steamplant 12-6-14

[TNBronzeback]

Well.....not a horrible comeback from a fishing standpoint but what a nightmare from a weather standpoint!!! hit the water about 7-ish and the wind was managable. After the first pass it was flat out ugly!!! Wind was blowing right up the pipe...big rolling whitecaps make for a very tough time controlling the boat for jigging. Burned through both batteries on my little 30lb trolling motor in just a few hours.
Anyways, managed to boat 4 fish. 3 short saugers and 1 tiny walleye. Saugers came on jigs and the walleye came on a blade bait. Hung and lost 4 heavier fish on the blade. Very aggresive snapping but short snaps and they hammered it at the top of the motion...im guessing the dirty water was a factor in that along with difficulty keeping the boat tracking right. The saugers didnt care for the aggresive motion on the jigs but they still hit hard. There were sections of stained water and sections of mud.
The fish were scattered...one here...one there but i did mark good amounts of fish in different sections of the river. We need some frigid air to drop the water temp and concentrate the bait more locally around the steamplant. Water temp was in the low 50's.
Might need to try it again next weekend!

[XxthejuicexX]

Nice report, glad you caught a few fish. Last time I was out the the wind was brutal even for me in my bass boat.

[TNBronzeback]

Wind isnt bad..but when its going up river it just compounds the effects. I took a big rolling whitecap in the back of the boat so i decided it was in my best interest to hug the north shoreline and ease on back to flippers! LOL....i had 1 hand on the ole inflatable life jacket on that trip back. Some big whopper logs floating out there too....some just barely under the surface. Ya think to yourself....man if somebody hits that....especially flying on the water its gotta be game over for that person. 50mph + hitting a several hundred pound (if not more) log directly on the shaft of your motor! Talk about destruction.
I dont think ive fished 1 time out there when the wind wasnt blowing. Either blowing out to deeper water or blowing me too far up the ledge. Ive got 10 days off at Christmas and i plan on being out there at least 5 of them days.
Lousy weather or not it was great to be back on the river!

[jad2t]

That cold front made for some brutal fishing. We had the Ketchin' For Kids tournament on Tims Ford and it started precisely after the winds had shifted North and so there we were in our kayaks battling 15 mph North winds and lethargic fish. 34 anglers and only 8 bass caught! I got one and had one break me off in brush.

This weather is for hunting!

[TNBronzeback]

Yeah it does!!!!
I always try to fish moving water when there is/has been a cold front when given the option.
I find the fish in the rivers cant be quite as picky as lake fish. They see a possible snack bouncing thier way they dont have much time to eye ball it so they wont have to exert too much energy to chase it down. Where as lake fish have more time to inspect.
Just my personal experience.

[Alphahawk]

Originally Posted by TNBronzeback

Yeah it does!!!!

I always try to fish moving water when there is/has been a cold front when given the option.

I find the fish in the rivers cant be quite as picky as lake fish. They see a possible snack bouncing thier way they dont have much time to eye ball it so they wont have to exert too much energy to chase it down. Where as lake fish have more time to inspect.

Just my personal experience.

That's why I love fishing a tail race. If the fish are up in that water they will slam whatever is drifting by. As you said they don't take a long time to decide to bite.

Regards


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