Hoticello 6-25

The Raccoon, his wife, and I went to Monticello today since Wateree is having a "fish problem". Launched at 215 ramp around 10ish. Got too hot too soon. Raccoon and his wife got overheated so fishing time was cut and swimming time began. They got into the water after beaching the boat. I had managed to get into the water myself after some difficulty. Fished while wading out in the water and caught two channel cats and sole bream. After getting cooled off some what, we made an attempt to fish. I was adamant to try out my version of the Steve Collamander's double jig rig. My version consisted of 2 jigheads 1/16 oz on bottom with 1/32 on top with whack em stackem minnow bait (purchased from Bud's Bait and Tackle) on bottom and Gulpy minnow on top. Heat got overbearing for Raccoon and wife, but i didn't want to leave till my rig produced results. Dropped rig to the bottom in 40ft of water and swam it up some and back to bottom it went. Did this until I had something crash it. I was hooting and hollering like Ric Flair thinking it either was a big ole bass or double shot magnum perch. Nope...Stinking 4lb blue cat on bottom jig. Heat messed up my judgement and I ended releasing catfish. Went home after that.

Sounds like a great trip

Hot but fun, thanks for sharing

Glad yall caught a few but yes, the heat will ruin a perfectly good fishing trip. I'm waiting for cooler temps before I'll try it again although I have been "thinking about going". The heat used to not bother me but I guess Ive just gotten old. HA!:)

Thank you for your great report. I'm glad that you found a few hungry fish!

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If the wind is not stirring on Monticello, it's going to be hot as an oven that late in the morning. Hate the fish didn't bite like you wanted. I like to fish down there in the winter months. Then it's too windy! Can't win either way. :highfive

Thanks for the report. I’ve used that double rig Steve uses a lot for perch and small stripers. He rigs it mostly with double 1/8 oz jigs and a split shot in between them to keep them separated. That split shot will foul occasionally. I’ve started using a 3/16 on the bottom and a 1/8 up top and it works great. The perch seem to like the jigs falling faster. I’ve tried the lighter jigs like you had rigged and they didn’t respond well and it took a long time to sink. I’ve also tried a 1/16 up top and it wanted to float up on the fall more and foul the line. I’ve done better on Slider jig bodies than curly tails. Experiment with colors. They can really want a certain color and it changes day to day.

Attachment 431198
Went to Monticello on 6/18 myself. Caught just over 20 perch around the 25-35' range on a white jigging spoon. Switched to a crankbait and caught some really nice bass on rocky points. This was one of them.