Heat Training

Fished yesterday from 7-5 & did well. Water temp at FCL is in the mid 90s and it was a hot calm day. Good day for getting the body acclimated to what's coming in the next few months. Forgot the selfie stick, so took some video & tried to take a few fish pics at the end of the day just holding the camera...not easy ! Will try and get the video edited & posted in a few days. The lake was pretty packed for a hot weekday. Still not many fish in the reed beds yet & weeds are growing in placed they have not been in the past, so the lake continues to evolve...

Nice gillz Vogey!

Good job Steve. Yes Sir it is going to be one HOT SUMMER! Have felt it the last couple of trips out.

You know Steve I think the amount of cattail growth that has developed might have something to do with where they are located. This is just my opinion. Just a few years ago the cattail growth around the lake was just around the shoreline for the most part. The growth has now developed to where the cattails are out to 3 to 4 foot of water and 30 yards deep. A lot of places for the bluegills to go and stay out of lure range. Last month I pushed my boat up into the cattails and started flipping the pockets. The bass were back up in there. I really dont like that kind of fishing especially when you have a partner because you both have to 1. be doing it and 2. both be fishing up in the front of the boat. Those non spawning gills could just be in there. Some of the bass are.

Nice fish Vogey. Yes it's summertime. As always thanks for sharing.

Those FCL gills sure are round! Are there mostly coppernose in that lake?

Leo...FCL has Coppernose, Red Ear, Rios, Natives, and hybrid combos of each. I would say for numbers natives & Coppernose are the most abundant. It's funny how you think these fish are "round" because I always think how "Long" your fish are...

Thanks Tom...

Nice catch

It's definitely summer and it's really showing itself.... Really have to pay attention to staying hydrated....
Nice catches....

Tom

A few years ago I was binge watching YouTube videos about red ear spawn fishing and saw a video of some guys doing EXACTLY what you described here. They had their boat way up in the reeds and were using slip float rigs fishing small pockets in the reeds. They were hauling some big ‘ol honking slabs out of those reeds. So I would not be surprised if it would work if someone wanted to try it.

Doc...Next time we go I will "back you into the reeds" so you can give it a try.

Verrrry interesting …. but will it fly ?

Monster Slabs. Good job Vogey! Did you try for any Rios?

Curtis...Did not try for Rios because there were bass fisherman on my Rio spot ALL DAY LOMG...

It amazias me how they only stay in a certain area of that lake!

Great post as normal Vogey

I know what you mean by the lack of bluegill in the reeds. I went out a couple weeks ago and had a very poor day. The cast netters have destroyed my favorite spot, which always produced in the past. I'll wait until you really start catching them in the reeds before I try again. That may be September

Jamie...Conditions have changed pretty dramatically on the lake. Not sure if the hard winter had an impact or its just normal evolution of the system. First off, the grass (naiad or hydrilla) is filling up spots very densely in spots I fished in past years. This includes the edge of the reed beds and out a ways. Also most of the reed beds are not as thick as they were last year. I attribute this to the hard freeze. You may have to go farther inside the reeds to catch them there...I have not tried this because my hang up ratio to catch ratio goes way up. (hang up mostly

Curtus...If you are referring to the Rios, yes. I have caught all my Rios (except 1) in one spot...it's kind of crazy.

The only Rios (and have not been that many) that I have caught on Fayette have been at one spot also. All I will say it's not by any boat ramp!