So yesterday I ended up early at Indian Creek and started looking. Right off I was seeing small schools of fish "near" the bank. They were in 20 to 35 ft. Started trolling and quickly got a hungry 23" just opposite the Indian Creek mouth over the river channel even though I didn't see much out there. Looped back and continued to see small schools along the bank. No more hits. I looped around inside the mouth in that first big bay and saw very little.

Outside the creek I saw lots of small schools toward the bank and 20 to 30 ft down. Perfect. I kept trolling up toward Grimes and saw fewer schools so I headed back. It was very frustrating because I would see all these fish and get all tense ready for a strike and nothing would happen.

I switched around lures and tried A-rigs and U-rigs and finally got a second fish, a scrappy 22" (that's "scrappy" with an S). I should have had filled the boat by then. Nothing biting so I headed back to R31. Sure enough from opposite Stoney Creek to R31 there were small schools moving along the bank. Again in 20 to 40 ft of water, and not very deep. I kept in the area for over an hour and caught nothing else. I did get some big hits but no hook-ups.

As an additional bonus the last two times out (prior to yesterday) as I was trolling I snagged and retrieved two nine bait umbrella rigs! Go figure. Out again tomorrow. Later Joel

Started early as usual on Tuesday.  Eased around the bridge and Hales Creek and across but saw nothing so I started trolling up river. No fast running in the dark for me with all the stuff on the water. Nothing happened. Finally ran up to Indian Creek and started seeing some fish. No birds, nothing breaking so I started trolling and it wasn't long before I bagged a nice 26". It was a hair over the slot so back he went. Nothing much else so I kept moving up river, cruising, trolling, and looking.

Wasn't seeing any schools, only maybe a small group or singles. Just shy of Beaver Dam I got an active 21". A little skinny so dumped him too. Cruised around Beaver Dam and up in to the back. Marked a few scattered fish and a couple other boats but saw nothing caught so I headed back out and back down the lake. Just past Harbor Ridge a little 16" grabbed my bait. He barely made the reel click. Made it back around Indian Creek when I tangled with a nice 28". Ten minutes later a 27" came aboard. I'm not sure I even saw anything of these two on the sonar. Try as I might I couldn't convince any more.

Started the same way on Thursday. I usually don't go out back-to-back days but couldn't resist the nice weather. This time I started seeing fish at R31 and hooked the first one at 6:20am, it was barely light. An OK 23". I was seeing fish and made a couple loops through the area but there were no more takers. I ran up to Indian Creek and again started seeing fish. No schools but small and loose groups. I got another at R37a, a 24". The fish were there from Indian Creek to Grimes but I couldn't tempt any more so I ran back to R31. Again the fish were there but not hungry. I tried a bunch. I cast the points, pulled cranks, A-rigs and U-rigs, high, low and everywhere. But nothing else came. Rats.

It was early and ugly clouds were moving in but I still had time to run to Betty's just to check. I did mark a few fish toward the back and saw a couple other boats checking too.

Later Joel

I started as usual at about 6:00am. For a change, I had Rick from the club with me. He has often complained of not being able to catch any stripers. He proved that today.  :)

Started looking at Hales Ford Bridge and started trolling while it was dark. No fast running in the dark for me with all that junk on the water. We got past R30 and still weren't seeing anything. R31 showed nothing. Now light, I started to cruise up river checking likely spots. Nada.

We put out lines at Indian Creeek and marked only a very few scattered fish and they were deep. After a couple loops we headed up the creek. At the big S curve, we caught up with a guide boat and saw them boat one fish off a shallow planer board near the bank.

Started trolling again at the mouth of IC and headed up river all the way to Grimes. Still wasn't seeing anything. We should have kept going up to Beaver Dam and Linville but instead headed back to R35. We did mark some deep fish (50-70) so we dropped some jumbo minnows that Rick had left over. Did some jigging too. I had noticed some marks along a rip-rap bank so we cast jigs and spoons for half hour while soaking the bait but came up zip.

