After looking at the USGS graph I see that the lake is dropping fast- which I knew was going to happen this month- and it got me to thinking. When we troll for flounder we alway troll against the tide. When trolling or pulling planer boards/freeling do you guys take the flow of the river channel into consideration? Do you change techniques when they are pulling heavily to lower the lake?
I don’t know how far up u have to go to see or feel current but I imagine it’s pretty far up. When I fished the top of Russell with them running water the current was gone once u got a mile away from the dam. I am sure u will hit some way any up past Kempson but I have never been up there so have no experience.
When watching monster striper videos they always seem to pull up current. It’s much easier to control your speed that way. If your pulling with current u can run your trolling motor backwards to slow u down to the desired speed.
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
115 Evinrude
Thanks Mm. That was actually going to be part of my question, whether one could actually even notice a heavy drawdown.I was hoping maybe I was onto something to increase my bite ratio!
In general on the lake I’ve always moved any direction necessary to try and stay on fish- upriver/downriver, zig-zag.The biggest factor dictating which direction I go has been the wind and trolling battery charge.
I’ve only been WAY upriver in a john boat and that was 15 years ago. We went past Saluda River Resort and nearly got stranded when the lake dropped a few feet! We were scooting from puddle to puddle.
This weekend I’m going to be concentrating on the areas you guys suggested earlier in the week: Gap to 'Bow to a little past Blacks. Might make it up as far as Kempson’s if I have to.
That’s my plan unless someone has found them elsewhere and can make a more specific recommendation…(kinda skinny on fishing reports this week)
I used to troll Bear creek a lot for stripers in the spring. Many times the stripers would only hit if we trolled in one direction, such as south to north. Never quite understood why that was, but it definitely happened a lot. Maybe something to do with the way the light penetrated the water causing the bait to look different? Anyone else ever seen this?
You really won’t see many reports until the week after the 16th. Reports are always rare the week before a tx. If there are some that come out they will be vague. They will usually give water depth they were targeting, temp, and techniques but not locations. I will post one on Sunday afternoon for the whole weekend unless sat is just crazy with fish…
I have seen fish only bite in one direction. But usually has to do with wind blowing on a bank. Everyone hates fishing in the wind but if you think about it a wind blown bank especially in the winter is a buffet for the food chain. Usually a high wind day comes with a low pressure which causes microscopic plankton to float which then gets blown where ever which is usually a bank. then the bait come in to feed on the stuff that has blown together and then come the fish feeding on the bait…mother nature at work
“Sea~N~Stripes”
21’ Hewes Craft Custom
115 Evinrude
Chip, I completely agree with that. I used to always find shelter on windy days. But after we fished that night tournament on the wind blown bank, I started fishing windblown areas. I used to regularly get skunked on windy days and now do pretty decent.
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
Good Point Chip. That’s science at it’s best right there! Now I have a good excuse to fish in a hurricane.
- Corey
198 DLV Carolina Skiff
Hmmm…winter wind blown banks…sounds like a good place to use my Side Imaging! If only I can keep my boat off the bank, too.
The river usually has pretty good flow until you get 2 or 3 miles from Kempson. When you start seeing the backwaters is when the river slows. I noticed on the Monster Striper videos they were actually anchored letting and letting the current of the river keep the board up close to the bank on some of their catches.
quote:
Originally posted by SpoonmasterI used to troll Bear creek a lot for stripers in the spring. Many times the stripers would only hit if we trolled in one direction, such as south to north. Never quite understood why that was, but it definitely happened a lot. Maybe something to do with the way the light penetrated the water causing the bait to look different? Anyone else ever seen this?
I’ve wondered if the sun on clear days had anything to do with that. Maybe the fish didn’t want to look into it. I don’t know.