Fort Loudon fishing report 3/19/13

I was able to go out for a couple hours with one of my friends today after work. We launched at Concord Ramp at 2:30 pm and fished until 4:30 pm. It was about 55 F outside and was very windy again with bright blue skies.
We fished the Ish Creek/Prater Flats area with no luck. The water was colder and muddy from the day of rain on Monday. There were minnows and shad jumping out of the water and we did see a couple of bass jump, but couldn't get a bite. We tried several different crankbaits and jerkbaits but no takers. It's not often that I get skunked but it sure happened on this day!
The only thing we managed to accomplish today was to break things. First the handle on the boat trailer broke off when releasing the tension and it's only a year old! Then, as we traveled over the rough water I discovered the depthfinder wouldn't stay powered on. Evidently there is a short in the power cord because it will stay on if you bend it a certain way. To top the day off, the right side trailer turn signal and brake light won't work.
So, that pretty much sums it up. In a tribute to Mr. Si,  "Hey! It was still better than being at work, Jack!"
Good luck and I hope you have better luck than I did.

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 3/17/13

Joey and I took the boat out for the first time this year to make sure everything was working after several maintenance problems were fixed.  We put in at Concord Ramp at around 2:30 pm and fished until 6:30pm. It was about 65 degrees outside and very windy. The water temperatures varied from 54 F in the Concord ramp area to 65 F in one of our spring spots.
Crankbaits seemed to be the preference with a slow to medium retrieve. 5 largemouth were taken with one keeper weighing approximately 2.5 lbs. It was only 15.5 inches but was very, very fat. One largemouth had obviously been briefly captured by an osprey because the claw marks were on top of his sides.
One largemouth around 3.5 lb was taken on a rattle trap.
The biggest largemouth of the day was almost taken on a Tennessee Rig (a 3 bait Alabama Rig).  It came off but would have been 5+ lbs.
We also tried jerkbaits and spinnerbaits but only had some short strikes.
Other fish caught were 1 yellow perch and 1 yellow bass.
That's it for today! Good luck out there and be safe!