Another beautiful day on the water, with very few "other" boaters making waves. Must be the school thing. Makes me happy. I also noticed that the sun is rising a whole lot later than back in June. I feel a chill in the air.
Well, soon anyway.

I started in the dark near the bridge and started up lake. I was moving, looking, trolling a little until it was light enough to safely make a run. I say safely because there were a few BIG chunks of trees in the water, the first one almost to the bridge. I safely made it all the way to R34 without any fish bothering my baits. So then I ran up to Beaver Dam and sure enough the fish were there again. I quickly got the lines in the water and in the next 30 minutes boated three fish. 13" to 18". Bummer. I wasn't too excited about bait size stripers so I started trolling back down lake. I managed to boat another one at Harbor Ridge, another baby 14". At least all these small fish should bode well for the next couple of years. I hope.

Everywhere I went I was marking fish but they were very spread out. If I trolled 100 yards I would mark 10-12 fish in groups of 1 or 2. Hard to target those. I even looked inside Indian Creek with no results. As a last resort I ran down to Becky & Betty's and looked around. Same story but down here I almost got swamped by a 200ft, 3000 ton yacht. Well, it seems that big. I thought I was going to take water over the bow. I trolled all around the area with nothing happening. I may try the Blackwater on Thursday or Friday. Later Joel

A fine day to be out on the water. Also looks like the riff-raff traffic is easing up a bit too. I decided to head up lake today so I started looking at Hales Ford Bridge . No go, so I ran up to R30 for a peek. I started marking a few scattered fish, some down, some not so down, so I started trolling. Hit that corner, up the bank, over to Stoney and inside, and up to R34. No dice. So I looked around Indian Creek and did indeed mark some fish but no takers. I spotted a small school up shallow on the point leaving Indian Creek and pulled lines to hit 'em. I dropped a jig and was casting around. At times they were right under the boat but I couldn't 't buy a bite. So I kept moving and looking up lake and finally got to Beaverdam.

YES! There were small schools of fish around, maybe 12-20 in each school. I quickly dropped lines and got the first fish right at BE1. A plump 23". No big shakes, but it was a fish. No foolin' around this time, I dropped some jigs and started casting. Zip. I started trolling again and a couple laps got nothing. I started up lake again and made it past Lynville without seeing much. I even made a quick run to the Tennis Courts. A few scattered fish there made me set out the lines but nothing bit.

I ran back to Beaver Dam for another try. On the second lap I was outside the creek mouth when I got another fish. Only 21". Oh well. Another lap gave nothing and I couldn't find any more fish. So I started back down lake and stopped and looked here and there. Nothing showing. I got back to R34 and started trolling to R30. I put out two new lures I got at Captains Quarters and finally at R30 got another bite on one of the new lures. Only 22" but that's about all I was marking was small fish.

Hey, it was nice on the water.

Later Joel

A very uneventful day for fishing. First thing I did was check the coves opposite the condos by Becky's. I marked a few scattered fish and tried a lap trolling and got one excited 14". Then I went straight to the S-curve and decided to work the area thoroughly and wait for the fish if I had to. I trolled around the S so much I was getting dizzy. Very few scattered fish with most of them down deep and some in the trees

I also checked into SB and found nothing. I even jigged those 80-100ft deep fish in the channel with nothing happening. By 11:00am I headed to the mouth of Becky's & Betty's and tried there. Again I marked some few fish down deep and suspended off the bottom. And I did get one largemouth.

I keep trying different lures but nothing is working right now. Ahhhhh, but the weather was great! Don't be surprised if I take a week or two off now. I have a backlog of house projects waiting.

Later Joel

 I did my usual dawn launch and headed to Walton's. It didn't take long to get the first bite. A little past the WC1 marker on the left and the fish bit. A 21" who thought he was bigger. A nice start. The cloudy weather had me hoping for some surface action but I never saw any all day.

So I kept trolling up the left side past the Virginia Dare. Whammo! In ten minutes I boated a 19". I threw him back with the specific instructions to call his mother over. He didn't. I wasn't marking any schools or groups but I was seeing some few scattered fish. Kapow! Another ten minutes, another fish. Someone's baby brother at 14". Didn't even know he was on til I looked at the bobbing rod. Hey, it was action. I got as far back as I could and started a u-turn. Bang! Another ten minutes, another fish. A little better at 20" but surely not what I was looking for. I made a loop in that action area but no more bites so I started trolling out of the creek.

Mini-whammo and a plump largemouth grabbed a bait. It was fun but only a trash fish. I decided to troll the edge of the river channel over to the S-curve. I marked a few deep, scattered fish and caught nothing. I was coming up to the first big turn, on the outside edge and trolled over the first point at about 40' of water. Holy S#!t! A nice, big school of fish! I crossed my fingers and sure enough one bit a lure as they swan by. I could tell it was a decent fish so I cleared the other lines. I wrestled for a few minutes and boated a plump 25". I wasted no time and went right back. The fish were still there so I started jigging. AMAZING! I got another one to bite. A twin 25". After I boated the second fish I was still marking a few and kept jigging. No bites. I grabbed a big, deep diving crankbait and started throwing. I got bit on the second cast but the fish spit the hook. Jig, cast, jig, cast, for the next 20 minutes got no more fish. I really need to get that Humminbird 360 to follow those fish. When somebody buys my trailer, I'll buy the 360.

So I started back trolling and searching. All around the S, into and out of Strawberry Banks, and another lap around the S. This time I was headed back to the point when a mean 15" took a bait. Kept searching. After 10am I headed over to Becky & Betty's Creeks. Before starting a run I noticed some deep fish in the river channel opposite the condos. Hmm. So I started trolling past the condos, into Betty's and did indeed mark some fish. Some high, most low. The biggest group was 4. Must have been to early for lunch. Crossed over to Becky and it was the same, a few scattered fish and a few small groups not interested in anything. So I pulled lines and headed to the deep fish. I marked them 80-100ft over the river channel so I started deep jigging. One static, one active. I did that for about 30 min with no bites. Phooey. Not a bad day, 7 fish, 2 keepers, and nice weather. Great to be on the water. Later Joel