Friday Nov 23. Started at the crack of dawn and worked my way up river. (where have I heard this before?). Checked IC and HR but saw nothing. I did find fish at Beaver Dam. Set out the lines and looped around the mouth and channel with no bites so I started up the creek. (new boat came with a paddle) I was seeing fish all the way and also seeing quite a few boats. My hunch was right. Fish here. But none of the fish wanted cranks nor rigs. I saw at least one fish boated, looked about 20" and the guy was actually weighing it! Another guy said he got 4 but no real size. I would have used bait too but the pump on my bait tank is not working. Big fix this weekend. I left BC and ran up to the TC. There were fish there but all down about 40+. Nothing I did would convince them to come up to bite. Rats. Ended up a fairly nice day. Guess I'll have to keep trying. Belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. I joined my youngest daughter and her in-laws in Farmville. I got stuffed more than the turkey. The wine was good too. Later. Joel
Tuesday Nov 20. Started at the crack of dawn and worked my way up river. I didn't see much until I got to Moorman's. There were fish there but no biters. Different cranks and rigs at different speeds did nothing. Eased up to the trestle and got a small 21". Nice but no cigar. Headed back down and worked the M-TC stretch. Boffo, another small 17". All the fish so far were down 30ft+. No breakers and nothing up chasing anything. All this takes time so its nearing 1pm when I get back to the TC. Just thinking about quitting when I ran over a BIG school of fish dragging 3 A-rigs at the time. Whammo! TWO on at once! I cleared the third line and did the dance with the other two. I actually landed both fish, a pretty pair of 27". Cruised aroung there for another hour. Didn't find that big school again but saw many smaller schools. But still no more takers. Tons of fun.
Friday Nov 23. Started at the crack of dawn and worked my way up river. (where have I heard this before?). Checked IC and HR but saw nothing. I did find fish at Beaver Dam. Set out the lines and looped around the mouth and channel with no bites so I started up the creek. (new boat came with a paddle) I was seeing fish all the way and also seeing quite a few boats. My hunch was right. Fish here. But none of the fish wanted cranks nor rigs. I saw at least one fish boated, looked about 20" and the guy was actually weighing it! Another guy said he got 4 but no real size. I would have used bait too but the pump on my bait tank is not working. Big fix this weekend. I left BC and ran up to the TC. There were fish there but all down about 40+. Nothing I did would convince them to come up to bite. Rats. Ended up a fairly nice day. Guess I'll have to keep trying. Belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. I joined my youngest daughter and her in-laws in Farmville. I got stuffed more than the turkey. The wine was good too. Later. Joel
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Not a big change from last week (editors note - water temperatures - see here). About 1 degree at the top but about 2 degrees at the bottom. I noted that up lake at Moorman's the water was about 2 degrees cooler too. An interesting note is that I checked my reading from last year at HFB and the range was 56 top and 49 bottom for the closest date of 12/8/11. Looks like we're right on track. Another note is that the water dropped a little more and launching is getting dicey. May not get out soon and don't know any ramp that still works well.
So I tried to net some bait at Captain's Quarters but drew only water. Throws are still not good so I'm going to be looking for some coaching. Made it to Indian and saw fish scattered and in small bunches so started a trolling run. Passed around both sides and into the creek a little with no takers. I saw one guide and another boat working the area so I was confident I wasn't seeing things. So I kept working up lake as far as Moorman's. The fish weren't in Moorman's as before but the stretch between Moorman's and the tennis courts shows lots of fish. Again, no big schools but scattered and small bunches. All the fish were down 30ft or below or on or near the bottom so I did a lot of slow trolling with A-rigs letting them get down there. Finally got one 27" boated near R67 (near the TC). He was around some small trees and got really tangled in the branches. I had to work back with the TM to get over him. I'd give slack and tighten up to still feel him down there. I finally got the small branch to break and fish and all in the net. That was around Noon so I worked the area for another hour with no more bites. Wow, things are tough all over. I keep wondering if the low water is affecting the fish that much. Later Joel The public ramp near HFB is disappearing. I checked it on Tuesday and watched a guy launch his big Ranger bass boat so I figured I was safe. Even with the ramp extended, my trailer wheels still leave the concrete and ride the rubble rock beyond the concrete. Touchy but still doable. No telling how long that will last. Anybody know a good rain dance?
Back on standard time and sun comes earlier. I was a little later than usual and gave up dock lights for bait. Started the usual milk-run up the lake checking spots along the way. Nothing to see.Saw a few fish around R35 and started trolling up to and around into Indian Creek. Last year I caught fish there all Winter. Not this time. Kept moving up lake and tried to look for bait at Harbor Ridge in the little creek. I could swear I saw piles of fish there and worked them with vertical jigs and A-rigs but no bites. Maybe they were some other fish. I need to start carrying 1 or 2 crappie rods just in case. Good thing I now have a big boat. Kept going and found the crowd at the tennis courts. I got there just in time to see most of them leave for better spots. I didn't see anything so I kept going. I started trolling again at Moorman's and was marking fish. Not big schools but good bunches. Worked them hard, changed up cranks and changed speed. Seems they wanted them a little slower. First bite at 11:00am. A tough fightn' 30". Makes great filets. No I'm kidding. Tossed it back. Rough when fish are "too big". Second fish came 10 minutes later. A scrappy 23". A little on the thin side so I tossed it too. First one bit a medium size crank and the second bit a small size crank. I kept working the area cause I was still seeing fish. Tried the A-rigs down on/near the bottom as I did before. I was down there cause I kept hanging up. Didn't lose any this time. That's it, two fish in ten minutes. Later Joel |
From the Water by Joel Janecek
Joel shares with us the trials and tribulations, as well as the fun and excitement while out on the water in pursuit of a nice striped bass. Archives
May 2015
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