Reservation Number : 21598
Property Name : Lake Side
Reservation Date : 06/22/2019 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 31 LMB; 8.5lbs
Lures Used : Chatterbait

I fished Lake Side, Martins Mill on 6/22/19 and it was quite an adventure so I will divide the fishing report in two parts.

Part One:  Wind is Your Fish Catching Friend

I caught 31 total LMB, with the top five at 26.5lbs, with an 8.5lb kicker, two culls removed, and 10 at 4.0 - 4.64lbs.  I fished from sunrise to sometime around 3pm.  The water at Lakeside is still muddy, but visibility is about 18 inches, with water temperature at about 82 degrees.  The wind was S/SE at about 15-20mph, with wind gusts around 3pm that must have been 30+mph.  I caught all fish on a 1/2 oz BHite jackhammer chatterbait with a 4.3 fat swing impact Keitech in sungill color rigged upside down.  I caught fish all around the lake, including both corners of the dam, the dock, fence lines, the major point and the two arms.  The 8.5 and eight of the 4 lbers were caught in the east arm in water from 4-6 feet, with the 8.5 caught shallow in 4.5 feet at 9:30am.  Almost all the fish were caught after casting into the wind and retrieving with the wind and waves parallel to the shoreline.  The water is too muddy to see bluegill beds, but my guess based on the location, depth and bass concentration, is that bluegills were spawning in the shallows of the east arm.  The only way that I can pull-off the technique of casting into the wind without constant backlash is to use a Shimano Metanium DC and a heavy lure, such as the 1/2 oz chatterbait and trailer.  My cast distance is shorter, but the fish should be facing the lure during presentation rather than the lure coming from behind them.  You also have to stand facing the wind, with a strong trolling motor, fully-charged battery, heavy anchor, and a stable boat.  Unfortunately, the 10 foot boat at Lake Side is not stable enough for high winds. Continued below after the pictures in Part Two.

Part Two:  Wind Makes Boating Dangerous

I had such a good morning that I took a break for lunch and went to Martins Mill for a burger.  Returned to the lake and fished the dam, catching a couple of 2lbers, then went back to the east arm.  In the afternoon session, I caught four 4lbers in the east arm, plus some 2-3lbers, to add 12 more to the morning count of 19 for a total of 31.  The weather was changing, seemingly every 30 minutes, with the only constant being the wind.  My weather radar app sent an alert for severe weather in the area at 2:30, but the clouds didn’t look threatening.  In hindsight, I should have exited the water immediately.  The last fish that I caught based on my photo log was a 4.46 at 2:51.  I remember making a few more casts in 9 foot water depth, then at some point, after making a cast, the 30+mph  wind gust hit me and the boat, sending me backwards into the water and swamping the boat in the process.  The jon boat at Lake Side looks to be a 10 footer, so it is about 2 feet 8 inches wide and 17 inches high. The Lake Side boat has a 2-inch hole immediately below the upper lip in the starboard stern.  Several times during the day, I had waves break on the stern and water enter the boat through this hole.  I have a full-size battery for the trolling motor, plus the trolling motor itself, and I tie the anchor to the stern handle, so the stern was already sitting low.  I got to the surface and saw that the boat bow was high and the stern just inches above the waterline.  I thought it was going to sink to the bottom.  A tackle box, boat cushion and some other stuff was floating away, my fish finder was over the side and I had a rod in my hand.  I swam back to the boat and put the rod and the fish finder back in the boat.  I also realized that the boat would not support my weight and there was no chance of pulling myself back into the boat.  The water in the boat was over the level of my trolling motor battery, so it shorted out the positive/negative poles.  I was in 9 feet of water so I pulled the CO2 lanyard on my life jacket and decided that I would swim and tow the boat to shore.  I swam for a good while, but I could not make any progress pulling the boat and was in the same position as when I started.  Frustrated and starting to feel tired, I swam to the back of the boat, where I realized that the anchor was still in the water.  Whoops! I pulled it up and was able to tow the boat to shore pretty quickly.  Eventually, I recovered almost all my gear and got the boat back to the launch area, all freshly clean and washed inside and out.  Happily, my iphone and SUV smart-key seem to have survived, but one pole broke, the fish finder seems fried and I am still looking at what may be salvaged.  

Was it worth it?  Absolutely!  I caught an 8.5lb, 24 inch bass.