Structure, Cover, and Forage - June 24th, 2018

When you find a place that has structure, cover, and forage you don’t need to do much to find fish. You add in rising water and stable water temps and now you are cooking with fire. Today’s single access spot made it easy to catch 20 fish with a best five of 76” in under 4 hours from daylight until 10am. Fluke, Ned and a plopped did the work. 

Miles Floated = ~1 (Single Access)

Fish Caught = 20

Biggest Fish = 17.5”

Biggest Five Fish = 76.0”

Minutes per fish = 12.3

WVKA Tygart Lake - June 16th, 2018

The title of this post should be called last hour rally. I caught all five of my keepers in last 1.5 hours and easily moved from middle of the pack in a field of 62 to tied for 3rd, finishing 4th loosing on a tie breaker. I could catch nothing but 7 to 11” fish for most of the morning. Greg, Mike Sisson, Mike Cogar, and I fished from Philippi to middle of nowhere takeout. Sisson caught a 20.0 big fish that won big fish and helped him fishing 2nd. The water was perfect and the float was really nice minus being more flat that I like. Many northern rivers in WV are too flat for my taste. I figured out late in the day that despite the bright sun the fish wanted a fluke worked very slow near rock. Once I figured that I upgraded from 51” to 67” finishing 4th overall and Nahodil and I finished 2nd place team behind our fishing partners for the day Mike and Mike. The late rally made for a unique experience and an awesome day. 

Miles Floated = 5.5

Fish Caught = 42

Biggest Fish = 15.0”

Best Five Fish = 67.0”

Place Finished = 4th our of 62/ 2nd place team

Minutes per fish = 11.4

Tygart Lake Prefishing- June 17th, 2018

Greg and I fished below Tygart lake dam on a hot and muggy Friday afternoon along with several other WVKA regulars the day before WVKA Tygart Tournament. The bit was tough. The water was up and falling with heavy stain. I managed a few but the key middle areas I wanted to fish you could not get to. We fished single access for 2.5 hours and then head off the dinner and registration. 

What we learned today was where we do not want to fish for the tournament. I was on the phone setting up a river float above the d where the water is clearer within an hour. Total Fish = 8

Biggest Fish= 11.5

Best Five Fish = 53.5”

Minutes per fish = 18.75

Annalyn’s First Smallmouth Bass - June 10th, 2018

Despite the incoming storm Annalyn and I hit the water out of the Big Tuna behind Advance Beach. Annalyn caught her first 3 river smallies out of a kayak in the short time we were out on the water. 

Pond Magic - Wednesday June 6th, 2018

The girls and I hit the pond for some quick fish action. Night crawlers were catching bluegills quick and the Ned rig was catching bass even faster. It was a beautiful late spring low humidity evening. I wish my life had more time with my girls like today in it. 

Windy Short Morning on Moncove - June 4th, 2018

Due to never ending high water on the river forced Stan and I to go to Moncove for what has to be my 6th time over there this season to find fishable water. We had two good hours with the Ned rig doing it’s thing before the wind picked up into the 15 to 20 mph range and we called it quits. 

Total Fish Caught = 6 with 2 more lost

Biggest Fish = 14.25”

Biggest five fish 64.25”

Minutes per fish = 19.6

SCKBA Greenbrier River Part II - June 2nd, 2018

My cousin Jack came in and picked up hid brand new Coosa in Rockfish the day before our SCKBA event that turned out to be Greenbrier River Part 2. Due to the New River being high we changed the venue from the New River to the Greenbrier. And wouldn’t you know it but it got rain the night before and came up too some. We had 40 Anglers compete. Bryan Bostic lead the way with an incredible 84” limit. I struggled all day. The water was too stained for them to hit a fluke and Ned was not doing much. Finally around 10:30 I figured out they would still hit and chase a devil craw square bill. But it was too little to late. I hade only 57”. I ended up finishing 10th out of 40. Jack struggled as well coming in the back of the pack. 

Miles Floated = 6.5

Total Fish Caught = 21

Biggest Fish = 13.75”

Biggest five fish = 57.5”

Place finished = 10th out of 40

Minutes per fish = 17.4

Moncove on Memorial Day- May 28th, 2018

Brad and hit Moncove since the river was bombed out due to flash flooding. We only fished three hours. We quit early due to holiday weekend crowds and wind picking up. First couple hours were productive with a Ned rig. I ended up with 8 and Brad had 4 all between 12 and 14”. 

Total Fish Caught = 8

Best 5 Fish = 63.25”

Biggest Fish = 13.75”

Minutes per fish = 9.7”

Miles Floated = single access 

Holiday Weekend Runthrough - May 26th, 2018

High water running 6 gates on a holiday weekend. Jarod and I floated from the dam to first takeout. It was hard to find a place to fish the current was so strong. We managed our fish from small holes of pocket water with Ned rigs and Hula grubs. We stared at 6:15 and where done by 9:15. Just a quick run through before the holiday rush. 

Miles Floated = 9.5

Total Fish Caught = 14

Biggest Fish = 13.0” 

Best Five Fish= 62.5”

Minutes per Fish = 12.8

WVKA Summersville- April 19th, 2018

Due to high water the first WVKA tournament of the season was a lake only event on Summersville Lake. Everything else in the state has remained umfishable with all of our severe storms. We had 68 compete today. I had never fished Summersville Lake before and was really struck by it’s beauty and scale. It has to be one of the prettiest places in the state. I stayed with Harper and we fished as partners in the team event for the day. After some debate we decided to put in at the marina and stay in the no wake McKee’s Creek. At the start of the day I found a point, used my sonar to find the drop and started working a Ned rig. I caught a couple 10” smallies and a walleye then decided to switch to a fluke while the low light conditions existed. Then the fluke bite took off. I caught three 14’s then switched back to a Ned and got a 16”. I still had the one 10.5” and I never could cull him despite trying for the next 4 hours. I had a big smaller chase it all the way out to the boat and had a huge largemouth swing and miss my fluke. I ended up with 70.5” in 10th place out of 68 and in thd money. Harper had 63.5” and we finished 4 out of 30 some teams also in the money. Micheal Waid the SCKBA 2017 rookie of the year won the event with 77” fishing out of battle run right behind his camp. I was one big fish way from a win. Last September I won this event on the Gauley by 3” with 69.25”. This May there were 10 Anglers in the 70’s on the lake alone. I enjoyed fishing the clear water of Summersville more than I thought I would. This lake fished hot right now and made a great venue when everything else was muddy and high. 

Total Fish Caught = 14

Best 5 Fish = 70.5”

Biggest Fish = 16.0”

Minutes per fish = 33.2

Finish 10th out of 68 winning $40

Team finish = 4th of 30