Headed to falls lake today around 11 am.
Made a stop at bayleaf and picked up two dozen minnows.
Launched from upper bartons creek boat ramp at around 11:40. Really quiet today, not many boats on the water.
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Peddled to lower bartons creek and got there around 12:30. There was a steady north/northeast wind today and sure enough lower bartons was FULL of bait. What started as a few scattered balls of bait at the mouth turned into a mass of bait that extended from the mouth of the bridge all the way across the cove. I mean from the surface down to 8 or 9 feet was nothing but shad. Threw a rattle trap to see if anything was under them and couldnt even get a full retrieve without snagging one. Snagged about a dozen ranging from 1 to 6 inches long before i gave up.
Around 2 the shad started moving down and schooled up at the mouth of the bridge about 8-12 foot down in 15-16 foot of water. Now and then a school would come up and occasionally a lone fish would bust on the bait but im guessing if the Wb and largemouths were there today they probably were full a while before i got there. Drifted minnows through the schools and came up with 1 nice white bass.
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I made the poor choice of half tossing/ half dropping the fish into the cooler that i had in the front storage hatch. I missed just enough for the fish to hit the edge of the cooler and bounce out of the kayak. Needless to say i let out a few four letter words that werent "fish".
Stayed til about 4 before paddling back and heading home.
Made a stop at bayleaf and picked up two dozen minnows.
Launched from upper bartons creek boat ramp at around 11:40. Really quiet today, not many boats on the water.
Peddled to lower bartons creek and got there around 12:30. There was a steady north/northeast wind today and sure enough lower bartons was FULL of bait. What started as a few scattered balls of bait at the mouth turned into a mass of bait that extended from the mouth of the bridge all the way across the cove. I mean from the surface down to 8 or 9 feet was nothing but shad. Threw a rattle trap to see if anything was under them and couldnt even get a full retrieve without snagging one. Snagged about a dozen ranging from 1 to 6 inches long before i gave up.
Around 2 the shad started moving down and schooled up at the mouth of the bridge about 8-12 foot down in 15-16 foot of water. Now and then a school would come up and occasionally a lone fish would bust on the bait but im guessing if the Wb and largemouths were there today they probably were full a while before i got there. Drifted minnows through the schools and came up with 1 nice white bass.
I made the poor choice of half tossing/ half dropping the fish into the cooler that i had in the front storage hatch. I missed just enough for the fish to hit the edge of the cooler and bounce out of the kayak. Needless to say i let out a few four letter words that werent "fish".
Stayed til about 4 before paddling back and heading home.