Lake Lochloosa

Fished Lochloosa again 9/16.

Better quality fish today than last week. Not as many, but bigger. We caught about 90 total and kept 39.

Last week they would hit anything you put in the water, this week they were a bit harder to please. Of all we pushed (tightline trolling), a plain hook with minnow did the poorest. Jigs with minnows did best and a plain jig (no minnow) I designed did really good pulled by itself way behind the boat.

Best bite was morning. We fished until about 1pm then took our usual mid-day break. We thought the wind was going to be bad but it calmed right down in the afternoon. Our last two hours were the poorest all day. We caught 24 but all but 6 we tossed back in.

Tom

You must eat a LOT of crappie :D

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Originally Posted by mystic1219

You must eat a LOT of crappie :D

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We do. :)

But my fishing buddy normally gets half. We freeze some packs and give them to my kids too.

Tom

PS: The lady that runs the place remembered you (and the problem you had with your tent :) ) and said she enjoyed having you guys stay.

PPS: If you can ever get away on a (normally) Tuesday my fishing buddy Don and I will show you how we are catching those fish. You bring your boat and follow us and we will show you the techniques and the spots we are hitting.

My fishing partner and I are old friends (37 years) and we hit the lake on weekdays because weekends are so crowded there. We are presently fishing out of a tiny tin boat I inherited from my Father-in-Law. My 'real' boat is a ProCat 2450 offshore catamaran. Don is currently rigging his inshore boat, a 22 foot bay boat, to troll for crappie, so we will be in a better ride in a week or so. :)

Another day on Lochloosa, Friday 9/26.

The norther that blew through killed the fishing. We only caught 31 and most were disappointingly small (and tossed back in to grow a bit, we only kept 10 of the biggest). The lake water was dirty from being wind-roiled, weeds had blown out and made tightlining a chore on some parts of the lake. The fish were scattered all over the place.

A high point was meeting a fellow forum member and his fishing partner today. Joe (forum name 'Joe') drove over 80 miles to fish Lochloosa and caught some fish... but I wish they had been turned on like they have for the last month or so.

Maybe next week. :)

Tom

PS: My fishing partner Don said we miscounted after he counted the fish in the cooler... we caught 32.

Tom good to see you still getting after it.Did your partner ever get his boat rigged up or are you still fishing out of yours.I guess its time for me to get my boat back in the water after sitting all summer.lockloosa is a little to far for me ,il probably try the clearmont area in the next couple of weeks.
Im thinking maybe trying to fish a few of the florida crappie club tournys next year.I wonder why rthey dont fish jhan and fen tournys,maybe it gets to crowded.


kirk

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Originally Posted by captnkirk2112

Tom good to see you still getting after it.Did your partner ever get his boat rigged up or are you still fishing out of yours.

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We were fishing for the first time in my buddy Don's 22 foot Sea Chaser.

Talk about moving from a Yugo to a Mercedes. :) That big boat was comfortable. Plenty of room up front for the both of us on his Add-A-Seat dual seat setup. The minnow bucket at our feet, but out of the way, fish ice chest right behind us so we don't even have to get up to toss one in the cooler, Hi-Tek rod holders have all our ten rods at out fingertips now... man, that was the most comfortable Crappie trip I've ever had. We normally fish our 'big boats' in salt water... but Don is hooked on Crappie fishing now as the New Thing :) , so we are hitting it pretty hard.

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I guess its time for me to get my boat back in the water after sitting all summer.lockloosa is a little to far for me ,il probably try the clearmont area in the next couple of weeks.

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We have been fishing Lochloosa (and Sampson) for the past two months and have done well every trip except one... and that was our fault for trying to fish in a storm anyway. We still caught fish even then before being forced off the lake... in a downpour, after the main motor quit and we had to come back in on the trolling motor, with lightning striking all around us, with visibility so short you could not see the shore... we came in with my hand-held GPS guiding us. Just another normal Tom and Don fishing trip. ;)

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Im thinking maybe trying to fish a few of the florida crappie club tournys next year.I wonder why rthey dont fish jhan and fen tournys,maybe it gets to crowded.
kirk

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We are not really tournament types... hate the crowds. Which is why we never fish weekends.

Tom

Thanks for the reports... I'm heading down there this weekend and staying at Lochloosa Harbor... Just wondering if your drifting open water in the middle of the lake or fishing closer to the shoreline? And how deep they're sitting right now... Is that a deep lake? I usually do my crapp fishing in the St. Johns (julington/durbin) but last season the bite was horrible, pretty sure it's because we had so much salt water in the river last year... I was netting shrimp inside Julington...:eek: Anyways thanks for any help... Will post a report after the weekend...

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Originally Posted by CrapHead27

Thanks for the reports... I'm heading down there this weekend and staying at Lochloosa Harbor... Just wondering if your drifting open water in the middle of the lake or fishing closer to the shoreline? And how deep they're sitting right now... Is that a deep lake? I usually do my crapp fishing in the St. Johns (julington/durbin) but last season the bite was horrible, pretty sure it's because we had so much salt water in the river last year... I was netting shrimp inside Julington...:eek: Anyways thanks for any help... Will post a report after the weekend...

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Lots of people drift open water there... we don't. We tightline troll.

As of last week, the fish were scattered all over the place, so I really don't have any suggestions that would amount to anything. Depth changes during the day but starting at 3 feet or so never hurts. Adjust accordingly.

Lochloosa is not a deep lake at all. It is a big shallow bowl. It is about 8 or 9 feet everywhere you go.

Tom

guess I'll try some trolling before I drop some minnows in the water... Thanks

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Originally Posted by CrapHead27

guess I'll try some trolling before I drop some minnows in the water... Thanks

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We are trolling jigs with minnows.

Tom