My parents are in town visiting and my mom really wanted to catch a big hybrid or striper. The original plan was to take them to Carthage but the weekend is short so we decided to hit JPP for a few hours this afternoon. I had trouble finding bait in the back of Suggs creek. After about 45 - 1 hour of throwing the cast net I had 2 baits to show for it.
I did catch a nice largemouth in the cast-net that my mom got pictures with posing like she caught it before we released it. Anyway. We fished the 7 points area with about a 10inch gizzard shad on 1 rod below a 2oz sinker and a really small bait that kind of resembled a baby gar on another rod with the same set-up. The bite was on and the Hybrids were packed tightly. If we had a normal spread of 6-8 rods out with baits on all of them, I believe we would have boated at least 5-8 fish in the short time we were there. My dad caught a small 15 inch hybrid on the baby gar looking bait and my mom had 3 different strong pull-downs, 1 was very strong with drag pulling for about 2 seconds but each time without a hookup and on the last of the 3, the shad was gone and so was our short evening. The fish finder screen looked like thick spaghetti. They were feeding aggressively.
My mom was like a 3 year old anticipating a piece of candy and said "can we come back Sunday"? I'm hoping to get back out soon. It's going to be an awesome weekend.
Anybody know where the shad are hiding right now? I hate to go all the way up to Stewarts Creek and kill all that time and fuel if I can find a group of shad below the Hobson Pike Bridge somewhere.
Thanks and have a safe weekend everyone!
JPP Bait, Bass, and Hybrid this afternoon
