Wheeler Branch

Anyone been out to wheeler branch lately.

How's the water? Fishing etc? May go out Sunday afternoon on the way home from helping my parents move. Any suggested launch points for kayaks? Also, what fees are associated with the park and do they pertain to kayaks?

$8.00 to launch a kayak. Havnt been out there lately but it is a great little lake for kayaks. It can get rough in a hurry though with a little wind.

Was out there today. Real slow. I caught a couple and lost 1. Everybody I talked to today was struggling. Bill Wilcox was filming out there today. He was still out there when I left after lunch. I like that lake but it does give me a piece a humble pie ESP this time of year

Thank yall.

I saw something last Saturday I had heard about that occurs in late evenings in warmer weather often out near the little island but that I had never seen: LMBs on Wheeler schooling up chasing bait fish.

It was around 8 AM and we had floated down toward the dam and just made the turn to head down the dam to fish the rip rap and I saw not one but two large circles of very active fish boiling up the water. Both pods of fish popped up about 100 feet away from the "keep back floats" there near the spillway in the center of the dam, so likely some of the deepest water on the lake.

I would guess that each grouping was about 30 feet wide so that would be about 700 square feet for each one of them. If you can imagine one fish per square foot, that would be equivalent to 700 fish blowing up on top waters, that is sort of how each pod looked. It lasted for about 20 minutes I guess. 700 X 2 = 1400 and I guess it is possible.

The sad part? I am basically a plastic worm finesse guy; fishing partner David threw a top water (Yellow Magic) he had on a second reel and he never got a bite. As a matter of fact, we both got skunked the whole day.

Fishing has been super tough out there for a month now, but dang it, it is just such a great lake for canoes and kayaks.

We chat with the kayakers and the boats when we pass. Those with electronics say they can see the fish in slightly deeper water but hard to attract a bite.

There seem to be almost no fish in the shallows inside or outside a lake with lots and lots of vegetation lines.

I guess they are all "in school" for now. Whoever can figure out that puzzle is going to catch a lot of fish.

My guess is things will settle out to normal patterns pretty quickly.

Ideas on how best to fish what I described, anyone? And, any ideas on deep water jigging. big worms/ deep diving crankbaits, etc. if all the fish are out deep???

Bill Wilcox will likely have some answers but the delay in seeing the episode might be too late to employ any of them this season. Things change.

Brad

Me and a buddy caught those schoolers pretty good on Tuesday, definitely some of the chunkiest schooling bass I have seen in a while.

Switch to jigging spoons, swim baits(sassy shad) and lipless cranks(rattle trap), treat them just like schooling sand bass or striper and you will catch them. I have run in to this phenomenon on a couple of bass lakes and have been able to capitalize, you could also throw an alabama rig in them or a tail spinner. If you catch one and he throws up a few shad at the boat you will see what you need to mimic, I have used tiny flukes on a 1/0 hook chicken rigged (split shot, mojo or light carolina rig as some would call it) in situations like this and caught fish.

The key is if they are suspending and still actively feeding in that area due to water going out the spill way you can adapt to the depth they are with those rigs and catch them. Don't rule out crank baits or drop shot if they are suspending 12-15 feet deep either.

Good advice and thank you!

Bass seem to school up like that on some lakes more than others. As I recall, they were letting water out the spillway based on the rushing water sound down there, though my attention, believe me, was on these hundreds of fish busting the water.

The last "big bite" on Wheeler occurred when they were letting all of the water in at the inlet and Dave at the front gate said they were catching numbers and size there. Some HS kids were catching them on crankbaits.

I think the fish were staging up and into the current of water and it was good fishing there for days.

We are learning something about Wheeler after the pre-spawn/spawn/post-spawn periods.

Thanks again for the input.

Brad

I do best with big flutter spoons and clear zara spooks........

I will go there next Tuesday. 50% rain chance and cloudy, I hope the fish don't go out there to hide, they will like a cloudy day seems good for a day full of top water action.

Went out today...

First time on the lake.. Nice no so little lake is quite big with some good fishing holes.

I started to scout the lake and didn't find fish shallow on the back by the trees pitching.

Started to scout along the island and I marked some fish.threw some Carolina but I was getting lots of weeds or vegetation while dragging it at 20 feet. Changed to a dropshot with a fluke watermelon red flake and game on, caught two on a six lb line (first time trying dropshot) .

Went towards the dam and nothing (nice clear water there). Fished the vegetation by the dam and caught one.

Came back to the same spot where I caught in the morning and got two more in Carolina and dropshot.

I moved to other spot on the north east and caught one on dropshot.

Not bad for first time. Hard to fish with a Carolina rig, gets full of weeds and u don't feel nothing and gets heavy. Saw lots of bait fish.

Temp on surface 84f,I think bass are just hiding in all the bottom grass and plants, how can you fish them there,? Any suggestions?

Pm me if you want to share coordinates of where I caught and you can share with me

Buton,

Keep one rod rigged up and ready to go if the fish school up. I saw it and commented on it (above) and I have been told that over the summer, they do it quite often out by the island in the late afternoon toward sunset. Some lakes, they school up, others not so much.

And, tell us how far down did you set your weight below the hook on your drop shot?

