priest

[Headhunter]

Finally found a school of good fish. not a problem to catch 8-10 fish that are over 4 lbs each and one day had a couple of 5's. Had over 20 that beat 15". These fish are in 18 to 23 feet of water on a flat.

Threw a couple in the livewell, weren't in it more than a couple of minutes, pretty much catch a bass on almost every cast.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p37/headhunter130/priest%20livewell%201_zpsuxyqzo6t.jpg (http://s124.photobucket.com/user/headhunter130/media/priest%20livewell%201_zpsuxyqzo6t.jpg.html)

Took my brother yesterday and he enjoyed catching them to.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p37/headhunter130/dan%20bass%20blackout_zpsgjemb9pv.jpg (http://s124.photobucket.com/user/headhunter130/media/dan%20bass%20blackout_zpsgjemb9pv.jpg.html)

It is not difficult to find schools on priest, but to find schools that have a bunch of 4 lb fish and better has been tough for me. Sometimes when a fish we were catching got close to the boat there would be 4 or 5 more with it, all you had to do was through near them and catch another one. 10 am to 1 pm is prime time for them.

[notorious]

Some kind of trickery going on with your camera...you should get that checked out. Agreed humps produce well, the more traffic and current the better for kicking up bait. I used to slow roll Spinnerbaits and Carolina rigs for them when I fished JPP on a regular bases. Those humps next to the channel with the rock on them always do well.

[Smithcotrapper]

Congrats on a wonderful day. Wish I could have a day like that lol. All I have currently is 2d sonar up at the trolling motor. But should be getting it back bye the console soon as well. My question is can I find these schools efficiently with just 2d sonar?

[Jlg309]

Congrats on a wonderful day. Wish I could have a day like that lol. All I have currently is 2d sonar up at the trolling motor. But should be getting it back bye the console soon as well. My question is can I find these schools efficiently with just 2d sonar?

My 2 cents: You can find them with 2D only, however I would recommend a GPS unit and investing in a good map card. Use the map card to find the drops, humps, flats, etc. then scout the area for fish with the sonar.

[Smithcotrapper]

I have navionics on my phone. Here's a screenshot. Is this good enough? It shows my location and direction when on the water.

[Headhunter]

2d depthfinder is just fine. My favorite depthfinder ever is a lowrance x16 paper graph. I have 2 elite 7 ti touchscreens now and I am still learning them. Much of what I fish I found using the paper graph about 25 years ago. I still spend a lot of time looking at depthfinder.

For me, the best schools will be on a flat and there really isn't any structure they are relating to. I have always and still anchor about a half a cast on top of a dropoff and throw into the channel and bring a texas rigged worm back up the drop off. Many fish, and sometimes schools, will hold on the side of the dropoff right next to it.

When fishing a hump or flat, just make sure that you get the lure to the bottom. When using a crankbait, that means a thin line (I like 16 lb magnathin) and long cast. I throw the DT rapalas, poes 300 and 400 and bomber fat free shads a lot. I also throw a texas rigged worm to, a lot. Big spinnerbaits on occasion and starting to use swimbaits.

To me, the most important thing though, is a good anchor, I carry one that weighs 50 lbs. You want to anchor and very often these fish will be schooled up tight. I would go fish without a depthfinder before I would go without an anchor.

[notorious]

I have navionics on my phone. Here's a screenshot. Is this good enough? It shows my location and direction when on the water.

Buy yourself an old fashion lake map, there is nothing wrong with electronics and other GPS high cotton gadgets, but nothing beats having a map spread out for study.

[SalmonDaze]

I have navionics on my phone. Here's a screenshot. Is this good enough? It shows my location and direction when on the water.

I run navionics too; but it's much better on a big screen. Transfer to an iPad and your zoom and navigation options are vastly improved.

I also run Raytheon depth finder and the iPad is connected via wifi; so I overlay the chart to the DF and run side-by-side on a bigger screen.

The only downside to the iPad is your headgear . . . polarized lenses are a PITA for viewing and the screen is poor in direct sunlight.

[Pinwheeled]

Buy yourself an old fashion lake map, there is nothing wrong with electronics and other GPS high cotton gadgets, but nothing beats having a map spread out for study.



I'll second this. First fishing related item I bought when I moved to TN was a map of Priest and Old Hickory.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Adrian]

Hey, I know where that is. That's over by White Mountain Bluff & Photoshop Island Right?

[Tnarcher]

It would be super cool if you would videotape some of this action and your techniques, retrieves, ect, so us novice fisherman could pick up some tips.
I've got a lot to learn and you've got a lot you could teach. You could probably get rich on you tube, or heck, even big $ tournaments, by catching bass!!
Congrats on ANOTHER great day on the water and making it look and sound easy!

[JeffsLowe]

Hey, I know where that is. That's over by White Mountain Bluff & Photoshop Island Right?

Actually, if you download that pic from his photo bucket site, then open it in PHOTO, you can decode the GPS coordinates from where the pic was taken.

Just in case thats too complicated.....:)


36.200770, -86.690509

[Adrian]

That's exactly how I identified it as White Mountain Bluff, though it seems to have an unusual amount of snow for July.

[FloatNFish]

36.200770, -86.690509

I though that looked like the fish tank at Bass Pro...

