Aug 31 2011
Robert Mackey
Fry
Member Since :
2010
Number of Posts :
1
My partner and I fished the morning on 8/21 to try to beat the heat. The lake level is fairly low and you need a boat to fish it right now because of the weeds near shore. We picked up 7 fish in the first 30 minutes on poppers including one over 6.
As the topwater bite slowed down we moved to texas rigged soft plastics on the south bank and picked up another dozen fish from 2-5 pounds. The heat drove us off the water early. All the fish were healthy and agressive. Great fishing!
Posted By: Robert Mackey
Sep 01 2011
Steve Alexander
Keeper
Member Since :
2010
Number of Posts :
415
Hi Robert,
Glad you had a good time and caught some good fish. Last year this lake was on fire and we had lots of reports of good days like yours. This year the reports have been much more inconsistent. So, this report is encouraging.
I do have a favor to ask of you and all our members, please do not tilt the jaw of the fish back like the picture. You run the risk of breaking the jaw of a big fish. It typically takes 4 to 6 years in an average lake to grow a 6 lb fish and it had to eat 60 lbs of bluegill to get to this size. We don’t want to injure the larger fish. I put together a Youtube video that shows the proper way to handle a big fish. In short, you should wet both hands prior to touching the fish and use the hand not in the fishes mouth to support the belly of the fish. If you do hold the fish with only one hand, which I still discourage, do not tilt or cock the jaw back allow the weight of the fish to just hang straight down. Growing 6lb fish are not as common as many think. There are thousands of bass that do not make it to 6 lbs for everyone that makes it to six pounds. Yes, literally thousands that don’t survive for everyone that does! Doing this will better serve our fish populations. Odds are the fish was fine and no harm was done, but the pic allowed me to make an important point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy3dNYAYcPA