09-28-2015, 03:39 PM
With the moon almost full and the weather unseasonably warm, I decided to try a swing shift trip. Ryan, his son John and I headed for Lincoln Beach. When we got to the ramp at about 6 P.M. there was one trailer in the parking lot. They must have had the same idea because they were just easing their way down the channel. The boat looked like a 14’ Aluminum with 2 people in it.
The launch area was almost covered in floating green moss. We got the boat in with no issues and as we went down the channel with the electric motor, the water depth showed 1.0 feet below the transducer, just about the same as a week ago. The main lake temperature was a toasty 72 degrees.
We wanted some fresh WB for bait so as we cleared the jaws we turned left and Ryan casted toward shore with a jig and fly tandem tipped with worm. In 20 minutes or so Ryan got 3 little whites and a pair of adults. The other boat had set up off the springs so we took our fresh bait and headed for the Island.
We cut up one of the adults and put 4 rods in the water. There seemed to be surface activity everywhere. Some carp jumping, others were cruising the surface and whites taking bugs on the surface, but no kitties. I caught another adult white casting to a splash, but that was it for almost an hour. We were just about to pick up the gear and move when 2 of the bait rods got hammered at the same time. Two cookie cutters and both had just inhaled the baits. I threw out a marker and we continued dragging. After 20 more minutes and no more hits we circled around past the marker. We got no more takers, but decided to anchor the boat halfway between the marker and the island and anchor for the night fishing.
We barely got the anchors set and the rods in the water when it happened again. Two rods got hammered, one on the lake side and one on the island side. 2 more channels, and man did they fight in the warm water! Turned out to be another cookie cutter and one about 23”. The larger one took one of the 5” whites. Things were looking up but the next 20 minutes resulted in one tentative bump and one mudder. Then things went dead again. The wind picked up to about 10 mph out of the SE so the surface activity was gone and nothing seemed to be moving or biting.
Almost an hour later I said we should probably move. Ryan said we had gotten 3
decent cats here and suggested we give it a little longer. 10 minutes late r it happened for the 3rd time. 2 rods had fish on at the same time, one deeper and one shallower. These turned out to be better fish. Ryan got one 26” and John got one 24” and both had completely swallowed the baits. It was like the fish were extremely active, but widely scattered in small groups.
We waited another hour and a half, but this time it didn’t happened. We didn’t even get a nudge after the last 2 fish. We picked up the gear and moved back toward the jetties. We set up a little outside of where we got the whites earlier. Again we had 2 fairly quick hits. One mudder and a 15” channel that hit a floating crawler rig and then it went dead. An hour later we had no more fish. It was almost midnight and we started picking up the gear. Ryan and I had gotten 2 rods in when and were just starting on 2 more when one of them got hit. Ryan handed it to John and he landed a nice 22” cat.
We ended the trip with 8 channels, 6 whites and 2 mudders in just over 6 hours. It was fun, but one of the strangest trips I can remember. Almost all of the hits were very aggressive, but it seemed the fish were widely scattered. I guess 90+ air and 70+ water temps in late September are unusual enough that we should have expected odd things to happen.
I got one picture of Ryan with his first cat of the evening and John in the background. After it got dark I realized it had been too long since I had done any night fishing. I couldn’t find anything!
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The launch area was almost covered in floating green moss. We got the boat in with no issues and as we went down the channel with the electric motor, the water depth showed 1.0 feet below the transducer, just about the same as a week ago. The main lake temperature was a toasty 72 degrees.
We wanted some fresh WB for bait so as we cleared the jaws we turned left and Ryan casted toward shore with a jig and fly tandem tipped with worm. In 20 minutes or so Ryan got 3 little whites and a pair of adults. The other boat had set up off the springs so we took our fresh bait and headed for the Island.
We cut up one of the adults and put 4 rods in the water. There seemed to be surface activity everywhere. Some carp jumping, others were cruising the surface and whites taking bugs on the surface, but no kitties. I caught another adult white casting to a splash, but that was it for almost an hour. We were just about to pick up the gear and move when 2 of the bait rods got hammered at the same time. Two cookie cutters and both had just inhaled the baits. I threw out a marker and we continued dragging. After 20 more minutes and no more hits we circled around past the marker. We got no more takers, but decided to anchor the boat halfway between the marker and the island and anchor for the night fishing.
We barely got the anchors set and the rods in the water when it happened again. Two rods got hammered, one on the lake side and one on the island side. 2 more channels, and man did they fight in the warm water! Turned out to be another cookie cutter and one about 23”. The larger one took one of the 5” whites. Things were looking up but the next 20 minutes resulted in one tentative bump and one mudder. Then things went dead again. The wind picked up to about 10 mph out of the SE so the surface activity was gone and nothing seemed to be moving or biting.
Almost an hour later I said we should probably move. Ryan said we had gotten 3
decent cats here and suggested we give it a little longer. 10 minutes late r it happened for the 3rd time. 2 rods had fish on at the same time, one deeper and one shallower. These turned out to be better fish. Ryan got one 26” and John got one 24” and both had completely swallowed the baits. It was like the fish were extremely active, but widely scattered in small groups.
We waited another hour and a half, but this time it didn’t happened. We didn’t even get a nudge after the last 2 fish. We picked up the gear and moved back toward the jetties. We set up a little outside of where we got the whites earlier. Again we had 2 fairly quick hits. One mudder and a 15” channel that hit a floating crawler rig and then it went dead. An hour later we had no more fish. It was almost midnight and we started picking up the gear. Ryan and I had gotten 2 rods in when and were just starting on 2 more when one of them got hit. Ryan handed it to John and he landed a nice 22” cat.
We ended the trip with 8 channels, 6 whites and 2 mudders in just over 6 hours. It was fun, but one of the strangest trips I can remember. Almost all of the hits were very aggressive, but it seemed the fish were widely scattered. I guess 90+ air and 70+ water temps in late September are unusual enough that we should have expected odd things to happen.
I got one picture of Ryan with his first cat of the evening and John in the background. After it got dark I realized it had been too long since I had done any night fishing. I couldn’t find anything!
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