Still have a breeze to contend with, wind was just over 12 mph and swirling in several directions. Made for interesting casting. The temperature was just 90 so it is definitely shorts and tee shirt weather.
I'm guessing the full moon has quite a bit of influence on the fish's appetite. Right from the start I got casting with the lizard. I'd make these long casts on the weightless lizard. The bait would settle and the line would start to move laterally. There was no perceptible loading on the line to feel. When the fish did move the line it would feel like a light peck and that was it. However it would continue to move laterally. Ok, I figured I got their number on this new twist of things. I would just follow the line, reel down and haul back.
I got 3 LMBs using that technique within the first 15 minutes being there. They were all about 11 ~ 12 inches in size. Interesting enough all of them had fairly trim bellies. So I'm guessing that they have spawned out. So it must be time to eat! And eat they did. All three of them had a good portion of the lizard in their gullet. It was a bit of a challenge to gently remove the lizard from that sphincter. I'm also going to make a change from the worm hooks back to the wide gap hooks in hopes of not getting the hook in so deep in the mouth. These larger worm hooks go down into the mouth quite far and I'm concerned that removing them is a challenge.
When using the skirted jigs the large gap hooks there never go very far down in. So I'm hoping to duplicate that when using the soft baits. I also got several strikes on the skirted jigs when sending it towards the center of the dam. Unfortunately they must have learned from the previous day as they didn't persist in holding on to the bait. I was not able to get any of them to hold on or bring any of those to shore.
I also used the fish whip today with limited success. I managed to bring several to shore with another one that was chased about by a really large bass right after hooking up. That was exciting. The bluegill dove right into the shallow weeds and so did the large LMB. The bluegill got a reprieve as I was able to lift it clear and release it. I think it might be time to bring out the real fly rod and give that a try once again. I'll see how that works with my new technique.
I found out today in the breeze that casting sideways works really well. I can manage the wind by keeping in to my back and I also avoid catching myself too! The main benefit is that I'm able to watch the timing of both back and fore casts. The accuracy is pretty good using this sideways technique. So I'm thinking that I can do even better with a full length fly rod. We shall see.
No comments:
Post a Comment