I haven’t posted in a while so here you go.
How, When and Where: I don’t know about you guys but I really don’t care about looking at pictures of fish that other people caught. I really only want to know the skinny on the methods and thought process behind the catch. In the fishing world this information can be hard to come by. However, I’ve been able to specifically target fish by using tactics learned here on the GON forum by people that were willing to share. So before we get to the meat of it I would like to give a big shout out to Jersey Cat and Ronald Milner for sharing wisdom and insight.
Over the past two weekends we were able to boat around 15 Stripes, 10 Spots, and 1 really nice Largemouth. The majority of the spots were caught during the daytime, all but two of the Strips were caught at night. The Largemouth was caught at night and all were caught on Lanier North of Gainesville Marina. Water visibility was anywhere from 1 to 2 feet and the water temp varied from 45 to 52.
The gear used for bass fishing was 6’6 medium action Veritas with a BPS Tourney Qualifier reel spooled with 12 pound Seaguar FC. The primary lure was a ¼ or 3/8 ounce Strike King Fish Head Spin with a Pear Zoom paddle tail fluke. The lure was a little heavy for that rig but I was too lazy to change over to another rig. For the Stripes I used a 7' Omen with the BPS Tourney Qualifier spooled with 20 pound test Suffix mono. Periodically I would pick up a 7' medium heavy GLoomis spinning rig spooled with 20 pound Power Pro Braid and a 6' floro leader (also 20 pound) tied together with an overhand Uni Knot.
Just FYI, anyone that wants to fish spinning tackle can use the braid to floro or mono leader and fish virtually any lure for any species. Just wanted to throw that in there because I’m over that debate all together. Use the rig you feel confident in and let Bass marketing sell to someone else. I really like the 9 casting rigs that I have but I will not say that they help me catch fish better than my spinning rigs. Just wouldn’t be honest. The 7’ GLoomis will get it done in virtually any situation. Anyway…..
I have really been targeting the spots in the river channel north of Thompson Bridge. The location or focus for my search was the inside and outside channel swings of the river. I started by checking the inside swing and would move to the outside swing trying to find fish. The majority of the fish were caught with a 3/8 ounce fish head spin and a pearl zoom paddle tail fluke. This bite was painfully slow and I didn't get to spend as much time in the channel as I wanted. Due to heavy rains the channel would go from heavy stain to mud. At best I would average a fish every two hours and that was infrequent at best. Navionics was the key to fishing the channel for me. I would spend hours on my Iphone locating structure or cover near the swings that I wanted to target. By the time I actually got on the water I could turn the Lowrance Elite 7 to the DI/2d screen because I already knew the contour I was focused on.
About half of the Stripes were picked up around lighted boat docks and the other half were caught in the very back of creeks with two coming off of a deep water point near the creek. The Striper fishing was slow because I have yet to find a school of them. We would pick up a fish at one location and then move to another location and pick up one more. The most productive spot was a nice flat in the back of a creek that had a deep channel close by. We caught two back to back and I think that might have been the school…..
Out of all of this there was one pattern that emerged with all of the fish that I caught. I picked up a few of both species on a Duo Realis 120 SP jerkbait (black and chrome), but the rest were on the fish head spin with a pearl, zoom paddle tail fluke. The fish head spin is my new go to bait. Any time there is a lull in activity, you can bet I will be throwing the fhs. I have been using the Strike King 3/8 ounce. You can get a two pack at BP for around nine bucks. I really don't think the brand matters. I believe having a blade on the jig gives it just enough vibration (noise) to trigger a strike. One night I skunked my buddy with the fish head spin and he was throwing the same zoom fluke on a 3/8 ounce JWill jig head! What was missing? The little spinner on the bottom of the jig. I would like to think that I was that much better than him but I really believe it was the spinner.
FYI, you can pick up an Abu Garcia Veritas rod at ManVentureOutpost online for $57 to $59 or BP will price match from there. They retail at BP for $99 so that’s a pretty good deal. Also, the BP Tourney Qualifier went on sale for $79. Could be the best $100 reel on the market.
