Fort Loudon Fishing Report 5/25/10

I took two of my friends out for fun on 5/25/10 from 6:30 pm to 9:15 pm. We put in at Carl Cowan park. The water was stained, 79-82 degrees. It started out raining and heavy wind, but passed through by 7:00 pm.
We fished main lake points and rocky areas and caught fish scattered. We landed about 10 fish, with 3 being keepers. Two over 15 inches and one 17 1/2 inches were caught all in the same spot.  Fish were anywhere from the bank to 12 feet deep.
Lures used were Carolina rigged plastics, Texas rigged plastics, poppers and shaky heads.  We also tried crankbaits and I caught one keeper crappie, but no bass.

Fishing Report 7/30/09, Fort Loudon

Fishing has been great lately in terms of quantity. Quality on the other hand is scarce. The fish have been scattered in different depths. I have caught them anywhere from 3 - 30 feet. I have also caught many suspended fish in depths of 10-30 ft over 50 feet of water.
The shallowest fish are coming off Carolina rigged craws and Texas rigged worms. Many of the deeper fish have been taken with the same techniques, but also on deep diving lures such as Lucky Craft CBD20s, Norman DD22s, and Luhr Jensen Hot Lips. It is worthwhile to have some type of fluke or popper rigged up for when the schools pop up at these depths.
The suspended fish have been taken on topwaters such as the Rebel Pop-R, and Excalibur Pop'N Image. They are actively trapping schools of shad against any type of deep bank and can be easily caught with a fluke type plastic.
The quality fish I have caught have been underneath these schools and have been taken on big worms and jigs. They are biting these on the fall. The only problem is keeping the smaller fish away from the lure long enough for the big ones to respond.
The lake has risen the last couple days from the rain. There is decent current in some areas, so fish any current breaks made by points, docks, or bluff walls. Always fish windblown points and humps. If you catch one fish, chances are extremely good there are more in the same area.
Good luck and be safe!

Trouble Finding Quality Fish

During the past few weeks on Fort Loudon, I have been catching loads of fish. Mostly these have been largemouth and smallmouth, but some have been white and yellow bass. There is only one problem. Only a few of them have been large enough to keep! The catch to keeper ratio for me right now is around 12:1. When I do hook into a keeper it is usually the only fish I'll catch in that area. I'm just having trouble finding the quality fish.
I have developed a few strategies for my next few tournaments based on my thoughts about what the fish are doing. First, I will try the run and gun approach. Based on my experiences with the keepers being scattered with one here and one there, I believe if I hit enough points, bluffs, and humps I can get my limit. In doing this, I will probably fan cast each spot with a deep diving crankbait, Carolina rig, and football jig, in that order. I will also have a fluke tied on and ready to grab for the schoolers that tend to frenzy in these areas.
Second, I may stay in very deep water for my lake (50 feet) and chase the schooling fish that seem to keep appearing in these deep areas. I would be using a fluke, popper, walker, and crankbait to target these fish. The only problem with this is the catch to keeper ratio. One can catch many fish doing this, but most of them are small. However, when the schools of big fish appear, the livewell can fill up in just minutes. To me, this seems like a boom or bust approach.
The last approach I am considering is to target just 4 or 5 areas where I have caught some bigger fish recently and probe every inch of them. For some reason, these areas have not produced lately even though the weather has been consistent. In fact, the only difference is the lake has been dropped between one and two feet. Maybe, I will move out a little deeper and fish really slow. If I decide on this strategy I will be using Carolina rigs, Texas rigs, and heavy jigs. The plastics used will vary from lizards to straight worms. I've not had one particular lure stand out on the Carolina rig or Texas rig this year. It seems like as long as it is some hue of green or pumpkin, they will bite it.
I'm very determined to find these larger fish during these hot months. I fish well in the Spring, Fall, and early Summer. Mid to Late Summer baffles me. I will find the fish! I will succeed! No matter if you love or hate Michael Iaconnelli, his "Never give up!" slogan is a great one. If I do fail, I will continue my Summer pursuit next year. After all, I'm still young.....just impatient!
Any suggestions you may have are encouraged and greatly appreciated!

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 6/29/09

We fished the Monday Night Madness church tournament out of Concord on 6/29 from 6:00pm to 10:00 pm. We won with 10.3 pounds, 4 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. Right from the start I was on them! I started with a shakey head and landed our two smallest keepers in about 10 minutes on a rip rap bank. Moved down lake about 100 yards and landed another keeper largemouth on a Texas rigged worm in the heart of a fallen tree. He was about 16 inches. By this time, it was about 7:15 pm. We made a move another few hundred yards down the lake to a very large point, where on the 2nd cast I landed another largemouth that was about 18 inches on a Carolina rig. A few casts later I landed the smallmouth on the same rig. It was about 19 inches. Now, it was about 8:30 pm. We spent the rest of the tournament trying to upgrade our smaller fish, but just couldn't hook up with any more keepers. Altogether, we caught around 25 fish. It was cloudy and overcast almost all day until we launched. Then, it was clear and sunny. There was a little current moving and I believe they were pulling water at the dam. The water temperature was around 80 F and the outside temperature was about 85 F. Had a good night and caught some on some new lures I've been trying. You folks have a great day!