Greers Ferry is whipping me

I am out at Greer's Ferry for the week. The lake hits 300 feet in some areas. It's almost completely rock walls for shoreline. There's not much water less than 30 feet deep.

I marked fish in 30-45 feet today and couldn't make them bite. The wind was so bad today I couldn't even toss jugs out for catfish.

It's not like any lake I've ever fished before. I'm not proud, I'll take catfish, walleye, white bass, bluegill, or whatever else. It doesn't have to be slab crappie.

I'm not sure I could even buy a fish at the local grocery store. Lol

Two undersized largemouth in two days. It still beats working!

Buddy has been catching walleye pulling nightcrawler rigs at 35 ft or so. For what that's worth. Could that be what you're marking? Might rig up a bottom bouncer trailing a double hook worm rig. Yankee fishing I know but.....

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minnow up and nightcrawler them fish marks .....?

Get with Creekslick he lives there


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Thanks Gomer. I got two cats today. I used a bottom bouncer (2 ounce) with a crankbait but got no hits. I got no hits on jigs either.

I may have to resort to live bait. I can't even catch shad for catfishing. They are deeper than my cast net will go. :(

I can't edit :(. Ketchn, I don't like to use live bait (shad for cats is the exception).

I've already checked with creekslick. He's a guide and I don't want to bother him too much since I'm looking for guidance, not a guide. I'm with my girlfriend and her kids and she keeps telling me that they're coming out with me and getting a guide just isn't on the agenda.

a lb of minnerz my friend will ease the pain of not ketchn fish ,and especially with a crowd on the boat ....just saying
and i never been there and have no clue ,but to be sure i would look close at a major tributary around the mouth and maybe up in it a bit as well this time of year .the fall fish are moving as i type ....just saying

Haven't fished the main lake in 40 years, but if you don't mind trout and if you are close to the dam the fishing for them in the Little Red River below it is relatively easy (you have to pay for a trout stamp though). Light spinning with 4 lb. clear mono, a bb sized split shot 12 inches above the hook, a small hook (salmon egg hook if you can find them) and power bait eggs or paste in chartreuse or red. Just bounce the power bait along the bottom with the current and the bites are fairly easy to detect. Crappie jigs work too, but require a little more effort and experience to get the hook set quickly. Trout are in the river at least to a little bit past Pangburn.

Thanks cricketcage. I actually went down to the little red river below the dam last night. It was odd to see how much the dam can do to that river. I guess I've never fished below a dam before, but it was wild. They had one gate open and saw a boat come up and stop and then get swept down the river. No bites, but it beautiful. Once the gate closed, the water calmed down. I think I'm going to head back out there this morning.

Trout were schooled up on top and wouldn't hit anything. A rooster tail pulled 6 inches in front of them and not even a flinch.

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Originally Posted by Schmoopie

Trout were schooled up on top and wouldn't hit anything. A rooster tail pulled 6 inches in front of them and not even a flinch.

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Those trout you saw on the top of the water are extremely hard to catch there.....been there many times. Go back below the dam and find the pipe. Trout are dumped into the river through that pipe and they tend to hang in that area by the 100’s.

Regards


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Thanks. I've given up on the trout. To watch them just ignore everything from trout magnets, minnow looking soft plastics, the trout marshmallows, and a rooster tail, just made me realize they aren't for me. They're also 35 mins from where we are staying and I can be in the water under 10 mins.

Tomorrow will be jug fishing and drowning minnows for crappie. I'm going to try a minnow tipped jig behind a 2 ounce bottom bouncer for the ones hugging the bottom. Otherwise, I'll use 1 ounce torpedo weights with jigs or cranks.

Congrats Greer's Ferry, you've won.

They say that success is when preparation meets opportunity. I prepared for this trip. I was prepared to catch fish as deep as 20', perhaps 30. The opportunity was 35-70 feet.

I couldn't even find shad in less than. 20 feet. There are areas that are less than 20 feet, but I couldn't find fish in less than 30+. It's the darnedest thing I've ever seen. Normally on lakes 70-100 feet, a lot of the fish stay shallow, but I just couldn't find any groups of fish at depths I'm comfortable with. I had a good plan for today but launched into nasty wind on the other end of the lake.

Total for 5 days on the water -- 2 catfish, 3 under limit largemouth.

I did get comfortable with methods I don't prefer, such as trolling.

"That's why they call it fishing instead of catching"... But I wanted to CATCH!

They don't call it the dead Sea for nothing!!

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The clear water conditions for that body of water can make it very difficult for sure. Like I said, I haven't fished the lake since about 1983, and then we trolled crankbaits that would dive to about 15 feet and caught a mixed bag of walleye, bass, and crappie. I hate trolling, but that did catch us some fish. As for the trout, sight fishing is very difficult as they are extremely wary if they can see you. I have caught some on dry flies there that way, but I had to approach them from down stream and make at least 60 foot casts - and the fly had to resemble what they were feeding on. On the surface of that river it has generally been little blue winged olive may flies (size 20), or the very occasional brown caddis (size 16). However, most of the trout are bottom oriented with the predominant food being sow bugs (which is also the most popular nymph type fly by far). Bouncing a bait along the bottom will almost always work for the stocked rainbows.

Are you still there Smoopie?

No, I'm back home now.

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Originally Posted by LowePro

Are you still there Smoopie?

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If you ever go back that way, pm me. I'll help you all I can. I like fishing Greers but I stay busy and don't get up there as much as I'd like to.