So we started cruising/looking back to the bridge. Didn't see anything. Trolled up Hales Creek back to Jake's and saw some "fish" on the bottom but no eaters. Came back out and ran to Coast Guard point and saw nothing. Since it was such a nice day, we cruised down to Betty's for a peek. That's all it was, just a peek. I can't remember seeing Betty's so empty, even if its a little early. Nothing by the condos or on the other side.

Maybe it was just too nice of a day. I'll be trying again Wednesday.

Later, Joel

So I started again right at the crack of dawn. That's about 6am again thanks to DST. I started again to check around the bridge and creek mouths but saw nothing, or maybe one here and one there, but nothing to make me put lines out.

Started up river but wasn't seeing much at all, nothing even in the R30-R31 stretch. Cruised up to the Indian Creek area and started seeing more fish but not in schools. They all seemed to be in loose groups. After a few loops around the mouth I headed to the back of Indian Creek. Just past the big bend I got the first fish, a nice 24.5".

There seemed to be some fish piled on the bottom back there so I cast around my lucky white bucktail, letting it settle to the bottom, but got no takers. Trolled my way out and into the main lake heading up river. About halfway between Hatfield and Grimes I got the second fish, an active 22".

Went all the way to Grimes and inside but saw nothing. Started trolling/checking back down toward Hales Ford Bridge. I didn't see anything noteworthy and no bites either. Back at Hales Creek I decided to troll in and check it out. I didn't see much but almost back to the first big right turn I bagged a tuff 21".

I saw a guide boat working the shore with planers so somebody else thought there were fish there too. Two of the three fish hit that blue Bomber long A 3.5" and the third hit a 4.5" Smithwick rogue in the same color pattern (a test lure from Jesse, thanks Jesse). I didn't see a single breaking fish and even the gulls were flustered. No problem, the 70s next week.

See ya out there.

Later Joel

Yup, I actually participated in the Club tournament last Saturday (3/23). Looked like we had a good turn-out and great weather. I fished the "artificial only" category. I started at about 5:00am to see if I could get in any "night" fishing, even though I guessed I may have been late for that. I started cruising around the HFB and the creek mouths around there. Didn't see anything noteworthy so I started trolling up river (it was still dark). I started seeing fish at R30 through R31 but couldn't get one to bite. I looped around at R31 because it looked promising but nothing happened. I kept going up river and got a small 18" at the mouth of Stoney Creek. Not much else around there so by now it was somewhat light and I ran up to Indian Creek.

I started marking a lot of fish so I put out my lines. Got a cute 23.5" near the mouth. Not big enough for the tourney but big enough to eat. I looped around inside the mouth of IC seeing fish but no takers. At about 9:00am I spotted some surface activity, not real bustin/jumpin but more like swirls and torpedos. I pulled in my lines and eased over to them. I saw a swirl and cast to it. BANG! Got a nice 27.5" for the tourney. I took my picture and let him go. I cruised around a bit and cast to another swirl. BANG 2! Got a nicer 29" for the tourney. These two casting fish bit a 1/2 oz white bucktail jig. Just like that (snap) the fish were gone so I started trolling again.

I was heading out of IC and got bit just past the last boat dock, near shore. A barely big-enough-to-filet 22". I looked around the R35 bend but didn't see enough. I went back down to R32 and started trolling again. I was right at R31 passing another tourney boat when I got bit again. A nice 25.5". Too bad I had two in the well. 3 of the 4 trolling fish bit a Bomber 3.5" long-A deep in silver flash/blue back, same as the previous 2 trips. The fourth fish bit a Flicker Shad in the same color pattern. Maybe there's something to it.

After I took the water temps I cruised up Hales Creek looking and past CG point and there abouts but didn't see much, at least not enough to run lines. And that was it. Two for the tourney and two for the box. I didn't get out this week cause the car was in the shop. Bummer. Monday looks good.

Later Joel