Post Spawn Production - May 24th, 2023

Starting see a summer pattern emerge. Numbers going up average size going down. Lots of little fish being caught. Still a lot of fun. Brad snd I had a great morning soaking in some pre holiday weekend Greenbrier atmosphere. 6 miles over 6 hours floated yielded 72 fish between me and Brad. 

Total Team Fish = 72

Total Fish = 56 

Biggest Fish = 14.25”

Beat 5 Fish = 63”

Minutes per Fish = 6.42

Miles Floated = 6 

Fishabiliet Factor = 7.25

Little Lure Big Fish - May 22nd, 2023

The smallest lure in the box catches the biggest fish on this day. Sometime finesse leads to big things. 

Total Fish = 8 

Biggest Fish = 19” 

Best 5 fish = 74.5”

Minutes per fish = 13.2

Second Run of the Day - May 16th, 2023

The second run of the day was from my house to Southside. Not as many fish but some better quality fish. Flukes dominated all day and fish fed best between passing showers. 

Total Fish = 33 

Biggest Fish = 17” 

Best 5 Fish = 73.25” 

Minted per Fish = 6.36 

Fishability Factor = 7.75 

Fish Total for 2023 so far = 312 

Total time on the water in 2023 = 103.5hrs

Minutes per Fish for 2023 = 19.9 minutes per fish 

Total Fish Caught Since January 2008 = 11,432

Morning Pass - May 16th, 2023

Fished from the dam to Southside from 6:00 to 10:00am on this raining morning. Caught a lot of little fish and a few good ones. I seemed to miss or lose a couple more quality bites. 

Total Fish = 41 

Biggest = 15” 

Best Five = ~68.6” 

Minutes per Fish = 5.85 

Fishabilty Factor = 8.5

Catching not Fishing - May 13th, 2023

Just a ridiculous day on the water.  A little rain caused the fish to gorge. I caught 22 in the first hour. Greg and I caught a combined 69 fish total on 4.25 hours. A great day. 

Total Combined fish = 69 

My Fish Total = 41 

Biggest fish = 17.5”

Best 5 fish = 73.5”

Minted per Fish = 7.9

Panfish Day - May 12th, 2023

Bass were in a foul mood on Bluestone. Could be related to the spawn or could be pressure. I switched out to a 1/4 spinner and ended up catching a few bass as well as 22 various pan fish. Most were very big pre spawn bluegills. Although did have a crappie and a couple redeye. 

Total Fish = 22

Biggest fish = 9” 

Minutes per fish = 13.6

Campground Citation Smallie - May 11th, 2023

Together Greg and I did not catch as many fish as yesterday. Bites were harder to come by but thf quality of those bites was better, Greg caught and 18” and I caught a 20.50” in addition to a number of 14 to 15” fish we landed. Some on tubes some on flukes today and even a couple on top water plopper. Fun day beautiful weather. Love the mighty New. 

Total Fish = 14 

Biggest Fish = 20.5”

Best 5 Fish  = 78”

Minutes per Fish = 19.2

Old School New River - May 10th, 2023

Tubes, G tails and flukes below the dam. Greg and I boater 40 total in 4.5 hours. We had 6 fish over 15” and 3 over 16”. Fish were living in slack pocket water shallow. 

Total Fish = 20 

Biggest Fish = 16.5” 

Minutes per fish = 13.5

Rain Triggered Bite - May 9th, 2023

First three hours of overcast what I though perfect conditions led to nothing, two bites and one lost fish. Then the rain came and we caught almost 20 bass combined during and after the rain up Peak creek.  Really good case study on the effects of barometric pressure drops on fish. 

Total Fish = 15

Biggest Fish = 16”

Minutes per fish = 28 

Brad’s Summersville Birthday - May 8th, 2023

Great May Day on Summersville. I landed 15 and Brad landed 3. We lost maybe 6 more. Chartreuse flukes on points worked methodically were key. Hardly anyone else around today. We really had the lake to ourselves. 

Total Fish = 15 

Biggest Fish 17”

Minutes per fish = 26

Sunday Afternoon on Bluestone - May 7th, 2023

A after church trip to Bluestone turned up 11 fish in 5 hours. All small mouth all on square bills and crank baits. Bertha was out producing Bull Falls on the day.  8 of our 11 can on the same 100 yards of bank. We missed a few others. 

Total Fish = 11

Biggest Fish = 16” 

Minutes per fish = 42.8