After having to take off of fishing for 2 weeks due to computer upgrades at work, I was really anxious to get back out on the lake. I didnt set out to fish so much, it just kinda of happened and I am sure glad it did. I feel like I really learned a lot about the lake, which was important for my brother and I since we are hoping to fish the TSA Tournament at PK on the 15th. The following is a run down of my trips.

::TLDR::
All trips launched at South D&D
Almost all fish caught on shad or store bought perch
Shad seem easy to catch at S. D&D
Most fish caught in 20 fow, while fishing 15 ft down
Most fish caught on points near submerged trees
Fish are moving around a lot

Sun 19th - No pics this day
Got to the lake at 4:30 AM and caught shad at South D&D. Shad is everywhere there, but most of it is 3-4 inch range. We got to the dam before 6 and began fishing various points that had been producing good fish several weeks before. At about 9 and with no fish boated, we gave up on the dam and headed up lake looking for the fish.
Typically when we fish, we fish the first half of the trip on spots that we really feel like will have fish and then fish spend the second half of the trip trying to find new spots. Since we had been doing this on our trips all summer, we had a few spots to try that had produced fish even when we were catching the majority of the fish at the dam. Unfortunately those spots only produced 4 fish, with the biggest being in the 3 pound range.
Although we had a fun day on the lake, it was hard not to feel disappointed with the fact that we had lost track of where the fish were during our break.

Tues 21 - Scouting trip
My brother and I decided to make an evening trip and spend the entire time scouting for new spots. We were on the water with fresh caught shad and 2 dozen store bought perch by 4 PM. Shad was easy to catch, even in the middle of the day. Bait really seems to be abundant and every where on the lake. We mostly fished Gains Bend area and saw our first surfacing sand bass of the year. The sand bass wouldnt stay up for very long, but we were able to still catch a couple. We lost 2 fish that I think were stripers, so even though we didnt boat any stripers we left the lake feeling like we had learned a little bit and had some new spots to try on the next trip.
Best catch of the day was the sunset.


Thurs 23 - Scouting trip #2
My brother along with 2 friends made another afternoon trip. Once again we caught bait easily at South D&D and were heading out to fish by 3 PM. We were hoping to see some more surfacing whites, but never did. We started out in the spot were we had lost the 2 fish on the trip before, but only caught 1 drum.
We continued to scout and try new spots. First striper of the day was a 20 inch fish caught near Scenic Cove. After trying 2 spots at the dam and coming up empty we headed up lake and circled back to the spot we had caught the drum. Wasnt too long before we found a group of fish and rods started bending. We caught a few fish in the 20 inch range and then the 2 brothers with us got a double on that ended up being 9 and 7 pounders. Right as the striper bite slowed, the drum showed up. We caught 5 or 6 drum over the next few minutes all in the 3-5 pound range, including a double. I had never experienced anything like this and really wasnt aware that drum schooled up like this. We even had marks on the sonar that looked like schooling striper, but we kept catching drum.


Sat 25 - Pay Day
My brother and I got to the lake at 4:30 AM and were fishing with fresh shad by 6 AM. My uncle, who has a 23 Parker CC, met us at the lake and was set to follow us around for the day, so I could hopefully show him a few spots. We headed down lake and set up on points in 20 ft of water. Around 7 the magic started. My brother and I caught 6 good fish over the course of about 30 minutes. I ended up with 2 11 pounders, while my brother caught a 10 pounder, 2 8s and a 7. My uncle was a respectable 100 yards away from us when we started catching and despite our yelling didnt make it over to us in time to catch any of the school. My uncle is pretty competitive and I admit it was pretty fun catching all the fish while they just watched on.
We explored this area and points near it until 9 AM, managing one more 10 pounder along with a few in the 2-3 pound range. My uncle went to Neely's Slough where he struck out but reported that he marked massive schools of shad in 16 ft of water near the end of the slough.
While they headed down lake, we headed up lake and went to scout for fish near Sandy Beach. My daughter was set to have a bday party at Sandy Beach on Mon and we were going to take her friends out fishing. We marked fish on some of the main lake points and caught some smaller stripers in Cado. We checked the Peanut Patch, but didnt see much other than tons of bait.
This was one of my most successful fishing trips ever, with our biggest 5 fish weighing in at a total of 50 pounds.




Sun 26 - Double Down
Originally this was going to be an off day for us as we were set to take the kids fishing on Mon, but after having such a great day on Sat we tried to double down. We had the same bait and were set up on the same spot at the same time, but the big fish never showed. We managed a couple in the 20 inch range and my youngest daughter caught an 8 pounder, but it was nothing like the day before. As has been reported on this forum several times, the fish are really moving around the lake.

Mon 27 - Bday Party
My brother was set to help me take my daughters friends fishing. We caught bait and picked up our first 3 kids around 4 PM. Although we had scouted a few spots and caught a couple of fish in the Cado area we didnt really know what to expect as the majority of our previous fishing trips were down lake from South D&D. We were fortunate and found a school of fish very near where we had previously scouted. Our first fish was caught as soon as we got the bait down. This was perfect, as I was worried it would be slow and the kids would get bored. Over the next hour we ended up catching quite a few fish in the 20 inch range and got one nice 6 pounder.
We ended up doing 2 more 1 hour trips, but the first trip was the most successful. The fish were moving around and my trolling motor failed due to a bad battery, so I had trouble following and finding them. All the trips caught fish though and several kids either caught their first fish, biggest fish or fist striper. I think they were surprised at how much fun it was, so hopefully we made some future fishermen out of them. Its not often that I think I have had a great day fishing in which I didnt catch a single fish, but this was one of them.

Awesome Post. Thanks for sharing.

now that's a fishing report!
Looks like all in all y'all had a good trip out to the lake.

Looks like a great trip.

Heck yea! Great post. Way to stay with it.
I start a four day stretch in the morning at PK.

Awesome trip! Great report! Great pictures! I bet there will be at least a couple of the kids who continue through life with passion for fishing after their experience that weekend. Cudos to you for making it happen for them.

Great report! thanks for sharing.

awesome
thats an award winning story with pictures there

Great post, looks like good times were had by all. I'm hoping to make it out there this next week sometime for a morning of it.

Thanks for the kind words.

Great report and fish!