Gsp 2/1

[MNfisher]

Well, got up before the crack of dawn. Fished alongside 4 other kayaks and 3 boats at "the bar" for 3 1/2 hrs. I fished jigs, topwaters, swimbaits, and a crank bait. Saw 2 other fish caught. Never saw any fish bust the surface except a few way way back. Then I got my one and only bite of the morning. A light tap turned into the line screaming off my reel. About 5 minutes and what felt like 200 yards of line later, landed my biggest kayak fish to date. This 22 lb striper! One bite can change everything!
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/02/yhu9e2yq.jpg

[creekcrappie]

Nice one!

[unkangler]

Oh Jeepers, Now you did it.... and now your gonna get yourself a bad case of Striper Fever !

Beautiful fish and good job on landing it :)

[jimj3561]

Sweet looking fish!

[Alphahawk]

Great looking fish......big congrats!



Regards


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[MNfisher]

Oh Jeepers, Now you did it.... and now your gonna get yourself a bad case of Striper Fever !

Beautiful fish and good job on landing it :)

No worrys! I have had a horrible case of striper fever for about 2 years now :D

[Dakota]

Very nice I was out there from 7 to 10. Just not very active today I didn't have very good luck.


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[FLBasser]

Great catch!


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[blink]

That's awesome mike!


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[Travis C.]

Nice one Mike!

[TroutFiend]

Congratulations on that Beast! Were you able to keep him out in front of you? Or did he get under the barrier at all?




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[SAMBOLIE]

That's a beauty Mike. Congrats.

[MNfisher]

Congratulations on that Beast! Were you able to keep him out in front of you? Or did he get under the barrier at all?




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He went under twice, but he was pretty wore out already. Upon hookset, he ran about a quarter mile towards the steam plant. Lol

[ttitan27]

Very nice! It only takes one of those to make it all worth it. I almost went this afternoon but opted for some post season deer scouting on my lease.

[tcintn]

Awesome catch Mike.

[Heiny57]

Nice job, and I am jealous. :D

[goreds.king]

Nice catch Mike! Hopefully I can pick that one back up on the 22nd.

[tacklemake]

Mike real nice fish and great report thank you for sharing it..................woody

[nomad60]

Beauty!

[Jim]

He went under twice, but he was pretty wore out already. Upon hookset, he ran about a quarter mile towards the steam plant. Lol

Nice fish! Can you imagine how many stripers are sitting up near the boils unmolested by fishermen? It must be crazy.

Jim

[Travis C.]

Nice fish! Can you imagine how many stripers are sitting up near the boils unmolested by fishermen? It must be crazy.

Jim

Judging by the breaking fish that direction that I have been seeing..... all the big ones are up there. In the last few trips have seen some absolute giant blowups.

[MNfisher]

Nice fish! Can you imagine how many stripers are sitting up near the boils unmolested by fishermen? It must be crazy.

Jim

I bet there are 30-50 pounders just chillin up there'

[jad2t]

When I went a few weeks ago I saw some enormous blowups wayyyy back in there out of casting reach. I can't imagine those were 10 pounders. Great catch Mike, still waiting on another chance to try it again but I sure hope to do it before Winter ends!

[Reel Tune]

Congratulations on your personal best from the yak Mike. Sarah sent you the video, so if it doesn't work I'll save it on a thumb drive and get it to you that way.

[TNBronzeback]

kinda makes ya wanna buy one of those 16-18ft surf rods, big, heavy topwater plug and give that bad boy a toss DEEP down the canal!
hmmmm, i suppose that would work actually if you had a stable boat to be able to load the rod and shift your weight.......hmmmmmmm....

[JeffsLowe]

kinda makes ya wanna buy one of those 16-18ft surf rods, big, heavy topwater plug and give that bad boy a toss DEEP down the canal!
hmmmm, i suppose that would work actually if you had a stable boat to be able to load the rod and shift your weight.......hmmmmmmm....

or an RC boat…...

[txnative]

kinda makes ya wanna buy one of those 16-18ft surf rods, big, heavy topwater plug and give that bad boy a toss DEEP down the canal!
hmmmm, i suppose that would work actually if you had a stable boat to be able to load the rod and shift your weight.......hmmmmmmm....

It can be done from a kayak...


