gofishAU, Chick + Eufaula, Largemouth, 5/11 - 5/16

[FishNews]

This post will have all kinds of "wrong" in it! Last week I got so itchy to get on the water...that I decided to get IN the water. Last Tuesday decided to get out with a buddy and wade fish parts of Soddy Lake. Not knowing even where to begin we began casting lipless and blade baits and wound up catching a decent bag of fish before work. We had 17 for the morning--half of them keepers--and the good Lord threw in a 4-pounder for my braving the cold water. Well, that got us thinking about a strategy for Wednesday, so we met up early to do some old-school running-and-gunning with the Chevy to some shallow areas I've been looking at on the map. Wednesday we landed 43 bass, around 20 keepers, and had a best 5 that was flirting with 18#. It doesn't end there...Thursday I took my buddy Coleman out there for a morning trip and wore out another 21 fish with 6 keepers. Most of the fish were caught in Soddy Lake in water that was just over my waist. The fish are absolutely everywhere right now, and we caught them on everything we wanted to throw at them. The topwater walking-style bait is the most consistent producer of keepers, but rarely were they over the 2.25# mark. The plastic worm was deadly and by far the best numbers bait. We stuck to dark colors--black, junebug, green pumpkin--whichever we had at the time. It was a lot of fun getting back to the basics of how I originally got into fishing, not to mention a thousand laughs at the folks crappie fishing on the bank gawking at all the fish we were catching way out in front of them! The pic below is Coleman with his best of the trip from Thursday. Coleman is a good, good buddy of mine and is a fish catching machine!<br /><br />For those who care to know....<br /><br />I finally got a chance to slip away from the store for a few days, so I went south to my stomping grounds and camped out on Eufaula for the weekend. If wade-fishing was Wrong #1, then Wrong #2 was trailering the boat all the way down to Eufaula with no lower unit. Nope...still broke, but my Motor Guide Digital was an absolute beast this weekend. Anyway, not knowing what to expect on Saturday morning, I dropped the trolling motor at the state park and started doing what I do. I stayed in no deeper than 4 feet of water, and spent most of the time in 18" or less. Day 1, I boated 25 keepers and lost just as many. Best 5 went just shy of 20#. Day 2 I learned from a few minor mistakes, made some adjustments, and absolutely cleaned house. I quit counting at 50 or 55, wound up catching 15 or 18 over 4#--heck I even caught a 4' gator! I had my best day on Eufaula, having boated an 8+, a 5, and what seems like 3 or 4 different limits of 4#-ers. Best 5 for the day went 25-27# (no scale...Wrong #3). Day 3 I woke up to a foot less of lakewater, but still managed to squeak out a respectable Eufaula tourney limit at the end of the day. I boated another 24 keepers, and had enough for about an 18# bag. Half of the fish for the weekend were caught on the topwater frog, and the other half all came from flipping the tighter shoreline cover. Color mattered some. I fished every color I had with me, but the best produders were, again, the darkest shades I could come up with--black neon, green pumpkin, etc. I went by myself so I didn't take any pictures (Wrongs #4 and #5), but I'll drag the DITCHDOC down there one of these days so he doesn't think all the fish I'm showing him aren't coming from some stocked pond, LOL! <br /><br />That does it until my next trip, and hopefully I'll finally get to crank the Merc up once again and get back to some normal fishing. Take care out there, and until next time watch out for the goober fishing way out in the water in Soddy Lake!<br /><br />Jake<br /><br />