GUNTERSVILLE 2015

Weapons of Bass Destruction

Early Spring in Alabama

Freshwater Greeting Dog.



Got lake front property? Train your dog to protect your bass....

5lbs. 6oz.

View from our Dock at Sunset on Siebold Creek

Guntersville Lake American Shad

4lbs. 2oz. Birmingham Bluegill.

Ponte Verde Bloomage

Guntersville Police Boat

Allen's 3.79lbs Spotted Bass

Ledge fishing on Guntersville.

Houston Bridge on Lake Guntersville

Wayne Feeds on Big Spring Creek





 

First Day of Spring - March 21st, 2015

On the first full day of Spring Greg, Todd, and I fished the water lake. Greg caught one bass about 12 inches on a shakey head worm and me and Todd failed to boat a fish. It was a nice day to be on the water all the same. Warmer air and water are coming. Greg had his new Jackson Cuda 12 seen in the pic.

Pretty Day but No Fish.... Febuary 8th, 2015

Warm air temps, clear sunny skies with cold clear water running a little lower than normal made for a really tough day of winter fishing. The air temps made it to 67 degrees but the water never got any higher than 37 degrees. John and I fished for 4 hour out of his G3 river jet between lower Shanklin's all the way down to just above Harvey Falls at Cedar Branch. I had one maybe bite that after I reeled in had a bass scale on it, but other than that it was slow hard fishing. We tried tubes, jerk baits, jig and pig, creature baits and spider jigs all with no takers. Winter fishing has been tough this year.

One Dying Shad.....Febuary 7th, 2015

Greg and I gave crappie fishing on a still partially iced over bluestone lake today. The air temps were nice around 40 degrees or more but the night before had gotten into the teens and there was still a lot of ice on the lake. We tried drop shotting crawlers for 4 hours without getting a single bite. There were four other boat on the lake and I never saw anybody else catch a fish. I even talked to two of them who said they were having no luck. We stopped crappie fishing and threw a musky lure and jerk bait for about an hour after it was apparent that despite the warm day time air temps the falling water temps had the fish in a negative to shut down mood. The only fish I saw all day was a dying shad kicking around on the surface of the water. He was around 8 inches long.

No Hits, Runs, or Errors - January 31st, 2015

John and I headed out on the New river in his jet boat on a balmy 20 degree day. We fished pretty hard with hair jigs, tubes and spider jigs without a single bite for either of us in 5 or so hours of fishing. The air did finally warm up into the 30's. The water was lower but stable. We were up against the dreaded high skies, which never seen to work well for me and bass fishing. Back to the drawing board for winter smallie fishing.

Red Fox Almost - January 30th, 2015

Derrick and I went out predator calling on a cold and windy night. The temp was only around 18 degrees with enough wind in places to be really cold. The leftover snow was really crunchy and loud. Sneaking from set to set was really difficult. The moon was really bright and they sky was really clear. So bright in fact that you could see without a light for a pretty good distance. The first set we came to a red fox came in at minute 4. I had the .222 with cross sticks and Derrick shotgun. The red fox came in to about 125 yards and hung up in a little patch of brush just in the field. He was sitting on his butt looking at our decoy. He did not seem nervous at all. I looked at him and felt the shot with the brush was 50/50. My rest was solid, he was sitting still, but the brush was the wild card. I started to take the shot twice but I really felt like he would come on in and give me a clearer closer shot. After about 2 minutes of sitting there listening and looking he got up and turned around and walked away. I changed the call 3 times and even tried the fox pup distress, but he would not come back. He had the wind so our scent may have gotten to him. We did 3 more sets. On our third set we saw and eye coming in but it never came in to give us a look. I really fell like the ultra bright moon made them more spooky and less likely to come in than normal. It also made our red lights significantly less powerful. Even with the moon, wind, and crunchy snow we almost closed the deal.

Cold Water Crappies - January 25th, 2015

With water temps being a balmy 36 degrees John, Brad and I crappie fished the Stone from around noon till 4pm or so. We had the lake to ourselves save a couple of other boats out cruising around mostly. The bites we got you really had to fish hard to earn, by panfish standards anyway. I ended up with 7 and John had 3 or so big crappies and Brad caught a bluegill. The water had some stain and that may have made the fish's strike zone a little smaller. The crappie we did catch were all chunks. My biggest was just a shade short of 15 inches. The air temp was almost 50 degrees with very little wind.

Chasing WInter Smallies on the New - January 17th, 2015

John waiting on the signature thump bite.

Yamaha river jet running upriver.

 

John and I fished from 10am till 2pm on the New looking to hook up with a big New river smallmouth. We fished jigs and tubes and had only one bite each all day....we both missed. We had the deck stacked against from the start but still fun to take a swing, the water was falling, we had high skies, and a touch of wind later in the day to contend with. John had caught a 17 inch and a 19inch fish the day before in the same area so the fish were there, we just couldn't make the sell on getting them to eat soft plastic today. It was my first day on the water for 2015 and it was a nice day to go.

