Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 7/9/13

It finally quit raining long enough to let us get in some quality fishing without being soaked!  I heard on the radio it was the first day without rain since June 15.  We launched from the Concord ramp. The water was murky to muddy depending on the location and it was warm.  We were in 85 F water most of the afternoon. 6pm -10pm.  The flood gates are open at the dam and there is abundant current everywhere.  Initially, the sky was mostly sunny and it was hot and humid.  Somewhere around 90 F.  Then the wind picked up, the clouds rolled in, and it got comfortable.  There were more pleasure boaters than I thought would be out which made the main channel a little bit rough.
We took a very short boat ride to our first spot and my friend Joey immediately hooked up.  When he got it to the boat there were actually 2 largemouth on his Strike King crankbait.  One was 15 inches and the other was 13 inches.  He was using the first crankbait that I ever painted for him that I finished on Sunday afternoon.  He went on to catch a 16 inch largemouth and then a 17 inch smallmouth.  Then he lost the lure and was crushed for the rest of the night.  As for me, I caught a 13 incher and a 18.5 incher on a Carolina rig.  It was a fun afternoon on the water and you can't ask for much more than that. Praise God!
The fish are schooled up and a little bit shallower due to the lake levels being up.  They're pretty easy to catch right now.  So, be safe and have fun.

Fort Loudon 6/17/12 Bass Report

Put in at Concord ramp at 6:00 am and headed down the lake towards dam only a few miles.  It was a windy morning but it felt great.
I started out cranking a 5XD in shallow water so it would bang off all the rocks and immediately caught 2 short largemouth.  I switched to a Carolina rigged 10 inch worm on the same point and landed a small keeper.
I moved on down the lake and caught  8 or 9 more flipping laydowns and rocks with various plastics.
I ended the day fishing a tube very deep with the hook exposed and caught 2 more keepers.
Between my friend and I we caught over 20 fish and would have had a small limit if we were fishing a tournament.  We couldn't find the bigger fish.
We pulled back to the ramp about 11:30 am and called it a day.
The later it got the fewer fish we caught.  The wind picked up as the day went on and made it very hard to stay on one spot.  The early morning bite is good and the fish seem willing to bite just about anything.
Happy belated Father's Day to all the dads out there!
It's been a long time since I posted anything on this blog, but I'm trying to get back into it.  I apologize for the long absence.

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 9/14/09, Monday Night Mayhem

Brandon was able to make it out to fish with me on Monday night and it paid off. He had our two biggest fish in the Monday Night Mayhem tournament out of the Concord ramp on Fort Loudon, with one winning lunker. It weighed 3.66 lb. We had a total of 4 fish that weighed 8.74 lb, which was good enough for the win.
We caught several fish on topwater poppers, but none were keepers. Three of our keepers came on a 10" Berkley Power Worm and one came on a white Strike King Caffeine Shad. We fished from 6" - 17 ft deep on 5 spots I have had some success with the past few weeks. I've had problems hooking the fish on these spots but I knew they were there. Monday, we didn't have such a problem although we did miss a few. I guess that leaves a few there for next time!
Baitfish are everywhere and you can see them schooled on top. Occasionally, a feeding frenzy will occur and you can catch several fish in a very short time, but they seem to be small ones. The water temperature was around 78 F. The water was calm, with very little wind. The skies were partly to mostly cloudy.
This is a fun tournament to fish. I really enjoy competing against these guys and we have a great time before and after the tournament shooting the bull. The director is Bill Freeman and he has done a great job!
The results were as follows:
Jon Dice/Brandon Dinsmore - 4 fish - 8.74 lb and first lunker - 3.66 lb
Bill Freeman/John Smith - 4 fish - 6.76 lb and second lunker - 2.31 lb (I think)
Jerry and Robby Beck - 4 fish - 6.37 lb (great to see father and son fishing together)
Lynn and Bob King - 4 fish - 5.99 lb
others did not weigh in fish.

Anyone interested should come out and fish! It's not an expensive tournament, $35 (but I think is being lowered to $25 to draw more competitors). We are fishing through the end of October and now is getting to be the best time to catch good numbers of fish on Fort Loudon. It would be a great place for some beginning tournament anglers to have a good time.
Until next time, be safe and catch them big uns!

Fishing Report 3/25/09, Fort Loudon

Brandon and I made it on the lake today about 12:30 pm. We put in at Louisville Point Park and fished until about 5:00 pm. We fished the areas between Concord Ramp and Lousville Point Park and caught 19 total fish. Eighteen were largemouth, 1 was a smallmouth. All fish were caught on crankbaits or rattle trap. We had 2 keepers, 1 about 3 lbs and 1 about 2 lbs. Water temperature was about 58 degree average. We had a great time today, but we missed some fish and lost a good keeper. Good luck to you all!