in the morning, but everyone had dissapointing results and left by noon. Some anglers had only 2 to 3 on their stringers (average sized white bass). Most were jigging and working out the legs rock hopping the length of the dam (FRIKKIN MOTIVATED ANGLERS!). We fished the north corner. We were lucky. We had minnows under bobbers and stayed put as the waves of bites turned on and off up until like 10:30am when it slowed. Apparently they (the fish) wanted nothing but minnows under bobbers. That morning we totaled like 40 crappie which ranged from 10 inches to about 13 inches (not bad). Lost about half as many. I was glad there were many of us because hauling the catch up the dam was a pain. Got to camp, cooked about 10 of em, ate, drank a few cold ones and napped.
The afternoon was fun. It was hot and the wind was howlin. My cousin and I threw on lifejackets and floated out to the middle of the little cove next to the East Beach campground (with wind blowing towards shore) and casted Rattlin-Rapalas (red crayfish color and silver/green glass color). We caught a few cigar walleyes and a couple bigger ones. Even caught a whole bunch of little drum. Man, the drum hit the lipless cranks pretty hard! Fun lil guys. They went back to the water. The cigars and the drum at least.
Late afternoon into sundown: went back and caught a few more crappies, but this time the whitebass were hitting. Jackpot! Not many (like 1 to 3 a person), but enough to satisfy the knotches on my belt for the year. My lady caught one whitebass on a minnow below bobber that was almost the size of the one and only wiper I saw caught by another fellow fishermen out there. I'm still confused cause it was hard to tell the difference, but I'm leaning towards calling it a whitebass. Lighter, smaller horizontal stripes compared to the 'official' wiper which took a crayfish. The fellow fisherman's wiper had the deep dark stripes compared to my lady's. His was 17 inches while her (whitebass in question) was 15. One member of the group did the bottom and nightcrawlers deal and had the opportunity to nail a couple nice 18 to 22 inch catfish and like a billion drum which were all released except for the hook swallowers.
The next morning, three of the guys went out and did one last round and ended up catching about only 20 crappie between the 3 of them. Mixed bag of crappies and whitebass. I slept in preperation for the drive home and what I caught the day before satisfied my crave anyways.
Overall it was a good trip. Got some to eat for the next to 2 weeks and that's if it even lasts that long (Don't worry fellas, we didn't come anywhere near our group total limit). Think SOUTH REPUBLICAN BAG LIMITS. "Oh yeah, now I remember..."
I'm burnt, exhausted and ultimately, satisfied. This will probably be my 1st and last time out there for the year. My return may be when the duck season opens, but I'm sure my other waterfowling spots will keep me too busy to go back. Some of y'all will probably be relieved that this is my camp's last fishing trip out there ;D. It's ok, those some of y'all I'm talkin bout' only feel so with good intentions so I don't blame ya. Truthfully, I respect your concerns.
I will post pictures later on when developed. Good luck to everyone.
HAPPY FISHING FELLAS!!
"She's still makin fun of me."
