Jeremy, awesome slabs man and great detailed report! I just finally broke 14" and you are catching 16.5's... lol. Keep up the good work.
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Jeremy, awesome slabs man and great detailed report! I just finally broke 14" and you are catching 16.5's... lol. Keep up the good work.
041110
Raleigh Area Lake
8:45am
2:00pm
00 Keepers
water 64F, normal pool
not murky
light winds
Yeah, 0 keepers! I think the cold front messed them up? I tried everything, everywhere. I even trolled a couple bandits. Next week, I guess.
Last year's report copied below:
Quote:
Originally Posted by crataegus
Ahh a day or two like that just keeps ya honest! :p
040410
Raleigh Area Lake
8:15am
11:30am
04 Keepers
10.5"-15" (15.0"=2lb 1oz)
04 harvested
Water 68.5F, normal pool
not murky
10mph, W
4'-8' down in 6'-10'
***1/16oz blue/chart tube
minnow
Still not what I was hoping for, but I caught a strong 15" male off of a pvc structure flipping a jig from a distance. Other than that, lots of dinks. The fish aren't going to hit their summer pattern until we get a few more days that feel like summer. Although, if I had my choice, I'd ask spring to stick around a little longer!
Last year's report copied below:
Quote:
Originally Posted by crataegus
Been way too long since I've posted a QR. I've got the big fish pics up, and will try to recall a few details here in the next couple evenings.
any way you could come down here and teach me to fish the lake i live on. Its a private lake though so id have to call you in at the gate. I am going to try some of your rigs out here ill post back monday night and let you know how it goes. I have to get up early to beat all the jet skies and wake boarders man they have no respect for a john boat.
May and June 2010
Raleigh Area Lake
about 125 Keepers
10.5"-17.5" (17.5"=2lb 15.5 oz)
many harvested
4'-8' down in 6'-10'
1/16oz blue/chart tube
minnow
Well, here's the deal...
...I had every report since early May written down and ready to post. It's gone. I could try to blame it on someone else, but I shouldn't have waited so long to post...and it may still turn up, who knows.
So I guess I'll summarize the last 10 trips or so to the Raleigh Area Lake.
Both months were full of good fishing. My biggest 10 fish would probably weigh about 24 lbs or so and average 16" My biggest 100 fish would weigh about 140 lbs and average 13". My biggest fish overall was 2 lb 15.5 oz (17.5"). I released it after it swore to me that it would bite again in the spring. I took her word since she has no fingers to cross. My most exciting moment this spring came commenced as 2 poles went down simultaneously and I ended up landing my first 2lb + double (2 lbs 3 oz; 2 lbs 9 oz). Once the water temp hit about 80, the mid-lake hump became immensely productive. My PVC pile was great during the post spawn, but died once the water hit about 85. Randomly inserted into this paragraph, I must say that in the last 2 months I didn't lose any 2+ lb fish at the boat that could have potentially been netted--so my minnow net is and remains the only net in my boat.
Other spots producing well this time last year just aren't cutting it this year, or else I would be posting 20 and 30 fish days instead of 10-15 fish pulls. One thing is for sure--I need to discover or induce a couple more summer spots. I've got a a few ideas for simple structure that is extremely quick to deploy.
I have had most of my success on 6lb flourocarbon line, a #5 ear-less split shot, a #2 Aberdeen hook, and a small minnow. A 1/16oz chartreuse-based tube jig was THE first strike weapon while the water was under 85. Now, I don't catch much on them. I believe my biggest improvement this year has been completing a set of matching Cardinal 101 reels and ProAnglerTackle.com rods, giving me symmetry in spider rigging.
I think I will invest in a couple jigging spoons soon, since last year about this time, I showed a couple guys from out of state the hump (they didn't have GPS, of course). We each fished the tiny mound in our own boats, circling around it. I pulled the first couple fish off of it, but once the fish got spooked, they pulled out several more, including a 2+, with a 1/4oz jigging spoon! Another potential investment will be the iPilot! The only thing it lacks is a place to plug in headphones and a USB port to download music.
About the oddest thing I've seen on the lake in the last couple months has been a dive bombing Great Blue Heron. He dives like an Eagle onto its prey in the middle of the lake, crashes into the water, swims like a Pelican briefly, then awkwardly takes off! I didn't even know they could swim!
I've become quite experienced with my little 1500 watt deep fryer as I have lately filleted several fish! I have started mixing various batters to find something that is low in salt and still delicious. I've found that plain unprocessed cornflour, a bunch of dried dill, and some Old Bay (which is the only source of salt) is absolutely delicious when fried in veggie oil. It's a dry batter that I put into a name brand Zip-Lock bag and shake with the fish. Many thanks to PG24 and Chief for convincing me to spend more time with my fish.
Well, that's that.
Jeremy
good job Crat...but what is cornflour?
Hey PopPop,
In this case it's corn meal, only ground finer.
Too much info: In England I believe that "corn flour" is a reference to corn starch. And after a bit of research I learned that there is a corn flour known as masa harina which is made from dried corn soaked in lime water, de-hulled, and still moist, is ground into fine flour.
Sounds good