Cashvaluerecovery
Senior Member
Put the kayak in at ridgeway at 530am sunday. Thats right, kayak, pitch black all by my lonesome. Hard to find anyone else to go on these trips for some reason haha.
So the plan was to head up river and fish along the way. Walleye shouldnt be spawning yet but the river arm should be holding plenty of males feeding and getting ready to start the spawning run in the next couple of weeks...especially if the warm weather continues. Water temp was already 53 degrees which usually when they start spawning. There was bait galore and I marked spots feeding below the bait but let them be as Walleye was the target.
Put out 2 rods with 3 inch spoons being trolled on the drop. One rod was fishing 27 ft the other was fishing 31 ft. Within 20 minutes of lines in the shallow rod got bit and one 2.5 lb male walleye hit the cooler. Fish was right where I expected it to be and did exactly what was expected of him to do. With completely over cast skies this bite should persist all day. And with walleye fishing in georgia..........I of course.........was dead wrong again lol. Another 1.5 hours trolling all the way to the bend where it goes into the river and gets shallow. Trolled the other bank all the way back to ridgeway. Not one bite. Went back to the area I picked up the fish and started slow slow slow .........did i say slow..........working about 12 different jigs all tipped with night crawlers. Picked up several spots no eyes. Fished the standing timber for an hour. 7 more spots and 3 crappie. Used a jigging spoon and literally could not keep spots away.
The only other what I believe was walleye action was on black grubs trolling in 30 feet of water super super slow I had 3 baby bites that just tapped one time and stopped. Im willing to bet this was walleye as they are such finicky biters and will mouth things briefly........that and every spot that bit were voracious. As usual you cant see walleye on a graph unless they are suspended so trying to "find them" is next to impossible.
Heading back in with my legs exhausted from pedding 12 hours I noticed the tons of bait near ridgeway was 40 feet deep and had to be an acre of it below the boat was being worked by arches both above and below the bait. I dropped night crawlers below the bait on 6lb test, one inches off the 60 foot bottom, and one 5-8 feet below the bait and in the lower feeding fish. I then worked a jigging spoon in the arches above the bait. Caught another 28 spots in this one school all with the spoon. No touches on the nightcrawlers. I caught spots out of the lower arches with the spoon as well.........all spots.
Day total 47 spotted bass to 4lbs, most in the 13 to 14 inch category. Kept one 3lber that was caught to deep and ripped his gills badly with the spoon. 7 crappie all small, 2 hybrids, and 1 lone walleye that I was after.....the first bite of the day <sigh>
As always, still looking for someone who knows how to pursue these fish in georgia better than I do as the idea that im the best........and I still suck this bad.......really hurts my confidence level that I might one day actually be able to catch these fish with consistency haha.
Goodluck out there and be safe.
So the plan was to head up river and fish along the way. Walleye shouldnt be spawning yet but the river arm should be holding plenty of males feeding and getting ready to start the spawning run in the next couple of weeks...especially if the warm weather continues. Water temp was already 53 degrees which usually when they start spawning. There was bait galore and I marked spots feeding below the bait but let them be as Walleye was the target.
Put out 2 rods with 3 inch spoons being trolled on the drop. One rod was fishing 27 ft the other was fishing 31 ft. Within 20 minutes of lines in the shallow rod got bit and one 2.5 lb male walleye hit the cooler. Fish was right where I expected it to be and did exactly what was expected of him to do. With completely over cast skies this bite should persist all day. And with walleye fishing in georgia..........I of course.........was dead wrong again lol. Another 1.5 hours trolling all the way to the bend where it goes into the river and gets shallow. Trolled the other bank all the way back to ridgeway. Not one bite. Went back to the area I picked up the fish and started slow slow slow .........did i say slow..........working about 12 different jigs all tipped with night crawlers. Picked up several spots no eyes. Fished the standing timber for an hour. 7 more spots and 3 crappie. Used a jigging spoon and literally could not keep spots away.
The only other what I believe was walleye action was on black grubs trolling in 30 feet of water super super slow I had 3 baby bites that just tapped one time and stopped. Im willing to bet this was walleye as they are such finicky biters and will mouth things briefly........that and every spot that bit were voracious. As usual you cant see walleye on a graph unless they are suspended so trying to "find them" is next to impossible.
Heading back in with my legs exhausted from pedding 12 hours I noticed the tons of bait near ridgeway was 40 feet deep and had to be an acre of it below the boat was being worked by arches both above and below the bait. I dropped night crawlers below the bait on 6lb test, one inches off the 60 foot bottom, and one 5-8 feet below the bait and in the lower feeding fish. I then worked a jigging spoon in the arches above the bait. Caught another 28 spots in this one school all with the spoon. No touches on the nightcrawlers. I caught spots out of the lower arches with the spoon as well.........all spots.
Day total 47 spotted bass to 4lbs, most in the 13 to 14 inch category. Kept one 3lber that was caught to deep and ripped his gills badly with the spoon. 7 crappie all small, 2 hybrids, and 1 lone walleye that I was after.....the first bite of the day <sigh>
As always, still looking for someone who knows how to pursue these fish in georgia better than I do as the idea that im the best........and I still suck this bad.......really hurts my confidence level that I might one day actually be able to catch these fish with consistency haha.
Goodluck out there and be safe.