Chris Bryant

[Saltwaterwalt]

I bet there are 30-50 pounders just chillin up there'

Do you think though that they're up there because boats aren't? If/when they remove the barrier, and the boats go back up there, won't they just blow the fish back out or was this the same pattern before the barrier?

[txnative]

Do you think though that they're up there because boats aren't? If/when they remove the barrier, and the boats go back up there, won't they just blow the fish back out or was this the same pattern before the barrier?

Yes. The fish AND bait aren't being bothered by boat traffic, resulting in the existing pattern. I'm pretty sure this topwater feeding pattern will die when boats are able to move in freely.

As for where the fish will go, they'll probably hold in deeper water in the GSP channel, and some will move out to the river. The fish will still feed, but may not become active until the area calms down each day. I'm sure they are different groups of fish doing different things even now, but the hot bite that everyone is cashing in on will be the first to suffer when the barrier is gone.

Another key factor to the current bite is the fact that TN is having a cold winter. The last few winters have been pretty mild, so the warm-water refuge for the bait was not as necessary...that equates to less bait in the GSP, and therefore less predators. I'm curious to see how the fishing will change once the barrier is removed, and, to be honest, I'm not going to be upset if it stays indefinitely.


Chris Bryant

[TNBronzeback]

i woulndt be surprised if it stays up indefinately!
i have nothing to base that off of, but i doubt the barrier removal will be high priority on the list of "to-do's" once the TVA gets done doing whatever work they are doing in there.
Im kinda torn on that! The selfish part of me imagines a cold winter morning chugging up that canal all alone into striper heaven with no other boats to be seen, yet in reality, i know it would NEVER play out like that! LOL.
they are gonna have to hire a bouncer to stay at the mouth of that place if the barrier ever comes down. LOL...nobody new in until somebody comes out! lol

[agelesssone]

I firmly believe the number of boats/watercraft in the channel, at the barrier has a definite impact on the fishes behavior.

Point in fact....when there were yaks at the barrier at 4 AM and then the area got crowded on Saturday, there were almost no fish landed, I think a total of two rockfish and one white bass if I remember right. Then Sunday when people were showing up at 1AM, I believe only one fish was landed by 10:00AM. And there was very little surface activity on both days.

Reference back to Thursday when it was 2 degrees and only I and another boat showed up at 5:30 AM, the fish were blowing up right at the barrier and upstream. LOTS of big fish. The other guy, Jason, landed two in the mid- thirties range, and I lost three that I never got in the boat.

Then Friday morning early, 5 AM, Me, Jason and Brian showed up in boats. My boating partner landed a 29 lb'er, I landed a 24 and a 16 lb'er, and Jason landed two fish in the 15-18 lb. range. The fish were blowing up, but stayed about thirty to sixty yards out, none blowing up at the barrier. Then more yaks and boats showed up and the fish stayed way up the channel, by the gravel bar.

All rebuttals are welcome. I would have gone this morning but I thought there might be slick roadways so I opted for safe over sorry.

[MNfisher]

It was also a huge different pattern this weekend. Very warm and windy compares to cold and calm. Also about a month ago I was there with 5 other yaks and 2 boats. Fish blowing up all over and around 20 stripers were landed. It's a day to day thing. Not sure the yaks and boats being there early has anything to do with it.

[agelesssone]

Good reply, Mike. The more instances of "what happened when", the better we may understand the forces that move these fish.

Thanks for the input.

BTW, what were the water/wind/temperature conditions on that day? On the two degree day, the water was 52 degrees. Friday it was 55 degrees.

What was the water temps Sat/Sun?

Anybody else?

[MNfisher]

Saturday it was 55. Also I remember a time where me and another guy went in our yaks about 3 weeks ago. No one else but us. No busting and no bites. Ya just never know. The fish know, we might never. It's all a part of fishing!

[Travis C.]

Low fifties water temps sunday morning.

I struggled to catch anything but did manage a sauger before daylight.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii40/MrCarney1979/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps1720e5f9.jpg

[Alphahawk]

Low fifties water temps sunday morning.

I struggled to catch anything but did manage a sauger before daylight.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii40/MrCarney1979/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps1720e5f9.jpg

Pretty fish!


Regards

[Travis C.]

Thanks alpha, my pb so far at just under 21 inches.

[MNfisher]

Great sauger!!

[agelesssone]

I'd rather have that sauger than a 15 lb rockfish. I'd eat the sauger and throw back the rockie.

[Dakota]

Wow great sauger!


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