Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 4/22/10

Brandon and I fished in a tournament on Thursday night 4/22/10 from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.  The water is still warming up with 70+ degrees being normal in the coves.  The main lake is hovering around 68 degrees for the most part.  Tonight started off very windy, but calmed down after dark.  It was also partly cloudy for most of the tournament.
We started by fishing spinnerbaits and crankbaits on windblown main lake flats for about an hour with no luck.  We made a move into a pocket off the main lake out of the wind and fished the entire edge with plastics.  The first half of the pocket resulted in zero bites, but the second half gave up 5 fish and several misses, with one being a keeper weighing 2.44 lbs.  We continued on to another spot we have had success on in the past and immediately landed another keeper on plastics that weighed 2.26 lbs.  After that fish our night went downhill.  I had a nice fish jump and break my line and Brandon had a really nice fish come unbuttoned.  Had we landed those two, I think we would have had enough weight to win the tournament.  Once it got dark, we had a few nibbles but nothing we could set the hook on. 
All the fish we caught were several feet off the bank.  The lake is not full yet and alot of the cover is still out of the water.
On a side note, the FLW is here this week and they have been hammering the fish all week and weighing in some very nice bags.  It's becoming evident that with all the tournaments that have been taking place, the numbers of fish being caught has decreased substantially.

Fort Loudon Fishing Report 4/12/10

On Monday, 4/12/10, I was on the lake from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm in a tournament.  The water is getting warmer with main channel temperatures in the 65-69 F range.  The water continues to rise and there is more debris floating along with it.  I saw several large logs floating, so my advice is keep your eyes open and slow down or risk losing your lower unit.  The sky was clear and the air temperature was in the low 70s when we arrived and probably in the mid 50s when we left.  There was a light breeze and a good amount of current.
The fish keep going shallower.  We had good luck on jigs around shoreline cover although our weigh in would suggest otherwise.  We had one keeper at 2.04 lbs and I had one jump and throw the hook that was the same size.  I also had two 3+ lbers come off due to bad hooksets and frayed line.  You would think I'd never done this before!  I also tried crankbaits and jerkbaits for a few minutes with no luck.
If I had to go out today for quality fish, I would definitely fish shoreline cover from the front to the back of any coves and main lake pockets.  Don't forget to spray your jig with some sort of attractant because it seems to make them hold on longer at the moment.  Most importantly, have fun!

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - Week of 4/4/10

This week on Ft. Loudon, large numbers of bass are being caught, both smallmouth and largemouth.  The water temperature rose drastically over the last week.  Water temperature recorded at 59 degrees in a control spot last week is now reading 65.  Over last weekend the lake rose about a foot, pushing the fish closer to the banks.  The bite has changed from light pickups to an aggressive strike.  Many fishermen are reporting catches of 20-30 fish in 4 or 5 hours. 
Currently, the baits being used most frequently are jerkbaits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and Texas rigged plastics or jigs.  The fish are on points and warm banks where they can be caught with any of the above lures.  It's not uncommon to catch several fish in the same spot.
Anglers, including myself, are also catching some large striped bass (aka stripers or rockfish) on these lures with 10-15 pounders being common.