Today Made it All Worth While

[PaintballLane]

Got out this morning and fished until about 2pm. Trying to deal with this wind has been a taxing deal. I don't know how you guys manage when it really blows.

Even so, we caught some fish. I fished like a moron. I broke off 2 good fish and had 2 other good ones simply pull free. I'm scratching my head. But I did catch a few fish. Maybe not a great day by St Clair standards, but enough for me. And my 12 year old son caught 16 with the biggest being just over 3 1/2 and most being over 2. If I didn't catch a fish watching him would have made the trip worthwhile.

We drifted (felt like "cruised" would be a more descriptive word) with the wind and drug tubes, goby's, worms, and craw's. It seemed that a specific spot was more a factor than the bait choice. And, frankly, I never seemed to really put the puzzle together. But we'd catch 2 or 3 and then they're gone. Drift along and catch 2 or 3 back to back, then nothing.

Sometimes there was rock. Sometimes there wasn't. Sometimes the change in clarity seemed to make it happen, then not. Pretty consistent in time but random in where and what. We fished from 8' out to 12.5'. And again, didn't notice a particular depth producing better quantity or size.

Gonna try again tomorrow. Man I hope that wind calms down just a little.

[markgoetsch]

glad to hear you're having a good time.  If the wind gets to bad for you there are always largemouth in the canals.  I know you didn't drive all this way for largeheads but they can still be alot of fun if the lake is too rough.

[Revtro]

All you can really do is use a drift sock or 2.  I usually create a waypoint if I get a few back to back, then if I don't get anything for a period of time, I'll re-drift the same area where the waypoint was. 

[Mojo]

Did my PM help ?

[PaintballLane]

Everything helped.

Out again today and my son smoked me again. He probably had a 15+lb bag from the back of the boat. I'm on cloud nine and he is too!

I did manage a 4-10 this afternoon and that made my day.

My son caught two 3.75's and a 3.25 in a 15 minute flurry. That's what I was here for. He's already trying to move up here for the rest of the summer.

Today was a slower bite. And aside from the single big fish, the weight was no different for me. My son caught fewer fish today, maybe 10-11 total vs 20 yesterday, but he had 6 good ones in those 10.

Thanks for the help guys. You have an amazing fishery and I'm hooked. I'm going to make AT LEAST one trip a year up here so long as I'm able.

[fiker]

It may not be your fault when you lose fish.  When dragging tubes, sometimes the fish pick it up and swim right towards you.  Tuff to set the hook.  Tuff to detect this is in really windy conditions also.  Solution:  reel like crazy to catch up with the fish then set the hook.

Have you guys tried drop shotting?  Sometimes that out fishes tubes, and vice versa.