Russell 1-25-16

[STUMP HUNTER]

Wanted to see what the lake looked like so I hooked up the boat and headed to a creek on the SC side. Was there a week and a half ago and it was very hard stained but to my surprise the water is clear. Once the boat was unloaded I rode around awhile looking for bait or fish. Went from the main river all the way to 4' of water and never found bait or fish anywhere but in 30 to 40' depth hugging the bottom. Didn't have my tight line setup with me so I moved close to some standing timber and put out some jigs. Never found any crappie high in the water column but the spots were there biting. Also hooked up for a good fight with a crap. Water holding right at 50 degrees. Hope to go back soon to see what was hugging the bottom.
Couple of pics. FYI - the tree tops were biting very well!! Caught more of them than I wanted

[OBRage]

Good report. It's always hard to find the fish when you can't find the bait. thanks for the pics.

[gabowman]

Thanks for the report Ronnie. Glad seeing youre still catching even if they werent crappie. With the flood gates open in Hartwell I assume the lake was overfilled and with a strong current? I know CH has a good current running back into the backs of the creeks.

[STUMP HUNTER]

It does Butch, lots of water in the lake right now.

[sinkermaker]

Hey Butch I haven't seen any post from Sunday. Did you get to go. I haven't been but looking to go Friday.

[gabowman]

Hey Butch I haven't seen any post from Sunday. Did you get to go. I haven't been but looking to go Friday.

Don, I didnt do a post because I forgot the camera (yea, I know, that sucks!). I started fishing at Noon and fished 4 hours catching 8 crappie, 4 or 5 perch, a couple small stripers and breaking off a rather large striper that was fixing to make a BIG wreck of my LL setup. The good part about the trip is the fish were rather large and none of the crappie were throw backs (I didnt keep anything but the crappie). I just finished feeding my Dad and his wife along with me and the Mrs. I also gave 6 or 7 pieces of uncooked fish to a friend for his supper tomorrow night. Most of the fillets produced two pieces each so that might tell you the size. I also have a few peices for lunch tomorrow.

The water temp where I fished was @ 50* and the depth of water I caught the fish in was between 20'-30' deep. I was pulling a 1/16th with a splitshot @ .8 mph which had the jigs closes to 13' deep. Most fish I was marking was 15'-25' deep. Plenty of fish was there bnut it appeared they just wasnt that aggressive. I tried a few other places where I was also marking fish and bait but it seemed just as slow, or slower.

All in all, it was a great day for fishing. Especially being my first trip of the year I impressed myself bringing home a mess of fresh fish for a meal. I hear a warm weekend is ahead so I cant wait until I'm off work again to try it again. I wont get a chance to fish again until next Monday so hopefully alot of the CDC members will post some good reports over the weekend. Go get 'em guys. The males are roaming and the females are already developing some nice sized egg sacks.

[SeaRay]

Good report Ronnie and a Bugle Mouth Bass to boot!

You (or anyone) got any idea what Secession looks like?

[STUMP HUNTER]

Ray I was there two weeks ago and it was a mess. It should be getting better but I'm not sure.

[Inkdabber]

Good report, congrats on the catch

[Knappy]

way to go Stump-love the pics!