Jim and I fished Lake Oconee yesterday. We started early at the spot we had done so well at last time we fished. We fished hard and fought the wind all morning and managed only 8 keepers by lunch time. After lunch we moved to a spot that we had not fished all year. The wind had died down some and we immediately started catching fish. We ended the day with 25 decent fish between 10.75 inches and 12 inches along with 2 blue catfish. The water temperature was 78 degrees at the start and 84 degrees when we finished. The best bait by far was a motor oil colored curly tail with a chartreuse tail that I purchased from Curtis Hobbs (Litewirehooker).
As all of you know, the fish are in the timber anywhere from 10 feet to the bottom this time of year. My goal for yesterday was to experiment by adding more weight to my long lines. Every year I get a little "gun shy" under these conditions. Here's what I mean. I want to catch at least as many fish (or more) as always but I fear the hang ups so I make shorter casts and may even use a bit less weight. In my heart I THINK I should be doing the opposite. I guess it's like thinking one could drink themselves sober! I know that a big factor in catching more fish is putting the bait in front of the fish (doh). Anyway, I added a good bit more weight yesterday and also went back to using another hook designed specifically for fishing places like Lake Oconee. I don't know if I caught more fish than I would have otherwise but I think the adjustment did help. Here is the one thing that I did learn and this is very important. In the past I had not been fishing as deep as I thought I was. At one point yesterday I pulled the lines through some 11-12 foot water and I noticed that I was not dragging the bottom even though I was using more weight. Normally, I fish with 1/8 oz of weight. For instance, a double set up with two 1/16 oz jig heads or a single 1/16 oz jig head and a 1/16 oz sinker. I did okay yesterday but now I'm really curious. I'll keep trying. Many of you have fished for those speckled devils much longer than I have. Any opinions are welcome.
