Fished Saturday morning during the tournament, but did not do too well only five fish with two keepers.
Put in at Acapulco Landing and rode up to Hollow Creek. I spent about an hour just hunting and searching, since this is new ground for me. Best places I saw were the entrance to Buffalo Creek #13, and the Big Gap #11. I think that I missed the morning bite, so our fishing was slow. Tons of bait are holding at the upper right hand corner of V2. Look for the SCE&G Cable Crossing warning sign and you will know you are in the right spot.
Sunday morning we left out of Larry Koon Landing with a late start due to a comedy or errors, but we won’t go there. Saw breaking fish immediately at the little islands located in block W2. Mainly northern side the larger island. Caught one keeper there, and worked our way over to the Big Gap area I mention above. Had several pull downs along the way and boated three under sized fish. I had one smoker fish that hit a down rod. His first run was about 50 yards before I got him turned. Gained 1/2 of that back, and he blew it up again. Had him turned and was reeling him in when the hook pulled about 25 yards from the boat. It “was” a big fish. I sure would have liked to have at least seen color on him.
I was fishing four down rods, two planers boards (because I won them in the raffle at the last meeting), and a way back free line (looking for the big tuna…I mean striper bite). The down rods were fished mostly about mid water depth with the deepest going down to 40 feet.
Big shout out to Murrayman on Sunday, for helping us to get dialed in. It was fun fishing.
We also fished the “Cable Crossing” area mentioned by Dave on Sunday … never [personally] used planer boards … ever … used them rigged up on Striperskiff’s boat, but stupid me, I failed to pay attention to how they were set up… anyways … after rigging them how I “thought” I was told I about threw them in the lake … if fact I was re-doing my downrods when Murraymaker pulled up and gave us the down and dirty on riggin up the planer boards … once that was done we were in business … I only got 1 set of boards (NOTE: never did get a C/B from the MSC guy who makes/sells boards so I bought a set of WaterBugz from Lake World) …
Worked that area for several hours until about 5 … We pulled in a couple of 22" and a 28" … We also had a “big” fish rip about 100’ of line only to have me pull the hook on him within the last 20’ or so of the boat … My fault I horsed him when I should’ve let him run …
After that we pulled up and grabbed my daughter from Beech Creek and then worked the topwater bite in Z5 … schools were really small and didn’t stay up long so we called in a day …
About 1/2 mile from Koons Landing the Yamaha cutout while on full plane … I throttled her back and she ran fine … throttled back up and she cut out again, backfired, and quit … subsequent restarts were unsuccessful … so I used the trolling motor to get the rest of the way to the ramp … You’ll never guess what ticked me off about all that … I’m not upset about the motor - I can fix that … I’m upset that we dumped all our bait at Z5 and didn’t have any left to pull on the boards while we trolled back to the ramp …
Oh well … it was a good day all in all … I got the boat home and she started back up so it’s not a catastrophic problem … but it’s one I need to fix before I put her back in the water … My Wife is gonna kill me now if I don’t fix her [the boat] fast … I got Liz all worked up on that planer bite and now if she can’t fish it - I’m a dead man …
Oh yeah … I forgot to ask … How fast do you guys like to pull your boards?
I was told to pull them about .7 - .9 … but the entire time I pulled at that speed I got nothing …
I was crossing the gap and I kicked it up a notch to 1.3 - 1.5 and that’s when I got all my hits/fish …
Next time I’m out I’m going to check my speed with the cell phone just to make sure my I-Pilot is giving me accurate results …
I was pulling a Herring on one side and a Gizzard Shad on the other with 2 bucktails in the middle … Both live baits did well and were hit equally … I didn’t notice that they were distressed when we reeled them in to check on them although I try to change bait frequently …
Once I get comfortable enough to pull more than 1 set of boards (I have no idea how you guys pull more than 2 sets without it being a complete mess when they hit) I’ll be able to change baits more frequently … perhaps next time I’ll try live baits in the middle instead of tails …
Anyways … let me know what speeds have worked for you guys
Oh…I forgot to mention one other area as well. (Though we did not fish there) During lunch we picked up a friend of mine at Acapulco landing and motored back up to the house the sits on the point of the entrance to Rocky Creek in block R1. This house backs up to what amounts to a cliff. With in 10 feet of the bank it is 45 feet deep and falls off to 80 feet about 30 away from the bank.
There was an unreal amount of bait in this area and we did mark a few fish, but moved back to where we were earlier at Buffalo Creek. We did manage to catch a large mouth bass here. Little tiny threadfin shad were being crashed on against the rocks.
Has anyone fished here for stripers. Looks like a great drop off to jig for them. Look at the link below to see exactly where I’m talking about. The located at the end of Laurel Rock Point.
Take 2, that is a good spot. I like to work along there over to the entrance to Acapulco then out across the main river channel from there. If you turn right into rocky creek before Acapulco cove there always seems to be a lot of perch in the winter.
David I normally pull at .6 unless the water is really cold then I will slow it down. Occaisionally will speed it up if nothing is happening but 90% of the time I am at .6.
