Reservation Number : 33441
Property Name : The Bluffs of Sandy Shores
Reservation Date : 09/22/2022 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 40ish up to 3.7lbs
Lures Used : sqbill/trig

Charles McCallum and I fished the Bluffs on Wednesday.  We were able to get some solid numbers but could not get on many good ones.  The expectations for the lake after it being closed down for a bit were undoubtedly high, but after analyzing the data and conditions/history – maybe they shouldn’t have been.  

1. Got up to 100ish, water temp was 89 when we left around 1:30 or so.  Water was clear but very green – much different color from June when I was on property.  Very little wind, though we did get some finally toward the end of the day which did not invigorate the fish as much as I’d hoped. 
2. Dock has been added and the pontoon was tied to it so getting in an out if you use the pontoon will be very easy now.  
3. I tried a buzzbait/frog over the pond weed to start as that combo has put me on some really good fish in the past, but no takers;
4. I switched to a sqbill early and threw it adjacent to pond weed and in between the little trenches which has historically been a good pattern for me – I doubled up at one point and this was my most successful pattern
5. Charles went with a trig and was able to get on several fish that way.  
6. The bite was subtle and while we got many to the boat, we had 10 or so that were so lightly hooked that they would come off as we boat flipped them and make it back into the water before we could cull.  Note, I’d never boat flip a keeper on someone else’s lake.
7. I tried switching to different sqbill variations to increase size of bite or strike intensity, but to no avail. 
8. We used a number of other presentations/lures, but this seemed to work the best for us – playing to each of our strengths. 
9. We worked the lake over twice, doing our best to cover water in my tracker.  
10. Of the fish we caught (somewhere between 30-40), they were all culls with one fish – the two fish on the double was indicative of the size – slightly under a pound. 
11. We did see a few pods of shad.  
12. I did not see any bluegill beds on my side scan, but the pond weed may have kept it from showing up
13. The pond weed looked a little ragged and brown – I suspect there was a large lake fluctuation from summer and the lake got low to a month or so when we got the big rain. 
14. Saw some surface activity in the area just past launch before the largest pile.
15. Overall, while disappointing, this was similar to my report last year before it cooled.  I went back a couple of weeks later with Randy after taking my daughter the first time and had the best fishing day of my life with some 40+ fish iirc that were over 3.5-4lbs with several 6+’s. 
16. Fishing in August/September is like that sometimes.  Easily my 2 least favorite fishing months of the year followed by January and February.  
17. FWIW, I fished the next day on my club lake and had similar results – just the second summer effect IMO. 
18. I suspect this lake ‘turns on’ in a big way once the water temps get back into the 60-70’s.