Backwater Casting
Published by Rick Greene · September 20 at 10:13 AM ·
The mornings are getting to be a bit on the chilly side as we chase the fall Smallmouth bite. I got out on the lake with Andrew Oliver who partnered with Mike Brennan to take the NBSFA Classic Championship in Woodstock.
We started off on an old creek channel that was about 12 feet deep with the flat on the sides at 6 feet. We were able to see the fish on the Lowrance Live but we could not get them to bite. We moved up onto the flat and fished across it through scattered grass and rock and picked up a few fish but the majority were short strikes and we had a lot come off. We covered the flat quickly trying to spot the patches of grass in the low light and slowed down around them and picked up a few fish here and there. I hit two in a row on a Jackall Rerange 110 and thought we might have hit a school but it was not to be. Andrew was mixing it up and trying different baits as well and he was picking the odd one up as well but they were scarce.
Our next stop was a bluff bank with a quick drop into 30 feet which is usually good for a bunch of fish but they were not there and to be honest the morning was getting to be quite frustrating. I decided to run down the lake to a shallow cove that has produced before and we fired up the G2 and headed down the lake. I am constantly watching the screen as I go and although you aren’t going to make a bass at 40mph you can still see things that will help. I was seeing some thin red lines on the screen over 30 feet of water and thought bait balls and came off plane. We hadn’t idled more than a minute before we hit a ball of bait and a bunch of nice bright yellow arches beside them. The drop shot rods came out and we were into a school of 2lb smallmouth until the school broke up. That was great fun while it lasted and Andrew popped one about three pounds from the mix of smaller ones.
Back on the journey to the cove and we saw one fish breaking the surface at the back as we came in. We fished it very slowly to cover the water and they just weren’t there or not biting. I missed one on a Jackall Pop Grande topwater right up against some pads so we focused on that area for a bit. No fish but as we started to turn out into the open again there is a big smallie in front of the trolling motor and then a couple more. They didn’t seem to be concerned with the boat but they would not bite.
We finished the day up on a rocky point and picked up some good ones there on the ReRange 110 and some soft plastics. Andrew was fishing a craw type bait on a football head and doing quite well with that.
In some ways it was a frustrating day but as the day warmed up and the sun broke through we did catch some nice fish and it is always a fun day fishing with Andrew.
#fishshimanocan #fishjackallcan #Lowrancefishing
Recent Comments