All of my fish came over the river channel Saturday. Boards did not work for me but heavier weghted freelines did.
Oh yeah … I forgot to ask … How fast do you guys like to pull your boards?
I was told to pull them about .7 - .9 … but the entire time I pulled at that speed I got nothing …
I was crossing the gap and I kicked it up a notch to 1.3 - 1.5 and that’s when I got all my hits/fish …
Next time I’m out I’m going to check my speed with the cell phone just to make sure my I-Pilot is giving me accurate results …
I was pulling a Herring on one side and a Gizzard Shad on the other with 2 bucktails in the middle … Both live baits did well and were hit equally … I didn’t notice that they were distressed when we reeled them in to check on them although I try to change bait frequently …
Once I get comfortable enough to pull more than 1 set of boards (I have no idea how you guys pull more than 2 sets without it being a complete mess when they hit) I’ll be able to change baits more frequently … perhaps next time I’ll try live baits in the middle instead of tails …
Anyways … let me know what speeds have worked for you guys
it’s my Wife’s fault we HAVE to fish now!!!
2005 Sea Pro 2100cc / Yamaha 150hp 4-Stroke
Slow down!! We pull boards at 0.4 to 0.6 mph. Sometimes slower, sometimes faster. Also, don’t troll in a straight line. Turn left and then right or vice-versa. If you notice more hits on the outside boards (faster) or the inside boards (slower), then adjust your speed. The fish will tell you what speed is right! If you have a GPS on your console, the SOG is usually more accurate than the iPilot.
We rarely pull more than 4 boards per side, and most times just use 3. We operate under the belief that catching the fish is more important than untangling l
Ha … that’s funny … I guess that’s why my boards were leaving wake in the water … but still - NOTHING hit at the slower speeds … EVERYTHING hit at +1 mph GPS speed … I wonder if my GPS is off … But who am I to say - I’ve only pulled them ONCE by myself soooooooooooooooooo … slow it’ll be next time …
Also, with regard to what Rick is saying, if we get a big hookup, we will clear what lines we can immediately. If a fish catches another line, we’ll crank in tangle and all if we judge it too risky to attempt getting it cleared. A big fish is worth all the time untangling and retieing… There are times in which we will speed up, but. 4-.6 works well most of the time. In gusty winds, it can be difficult to maintain optimal speed. That’s my biggest challenge as Hardcore Team Helmsman:smiley:
Yeah, but you did a great job, Fog, during the Sportsman’s Warehouse/Breast Cancer Awareness tournament. I was fighting the big fish, you were controlling the boat, and Gary was clearing the lines! The bottom line is “it worked” and we won the tournament and Big Fish.
The speed to pull bait should vary… It’s dictated by the bait you are using, how many bites you are getting, and what the fish want… Thats another reason I like bigger gizzard shad for bait…They can handle being pulled faster than the herring. If I have a spread out and not getting bit, then why would I want to putt-putt around in the area?..I want to move and cover ground until I find the area with biting fish… Sometimes the change of pace will trigger a bite…Its not uncommon for me to just kill the trolling motor and stop on a spot if I have reason to believe a fish will blow them up there…Sometimes getting the baits to wake on top will trigger the bite…I generally will slow down or stop when a fish blows up the bait but sometimes its better to keep the baits moving to keep fish interested…We probably caught 20-25 fish in the tournament Saturday but unfortunately the ten pounders we were catching on Friday turned to 5 and under on Saturday for some reason… We caught 5 nice keepers and one short fish at a spot in about 30 mins on Friday…One was 11 lbs, another was right at 9 lbs so we shut it down…No sense hammering those fish when we had a tournament the next day…We were in 2 to 10 ft of water all day…My keepers to short fish ratio has been good the last three weeks…until Saturday…lol
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
The speed to pull bait should vary… It’s dictated by the bait you are using, how many bites you are getting, and what the fish want… Thats another reason I like bigger gizzard shad for bait…They can handle being pulled faster than the herring. If I have a spread out and not getting bit, then why would I want to putt-putt around in the area?..I want to move and cover ground until I find the area with biting fish… Sometimes the change of pace will trigger a bite…Its not uncommon for me to just kill the trolling motor and stop on a spot if I have reason to believe a fish will blow them up there…Sometimes getting the baits to wake on top will trigger the bite…I generally will slow down or stop when a fish blows up the bait but sometimes its better to keep the baits moving to keep fish interested…We probably caught 20-25 fish in the tournament Saturday but unfortunately the ten pounders we were catching on Friday turned to 5 and under on Saturday for some reason… We caught 5 nice keepers and one short fish at a spot in about 30 mins on Friday…One was 11 lbs, another was right at 9 lbs so we shut it down…No sense hammering those fish when we had a tournament the next day…We were in 2 to 10 ft of water all day…My keepers to short fish ratio has been good the last three weeks…until Saturday…lol
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
Hmmm… Thanks for the clues Woody. I’ve had a hunch that I need to check something out. Your report seems to be pointing me in that direction… As for Saturday, even though we only finished 10th, we were marginally happy just to get the 5 keepers we had. October can be tough.