[Headhunter]

Tnarcher posted
"It would be super cool if you would videotape some of this action and your techniques, retrieves, ect, so us novice fisherman could pick up some tips.
I've got a lot to learn and you've got a lot you could teach. You could probably get rich on you tube, or heck, even big $ tournaments, by catching bass!!
Congrats on ANOTHER great day on the water and making it look and sound easy!"

First I am far from the best fisherman, I am not even a good one, but I can guarantee you one thing, I am one of the most persistent there is. It is the same way hunting to. I believe in failing til I get lucky, which how it goes for me most of the time.

I don't fish tournaments and I don't care to. Probably never will. No video either, not possible to hide where the fish are being caught, at least not on Priest. Also, the fish I catch "disappear" about 6 pm. I have (along with many of my friends who fish tournaments 2 or 3 nights a week) tried to figure out where they go after 6 pm or so and in 30 years we have no clue. The fish for sure pull a houdini and you go from catching a fish most every cast to absolutely nothing about 5:30 or 6. Occasionally they will hit til 7, but it is rare. And generally after the first week or so of August, they do something different and for me, catching them in schools just ends.

One school I first found about 1989 and I still catch to this day. Not the same fish or course, but a school still hangs out in the same area and I have never seen anyone fish for them other than me. In the early 90's I was on them and they were good fish. One friend had a tournament to fish and it started at 7 pm. I told him we could go, but it would be a waste of time. we went out at about 5 pm on a Thursday, the tournament was that Saturday. We caught 25-30 bass and had 6 that were 4 lbs and over and on one cast on a poe's I caught 2 at once that both were just over 3 lbs a piece. The fish quit biting just after 6. He was stoked, I told him we were wasting our money. He was and is a pretty good fisherman. We not only did not catch a bass, we tried our best to find that school, we never got a hit. I promise you, I have spent hundreds of hours trying to figure out what they do.

Tournaments have no interest for me. I could care less about making any money fishing, I enjoy fishing and have no need to prove anything to anyone. I know I could guide, and kind of do on occasion for certain people, but I spend way to much time to find the fish just to take someone, show them what I have learned and then when I want to go fish there is always someone sitting where I want to fish. I do my best to avoid that happening anymore.

It is going to happen, and even though I use a gps and love it, I hate them to an extent. So many people have no clue how to use depthfinder (or an anchor as a depthfinder which I have done many times) and how to triangulate to mark a spot. I know for a fact many fishermen today would be lost if you took their electronics away from them. I learned with a flasher and a paper map. It is not rocket science, but so many will NOT put in the time to find the fish. Also, you will hear people say so many things as to why you will not catch fish, it is windy, it is raining, it is cloudy, don't fish to shallow, don't fish to deep, etc. Go fish, about the only thing that will hurt this bite in June or July is the rare cold front. One of the best days, my dad and myself had, was a couple years ago, early June, last time before this year lake did not reach summer pool til July and we found a school in 6 feet of water and the temp was over 100 degrees and we caught so many bass my dad quit fishing and just watched. He said he had caught all he wanted for the year. It was funny. Sorry, all I can tell you is to spend time and it is truly not that difficult.

[notorious]

Tournaments have no interest for me. I could care less about making any money fishing, I enjoy fishing and have no need to prove anything to anyone. I know I could guide, and kind of do on occasion for certain people, but I spend way to much time to find the fish just to take someone, show them what I have learned and then when I want to go fish there is always someone sitting where I want to fish. I do my best to avoid that happening anymore.

...So many people have no clue how to use depthfinder (or an anchor as a depthfinder which I have done many times) and how to triangulate to mark a spot. I know for a fact many fishermen today would be lost if you took their electronics away from them. I learned with a flasher and a paper map. It is not rocket science, but so many will NOT put in the time to find the fish. Also, you will hear people say so many things as to why you will not catch fish, it is windy, it is raining, it is cloudy, don't fish to shallow, don't fish to deep, etc.

About the exact way I feel, I expended an immense amount of time to learning the area(s) by fishing them...searching the maps and determining the techniques I wish to use matched to the conditions and the fish.

There are no secret spots although...its all plainly on the map for everyone to see to fish or hunt, technique on the other hand is only through experience regardless to how many videos or guide trips one may have endured.

[Headhunter]

Yep, notorious. It is all good carrying people fishing (and hunting) til you get "burned" and it changes quickly. Also when you run into the lazy ones, want you to show them everything, let them know when the "bite" whatever it may be is on, and then they are ready to go. Of course, many times they miss it, because animals can be .... animals, and things change. I am very careful about who I take hunting or fishing.

[unkangler]

So many people have no clue how to use depthfinder (or an anchor as a depthfinder which I have done many times) and how to triangulate to mark a spot. I know for a fact many fishermen today would be lost if you took their electronics away from them. I learned with a flasher and a paper map.

:) AAaahh ... A kindred spirit. I still fish thata way.

This unit is up front on my boat :

http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee455/unkangler/DSCN5990_zpslajz9cyk.jpg

Enjoyed your write up and pictures !
Hope you stay on 'em for a good long while...
... As far as where they go when they disappear, maybe now a day's they got some fancy radio transmitting tag you could put on 'em :)

[MNfisher]

Good ol FL-8. I have one on my duck boat. It was my ice fishing flasher for MN. A few years ago I hammered the hybrid, by marking the fish, then marking my jig and I watched them fly up to eat it. Pretty cool


Mike