Friday 5/17/24

Over 100 fish for the day.. Caught them steady once I found them. These were the 2 hot spots for the day day. Both in 20-25 foot of water
lot of smalls, but did have a lot of good size fish mixed in as well.

Thank you Damon for allowing me to fish behind you that day! And thank you for your recommendation to join this forum. I appreciate everyone's insight. Very helpful for a beginner!!!

You are very welcome... Glad I could help ya get on a few.

That's what it's all about. Kudos Damon.. Mr. Green, I sent you a reply. Going out at midnight to chase the green fish with the bear full moon. Take care all.

Sandbass working the surface in the north end of the dam at sunrise. Just look for the cranes diving into the water. About 11am I checked humps on the east side of the island, but nothing was on them. A guide, and a new contact "D" were on the protected side of the island catching sandbass. I worked out in the wind on the east side in 25-27ft, and caught about 20 decent ones before they moved on. They are not holding on the thumper, and they are moving pretty fast. If you can keep one on, they will hang around a little. That slowed down, and I headed for the house to keep the boat dry. Caught about 40lbs of drum fishing rock piles looking for bass, and hooked a 16lb buffalo. For a second I thought I had a giant. Caught three real nice smallies, which made my day. One had a bait stuck in its throat, so I did a good deed removing it. Largemouth are hunkered down in the submerged brush, and they are not coming out. You might as well put on braid, and doodle sock your bait right down into the brush. Shad spawn still happening on the north side, look for birds. Caught about 6 catfish, but only took pictures of the bigger ones. Dispatched about a 4ft gar, so I could get my spinnerbait back. Take care all, done for the week.

Fished with my son Saturday morning. Found sandbass on Sandbass Point in 20 fow around 7:30 am - same spot as DamonJ posted. Steady action for just over an hour. Headed to the north side of the dam. Saw plenty of fish on the graph but only managed to catch a few. They did tend to be larger than the ones on Sandbass Point. By then the lake was getting busy so headed to a cove to try our luck with catfish. We didn't stay long but did catch a 6lb Channel.

Headed back early as it appeared that the boat ramp was only going to get busier as day went on.

I fished Saturday (5/25) morning and found the Sandbass on the hump at Kirkwood. They stayed for about 1 hour. I believe we caught around 40.

I fished with my fishing mentor today, and I taught him a lesson on catching bass. He caught a little bitty largemouth, and I caught a huge spotted bass. You will see what I mean with the pictures. I had to edit his picture to protect his spot, as we don't kiss and tell about bass info. Around 10 we went out by the east side of the island, and pulled out a can of "Whoop @SS" on the Sandbass. Big magnum sandbass, and the farther east on the hump we went the bigger the fish were. We finally had to say last cast about 50 times, and headed home before the circus started at the ramp. Was really fun, and we were worn out. For the record, I got my butt kicked today and loved it. Sandbass count was very high, and I don't want to estimate but it was triple digits. Spoons on the bottom, fish very thick but you sometimes could not get them to bite. You would move 30 ft, and it was crazy.

I updated the map, the first picture was not right. 25-27ft was the sweet spot.

I took my family out today to tube and "hang out." I will just say this...anyone brave enough to fish on a holiday/holiday weekend has my respect!!!! Crazy out there!!!!

I was out last year, and the level of insanity was scary. Totally agree, complete chaos.

Lake up another 1.5 ft so far today. DC is almost in major flood stage and running 4100 CFS. Would not surprise me to see the lake come up another couple feet in the coming days

We were out on the lake from 4:30 to 4pm. It was pretty hairy with 70+ mph winds. We holed up in a empty stall in Scott's, and rode out the bad part of the storm. Right now the lake is almost 3 ft up from this morning. The storm blew the tires at Scott's out of position, and Ferris ramp dock was blown out into the creek. The private marina over near Murrelll point was broken up into three pieces in the creek. Mr B caught a nice bass when we were staying out of e wind. We went out about 12 to the east side of the island and whacked on the sandbass. They were closer into the island, but still on the hump. Good day out fishing, and an experience with the storm.
I have allot of good video but, it's "Beer-30". Take care all.. several sail boats were damaged, some were moved up on top of the dock.



It seems the site is having trouble with the videos. Will check back tomorrow.


Just copy these links. These are the clips on Vimeo.
https://vimeo.com/951311610
https://vimeo.com/951311461
https://vimeo.com/951492401

Fished today scouting the high waters. If you know someone who lost a Kayak have them contact me. I found sandbass all over the lake, and had fun. There is a hump on the south side up the lake that I had fun with a 6xd. I caught a limit of keepers before I started recording the Livescope. They are on top of the hump, and the big crankbait really gets them going. I will add a clip of this area with GPS coordinates in the video. You just have to get on the edge, and cast over the top of it. This is the only hump in this area, and you would have to go more than a half mile to find one that has this depth out in open water.
I also found the sandbass on the east side of the island today, they were in full force. I will add some video of the livescope, there are allot of fish here and they are on the bottom. If you don't have livescope, don't be looking for schools of fish off the bottom. The fish are stuck to the bottom like glue, and they cover some ground in large schools. If you think you see fish on the bottom, stop and cast out a slab and (drag it back). I was not able to get them to react to a bait vertical jigging today. I would cast out, and drag the bait back by reeling the reel a couple turns to move the bait. I am keeping the slab on the bottom, and you will feel a "tick", that is the fish hitting the bait. Sometimes you will get many hits before they hook up. Note: If you are buying slabs, they normally have large treble hooks on them, I replace these with smaller hooks. I covered allot of water today, and scouted the entire north bank from the dam to way above the beach area.


And yes, I have music playing that loud while I'm fishing.. I like to Jam when I fish, it is my thumper substitute...

Hump on the south side Up the lake

Thousands of sandbass on the bottom

]https://vimeo.com/951748218



East of the Island


https://vimeo.com/951744543


Pictures from Today

Ferris Ramp


Emergency spillway





Grapevine Point Park





Possible traffic violation

Yah, the NWS says it's 247.9' (12-13' high?!!).