It is now a mandatory requirement that all Fairfield fisherman stand at the lake edge an pray for rain. You do not deserve to caught a red fish unless that prayer is performed! Best you deserve without that prayer is one of those green and stripped rough fish.

You are wasting fishing life not going out with Jackie FIRST. Your catch rate starting out at best will be 10-20% of what Jackie can teach you to do in the first hour you are with him. Plus you get places to fish for him that will take you many trips to find otherwise, enough if you get lucky.

Don't bother to look for tailing red fish, it does not happen.

Unless you like to surf in that canoe you are going to need an anchorage. Don't fish below a 18 ft depth, that is the thermocline level at the cold intake. Anchored most use heavily weighted Carolina type rigs with a minimum 1.5 oz weight. A few try the float which requires a little less weight. The schools can run past any deeper channel as shallow as 6 ft, and never touch the bait on the Carolina rigs beneath them. The Thermocline graduates up to about 10ft at the hot outfall.

Either use native live or cut bait, the more expensive route is frozen gizzards and real small whole shrimp bought at the Chevron station you drive by as you take the road from the city out to the park. I'm lazy and want to fish as soon as I get to the water, so I do not want to throw a net. I personally prefer the even more expensive bag of 51-60 count peeled shrimp because that size shrimp completely covers a 6/0 or 7/0 circle hook. A one pound bag is plenty for two guys for one full days fishing.

If you do not have sonar you are going to have difficulty sounding at depths. Look at the shoreline as it slops to the water's edge to get some idea how fast the water becomes deeper. Ok try to find a point where there is shallow and deep water, anchor either across the crest or over the crest and put out lines in a spider legged pattern.

MH rods, use reels with ample amounts of line, +200 yards 30# Ande or comparable, set the drag for light, 6-8# test breaking strength. Minimum 20# leader on the Carolina.

With circle or Kahle hooks it is very important you keep Carolina rigs tight lined. In order to do this you are going to need two anchors one at each end. Otherwise the canoe will waggle in the wind an pull the upwind line and slack the down wind lines. As you tighten the slack you are slowly dragging the bait out of your intended target depth, and over bottom items that will eventually try to snag your rig. Snagged hooks or weights are either a break-off or you have to de-anchor and go chase it.

DO NOT have a rod unsecured with bait out, unless you would like to hit you homeowners insurance policy for the cost to that rig's replacement. For some reason Fairfield reds like to have chin jewelry that looks a whole like what you and i think is just a nice rod and reel. When they get tired of that look they just leave that newly acquired jewelry laying on the lake bottom. We troll those jewelry rigs up from time to time.

Sure would appreciate a picture of that wake behind the canoe if you decide to not anchor, however I expect you will be attending to some other more important things, and will understand if you cannot find time to make a picture.

For the least amount of paddling to get more central in the lake launch from the north ramp (camp ground area) not the one nearest the front gate. Concentrate on fishing shoreline features north of that ramp (toward the dam or the Riprap cove).

Big brown and the southern most cove have stumps in them, if you try to fight reds among the stumps expect to loose some if not most to tangles with the stumps. Reds can and will use the tug of the tangle to break the line or bend the hook open.

as you decided to travel from place to troll some bait behind.

most want a scale an measuring tape, and a good camera. Catch and release if you can!

Good luck and I still urge you to take a trip with Jackie.