A Tough Day on the Pond — 18 Feb. 2011 – 12 Fish






We had another tough ride today, once again plagued with light winds and lethargic fish. I welcomed aboard today Nathan H., a native of Rome, Georgia, stationed here at Ft. Hood as a U.S. Army Signal Corp company commander.

As crappie begin to show up in the “by-catch” when targeting white bass, the start of strong Spring white bass fishing is very near.

Nathan recently bought a bass boat and is trying to put together the puzzle of fishing success. I’m sure I helped him place a good number of pieces today, but not as many as I’d hoped.

Nathan was particularly interested in sonar interpretation, so, before leaving the dock I explained the principles on which sonar is based, and then showed on-the-water examples of graph readings, flasher readings, StructureScan readings (down- and side-looking) and we began interpreting fish, bait, structure, and topography.

As for the fishing, there was some consistency, but the situation was really tough. We did consistently find fairly scattered, suspended fish either individually or in very small (2-5 fish) schools in 22 to 42 feet, over deeper (often much deeper) water (up to 65 feet). These fish would respond to a sniping tactic on about 1 in every 6-7 attempts. There seemed to be more fish and bait over top of the main lake holes along the old channel.

We found next to nothing on bottom, especially in waters less than 35 feet deep.

For nearly the entire trip we sat side-by-side; I ran the trolling motor and tried to keep us positioned so Nathan’s lure would hang vertically, thus allowing us to keep it on sonar. He did his best to follow my guidance on tempting the fish we found in an active mode, and managed to boat fish as a result. We didn’t get any breaks today, however, and wound up having nearly as many of Nathan’s hooked fish pull off as he landed. But, given that he was using unfamiliar tackle on an unfamiliar quarry with unfamiliar tactics, I’d say he still did pretty well.

Areas where we boated fish included Area 372 (2 whites, 1 crappie), Area 339 (3 whites), Area 350 (south, over 50′) (2 whites), Area 329 (1 white), and Area 572 (3 whites).

Before we parted ways, we went over every last question Nathan had typed out and had clipped to his clipboard and I presented him with a few choice baits to get him started as he goes out to try this on his own.


TALLY = 12 FISH, all caught and released


TODAY’S CONDITIONS:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 3:10p

Air Temp: 63F at trip’s start.

Water Surface Temp: ~56F

Wind: Winds were calm until after 10a, then went variable from SSW to SSE at <7 for the remainder of the trip.
Skies: Skies were 100% overcast until 2:45p








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