A kayaker told me he always can catch a few fish drop shotting in sort of concentric circles around the small island. You will almost always see a boat and/or a kayak out there working the island with the currents running around the dead water created by the island.

The dam at the far end just before it enters that first cove is usually productive, the first cove hasn't been for me, the points going into and out of the coves hold fish, deeper now as has been mentioned.

I haven't done it myself but you might try getting back in that one cove with all of the timber and try a jig.

If ever they let water in via the inlet over by the swimming platform, fish will stage up there in big numbers. If ever they run water out the spillway, they seem to do the same from whatever current is created over by the dam.

How do you like all of that vegetation?

Brad

i really liked the lake.. i think i will a regular there now, it is nice not to have ski boats around lol.

i did notice on my graph that schooling action and lots of bait. you could see them disappear on the graph and then they will come back....

they didnt liked my rat l traps or any other crank bait :S

i will probably pay a visit next month again.

buton it was nice meeting you yesterday. I was in the little white boat. bite got better around 6:30. ended up with 13 boated and several more I lost due to poor hooksets. Grass is growing like crazy and has really changed the tactics from past years.

Nice to meet you ... really 13? damm i caught 5 all day lol(well a newbie here on that lake)... where were you catching them i saw you went to the back of the two coves.... i had to go early around 6pm...my wife called me lol..i really wanted to stay until 8pm


this is what i saw around the island





i will go back around mid july again a lot.... since my in laws are coming...:)

Anchored in the deeper grass and caught them on wacky rigs. Had to fish them really slow. As you saw I lost a couple and caught a couple earlier on T-Rig w/big worm. Wacky worked best and they ate them good enough that even I couldn't lose them.

Me and a buddy went out last tuesday and the bass were schooling and hitting the top most of the day. I caught two early in a school on top water, but after that had a tough time get them to bite. We used rattle traps, umbrella rigs, flutes, crank baits, spinnerbaits.... We had a hard time chasing the schools, we were in a bass boat, so we went to fishing the edges of grass. Couple of other kayakers were there and had success in the schools. We were just off that day.

I went out today and dedicated the whole day to drop shotting out of my fishing canoe in relatively deeper water. Slow in the morning, then I found them over by the farthest most pavilion where a bank fisherman can go way back in the mouth of that cove. I was off the point there by about 40 or so yards, got one on, lost it, but when I cast it back out, I hooked up again immediately and boated the fish. My guess is I found a little school sitting there but I had drifted away from the spot after a few fish.

Anyway, with all of that vegetation, even out in fairly deep water, I think a drop shot seems the way to go if you can get the bait floating just above the vegetation. My sinker was about 12" down, wish I had experimented with a few different settings there. Maybe having the hook and bait up another foot or so would have worked even better.

I saw Bill Wilcox's boat but didn't realize it was him until Dave at the gate mentioned it. He said Bill was catching them on top waters.

Just a note that I used the KVD (and others) version of a nose hook where I took the 1/0 hook and sunk it "under the chin" of my bait (robo worm) but left the point embedded in the plastic. It does seem to keep it relatively weedless and a reel hookset works just fine.

Brad

Go Froggin, that was me in the 8' pond boat leaving the northwest cove as you were going in, and you mentioned wanting to catch some frog bass at Wheeler Branch. I ended up with 2 and lost one. The first one hit a PBJ Ned Rig; I hooked the second one on a Rattletrap as soon as I moved it after a backlash, and the one I lost looked when it jumped to be between 3 and 4 pounds. It hit a minnow-imitating swim bait, but broke me off in the weeds (ultralight tackle). Both that bass and the one that hit the Ned Rig were just off the drop into 15' of water about 50 yards north of the island. I saw no schooling fish, but I stopped fishing around 4:00. I don't know how Wilcox ended up, but I did see him catch one small bass on topwater.

Phototex and I got to fish that cove beyond the last walkable pavilion. I hooked up and lost a fish on a bait he gave me for my "drop shot" day. It wasn't in the brush but sort of out in the middle of the cove. And, that was where I think Phototex let that rattletrap settle to the bottom while working his line issues out and then pulled out a pretty nice fish!

Go Froggin, Wacky, huh? Gosh, I should have rigged up my drop shot wacky style but all I did, all day, was use the nose hook technique where the point of the hook actually stays embedded in the plastic but near the surface for a quick hook set once a fish hits it. I'll give the wacky style a go next time! I know sometimes they just want to see one particular way.

Hmm? My first fish of the day got off my line, I was floating around in a fishing canoe not able to hold my ground all that well in the current and wind, but I did cast out and caught my first fish on my very next cast, then another a few casts later after I paddled back over to regain my position. That makes me think I was likely sitting on a school of LMBs all sitting out there off the point in water farther out than one could cast from the bank, maybe 18 to 20 feet in depth.

I have a Scotty anchor lock that I need to slightly alter but then run it off the square stern end of my canoe so I can more easily and quickly deploy an anchor while sitting in the mid-ship seat in my canoe and letting out or taking up line as needed. That should help me get on spots and hold them a bit better, and quicker. I also use a brush anchor when there is something to grab on to above water and they work great.

Wheeler is great, tough fishing lately, but so much fun trying to solve the puzzle and work on techniques.

Brad