As this morning’s trip came to a close, I returned to the ramp, grabbed some groceries out of the truck and returned to the water to do some scouting for fish and bait in advance of the 4:45pm start time for my evening trip. Fishing was really slow during this time from noon to 4pm. I did a lot more looking than fishing, and caught 5 white bass and 1 short hybrid during my efforts. The final white bass however came right at 4:00pm and came from a deep school of scattered fish — a scenario that lends itself well to downrigging.

So, armed with “fresh” success, I picked up Mike, Doug, Michael Paul, and Aaron M. at the courtesy dock right at 4:45p and we shot over to the very same spot where I’d seen these white bass. As is typical of summer afternoons, the fishing was a bit slow, but we managed to boat 9 whites and a freshwater drum in about 75 minutes of fishing, all between Areas 305 and 354, and all on small Pet Spoons set right above the depth the suspended fish were frequenting.

Cousins Michael Paul (L) and Aaron M. (R) show off the twin hybrid they landed on downrigged Pet Spoons this afternoon.

The entire clan (from L to R) Michael Paul, Aaron, Doug, and Michael, lip-grip a sampling of the white bass action that came our way this afternoon.

When the whites here had tolerated all of the commotion they could stand, and as the fairly stiff 16 mph SE wind subsided a bit, we headed out and hit Area 651 specifically seeking hybrid. We had baits in the water less than a minute and had our first hybrid on (a keeper), then came a double on keeper hybrid, then a white bass, then a drum, then a channel cat, then things went quiet.

We headed out and worked over Area 473 for 2 white bass, but things were very slow here.

We ended up our trip by heading to between Areas 024 and 147 in the 80 minutes prior to dark. We worked this area over with downriggers and put an additional 7 fish in the boat including 6 whites and another keeper hybrid. We found abundant, active fish here on bottom in ~25 feet of water and tried casting bladebaits at them, but the heavy wave action from boats and the still stiff wind here at this very exposed area made boat control difficult for me, and bait control difficult for everyone else.

By dark the action was over, and we ended up the day with 25 fish for our efforts. This, plus the 6 fish from my scouting, tallied to 31 fish boated this afternoon.

TALLY = 31 FISH, all caught and released

Today’s Conditions:

Start Time: 4:45p

End Time: 8:45p

Air Temp: 92F at trip’s start, then cooling a bit towards dark.

Water Surface Temp: ~85.6F

Wind: Winds were from SSE up to 16 mph this evening

Skies: Skies were clear with ~20% high white clouds.