The trip got me to thinking about what the basic fundamentals are for trying to get winter river smallmouth bass to bite. It has been awhile since I have spent any significant amount of time targeting them. If I stop and think about it...these basic things would be something to hang on to when smallmouth fishing in the winter season.

1) Your going to get zeroed a lot....it is not spring or summer fishing. They don't eat all day everyday and some days they do not feed at all.
2) When you win, you win big. Many of the of the biggest smallies are caught this time of the year.
3) If your think your fishing too SLOW then slow down some more. It is total dead stick action that works most times.
4) Your are spending large amounts of time covering a very small well thought out area, which is the complete opposite of river fishing the rest of the year. The rest of the year you cover large amounts of water in a small amount of time looking for the most active fish.
5) Smaller baits work better for half hibernating tight lipped smallmouth bass. Even down to 2 inch baits you might think of as crappie or panfish baits.
6) Your target areas must have...
        A) Completely slack water but be very near moving water to provide food and oxygen.
        B) Be relatively deep compared to surrounding water or at have access to deeper water nearby.
        C) Have ledges or "rock garden" areas for them to hide in and ambush predators.
7) Once you find a good winter haunt you can catch big fish there winter after winter.
8) You have got to be patient your swinging for homeruns not singles in this type of fishing.
9) Sometimes really bad awful weather and high water will trigger a winter bite
10) No matter how high or swift the river gets the fish will move to an area with no current to fight. They do not have the energy or metabolism to live in current like they do the other 3 seasons.

2014 Year End Review.

This year I landed 462 fish on 52 fishing trips, which comes out to  8.88fish/trip. The number of fish and fish/trip for me was down significantly compared to previous years.  This was a hard year for me personally. My Dad died in January, my 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia in March, and my good friend Craig passed away at 34 years old the same day Annalyn was diagnosed.
 The winter last year was really tough. I didn't catch my first fish until March due to the 2 polar vortexes and sustained bouts of cold we had last winter. I had a great trip to Guntersville, Alabama that I look forward to repeating next spring. The river bite was consistent but not explosive like back in early 2000's. The summer bluegill bite on Bluestone was almost non existent in comparison to previous years, I have no answers for why that is. A lot of the float trips I did fish this year were shorter than in previous years, 3 hour floats versus 5 hours floats. I did manage to catch a citation musky from a kayak which has long been on my bucket list. Given all that happened I was just thankful for the fish I was able to set the hook on in 2014. I do still get a rush from that "tick" you feel moving up your line into your arm and going to your brain when a fish bites. That second in time when you sense you have a bite and right before you set the hook is what I love. In that fleeting second you know you got a bite but you don't know what you have and if you will get a good  hook set or miss completely. It is in this time your imagination runs wild about what may be on the other end of that line and what could happen next. So long as fish gotta eat, I still wanna be out there trying to catch them every chance I get. So here is to hoping the year ahead is flat out all around better than the one behind. Happy New Year!

A Winter Day to Dream About....Decbember 27th, 2014

For the last two years winter has meant 4 months of sub 30 temps with wind and ice and not many breaks to speak of. Today was different. An air temp near 60 degrees very little to no wind to speak of. Crash and I headed up to Bluestone lake for some early winter pan fishing. We fished night crawlers about 18 inches off the bottom rigged with a drop shot. The bite started off slow but really took off once we found them. It was the first day I can remember fishing in December without being cold for some time. We ended up catching over 40 total fish....one largemouth, one catfish and the rest crappie and blue gills split 50/50 or so.  It was the kind of day that gives you a break from cold and boredom of winter you dream about and I am certain in the weeks to come we will get pounded by waves of snow and artic air before it finally gives up and spring fishing ensues.

NOVEMBER 2014

Bloody Tails - November 21st, 2014



A sure sign your beagle is working hard.

Roscoe and Sampson

Charlie and I killed 3 rabbits on five jumps on a 4 hour hunt today. I shot two and Charlie shot one. We both missed a combined 8 times on the luckest rabbit that ever lived. The dogs weren't too happy with us after that one, but still it was funny.

No Time for Small Fish - November 10th, 2014

Brad, Charlie and I landed only 10 trout in 4 hours of fishing, however all 10 were 3lbs or better. Brad landed 2, Charlie 3 and I had 5. Charlie had the biggest at 4lbs. and 8oz. The smallest of our ten fish were three and four of them were over 4 lbs. The hair jig in green and blue made for a nice change up that produced when the blade stopped producing. It was a nice day to be on the water, a good day to enjoy the fall before winter closes in and begins the dark season.

Beagles and Bunnies Part I - November 8th, 2014

 Charlie, Rick and I hunted for 3 hours, jumped 7 rabbits, killed 3 rabbits and a woodcock, lost a dog, found the dog and had a nice day to hunt. I killed the first two rabbits and a woodcock. The day started cold and warmed up quick. It was the first rabbit hunt of the year  and hopefully the first of many to come. Charlie brought a new dog, Roscoe. He is around 2 years old and he did really well. He showed a lot of energy and promise.