Here are a few pics...
How, When and Where: I don’t know about you guys but I really don’t care about looking at pictures of fish that other people caught. I really only want to know the skinny on the methods and thought process behind the catch. In the fishing world this information can be hard to come by. However, I’ve been able to specifically target fish by using tactics learned here on the GON forum by people that were willing to share. So before we get to the meat of it I would like to give a big shout out to Jersey Cat and Ronald Milner for sharing wisdom and insight.
Over the past two weekends we were able to boat around 15 Stripes, 10 Spots, and 1 really nice Largemouth. The majority of the spots were caught during the daytime, all but two of the Strips were caught at night. The Largemouth was caught at night and all were caught on Lanier North of Gainesville Marina. Water visibility was anywhere from 1 to 2 feet and the water temp varied from 45 to 52.
The gear used for bass fishing was 6’6 medium action Veritas with a BPS Tourney Qualifier reel spooled with 12 pound Seaguar FC. The primary lure was a ¼ or 3/8 ounce Strike King Fish Head Spin with a Pear Zoom paddle tail fluke. The lure was a little heavy for that rig but I was too lazy to change over to another rig. For the Stripes I used a 7' Omen with the BPS Tourney Qualifier spooled with 20 pound test Suffix mono. Periodically I would pick up a 7' medium heavy GLoomis spinning rig spooled with 20 pound Power Pro Braid and a 6' floro leader (also 20 pound) tied together with an overhand Uni Knot.
Just FYI, anyone that wants to fish spinning tackle can use the braid to floro or mono leader and fish virtually any lure for any species. Just wanted to throw that in there because I’m over that debate all together. Use the rig you feel confident in and let Bass marketing sell to someone else. I really like the 9 casting rigs that I have but I will not say that they help me catch fish better than my spinning rigs. Just wouldn’t be honest. The 7’ GLoomis will get it done in virtually any situation. Anyway…..
I have really been targeting the spots in the river channel north of Thompson Bridge. The location or focus for my search was the inside and outside channel swings of the river. I started by checking the inside swing and would move to the outside swing trying to find fish. The majority of the fish were caught with a 3/8 ounce fish head spin and a pearl zoom paddle tail fluke. This bite was painfully slow and I didn't get to spend as much time in the channel as I wanted. Due to heavy rains the channel would go from heavy stain to mud. At best I would average a fish every two hours and that was infrequent at best. Navionics was the key to fishing the channel for me. I would spend hours on my Iphone locating structure or cover near the swings that I wanted to target. By the time I actually got on the water I could turn the Lowrance Elite 7 to the DI/2d screen because I already knew the contour I was focused on.
About half of the Stripes were picked up around lighted boat docks and the other half were caught in the very back of creeks with two coming off of a deep water point near the creek. The Striper fishing was slow because I have yet to find a school of them. We would pick up a fish at one location and then move to another location and pick up one more. The most productive spot was a nice flat in the back of a creek that had a deep channel close by. We caught two back to back and I think that might have been the school…..
Out of all of this there was one pattern that emerged with all of the fish that I caught. I picked up a few of both species on a Duo Realis 120 SP jerkbait (black and chrome), but the rest were on the fish head spin with a pearl, zoom paddle tail fluke. The fish head spin is my new go to bait. Any time there is a lull in activity, you can bet I will be throwing the fhs. I have been using the Strike King 3/8 ounce. You can get a two pack at BP for around nine bucks. I really don't think the brand matters. I believe having a blade on the jig gives it just enough vibration (noise) to trigger a strike. One night I skunked my buddy with the fish head spin and he was throwing the same zoom fluke on a 3/8 ounce JWill jig head! What was missing? The little spinner on the bottom of the jig. I would like to think that I was that much better than him but I really believe it was the spinner.
FYI, you can pick up an Abu Garcia Veritas rod at ManVentureOutpost online for $57 to $59 or BP will price match from there. They retail at BP for $99 so that’s a pretty good deal. Also, the BP Tourney Qualifier went on sale for $79. Could be the best $100 reel on the market.
Here are a few pics...
