On the ride over I figured I would only catch a cold fishing in the rain but my mind was already set on going. I headed out to STC around 4:45pm expecting to be the only one out and was surprised by a another angler walking down the path. I asked him how he did "nothing all day, had a few on but lost them". While I didn't find his answer encouraging (as the rain picked up) I didn't find it discouraging either. I made my way to the first bridge I wanted to hit. It didn't take long to hook into a feisty 12" that didn't come to hand but no worries about losing a 12er and it proved the fish were active. I left the protection of the bridge to hit a shallow gravel/sand bar on the left and two submerged rock/debris piles to the right with a channel running in between. I could feel small fish nipping at my crawbug. I down sized to a helgie and 1/32 oz jig to make sure they were smallies. They were, I was on the board with several dinks.
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I upsized back to the crawbug and 1/8 oz swim jig hoping to pick up the bigger fish of the school.
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colors are mostly pumpkin not enough light in my office for a good photo
The 1/8 oz was too much weight for the slow moving water and it kept getting hung up. A cast into the shallows spooked a large school of shiners that I decided to match so I could swim the bait.
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I could not get the fish to commit to anything moving fast, back to the Helgie it was. The 1/32 oz weight was perfect to let it roll and bounce with the current. While I was taking this photo
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a good sized fish exploded on the surface. I popped the helgie a few feet upstream, my line quickly tightened, I set the hook and nothing, except a big swirl. I'm convinced I could feel the jig running down the body of the fish as she dropped the jig and I set the hook. I'm going to salt or coffee scent some my none scented baits from now on. I'm not sure if it'll do anything but even if they hold onto it another fraction of a second that's all you need a lot of the time.
A few more top water strikes had me tying on a zaza puppy and picking up a pair of 12ers, NICE we all love top water!
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After a dozen or so fish I retreated to the bridge for a smoke. The fish were active everywhere as I quickly picked another off the pylon. With only 30-45 minutes of light left I had a choice make, seek out larger fish or keep playing with the dinks. Since the presentation had to be slow and search baits were not productive. I figured I'd stick with the school of dinks and hope bigger fish moved in, such was not the case. I'm not sure how many I ended up with but nothing going over 12" or so.
Almost all fish came out of a 20' x 30' section, fish were as shallow as 10" of water.
Other baits thrown to deeper water without results rebel craw, xrap, floating rapala, glass shad rap (hmmm wonder were I got the idea to pull that out of the my tackle bag). I only gave these a half dozen casts before switching. Also threw a buzz bait with no takers but I think a Pop r would have produced a fish or two.
The key the past couple times out seemed to be plastics worked relatively slow.
Tight lines,
Hoffman
I upsized back to the crawbug and 1/8 oz swim jig hoping to pick up the bigger fish of the school.
colors are mostly pumpkin not enough light in my office for a good photo
The 1/8 oz was too much weight for the slow moving water and it kept getting hung up. A cast into the shallows spooked a large school of shiners that I decided to match so I could swim the bait.
I could not get the fish to commit to anything moving fast, back to the Helgie it was. The 1/32 oz weight was perfect to let it roll and bounce with the current. While I was taking this photo
a good sized fish exploded on the surface. I popped the helgie a few feet upstream, my line quickly tightened, I set the hook and nothing, except a big swirl. I'm convinced I could feel the jig running down the body of the fish as she dropped the jig and I set the hook. I'm going to salt or coffee scent some my none scented baits from now on. I'm not sure if it'll do anything but even if they hold onto it another fraction of a second that's all you need a lot of the time.
A few more top water strikes had me tying on a zaza puppy and picking up a pair of 12ers, NICE we all love top water!
After a dozen or so fish I retreated to the bridge for a smoke. The fish were active everywhere as I quickly picked another off the pylon. With only 30-45 minutes of light left I had a choice make, seek out larger fish or keep playing with the dinks. Since the presentation had to be slow and search baits were not productive. I figured I'd stick with the school of dinks and hope bigger fish moved in, such was not the case. I'm not sure how many I ended up with but nothing going over 12" or so.
Almost all fish came out of a 20' x 30' section, fish were as shallow as 10" of water.
Other baits thrown to deeper water without results rebel craw, xrap, floating rapala, glass shad rap (hmmm wonder were I got the idea to pull that out of the my tackle bag). I only gave these a half dozen casts before switching. Also threw a buzz bait with no takers but I think a Pop r would have produced a fish or two.
The key the past couple times out seemed to be plastics worked relatively slow.
Tight lines,
Hoffman
