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!

USA Bassin' Regional, Douglas Lake Report 9/13/09

Brandon and I fishied the Regional on Sunday 9/13 and didn't do so well. We only had 2 fish that weiged 2.5 lbs and I think finished in 31st place. The good news is that was good enough to qualify for the USA Bassin' Classic which will be on Kentucky Lake in May 2010. The top 3 will win a new boat! The winner on Sunday had 17+ lbs, 2nd was 10+, 3rd was 9, and 4th was 8.9. There were 48 boats.
It was a tough day. The topwater bite was slow in the area we fished in the morning and we only managed a few small fish on Pop Rs and Zara Spooks. Our keepers came off of shady steep rock banks on finesse shaky worms. We caught around 10 fish, but only had the 2 keepers. From 11:00 am to 1:00 pm we didn't get a bite.
If I had it to do over, I would go much farther up the river and find dirtier water. It was just too clear where we were. The water temperature at 7:30 am was 74 F and we found 80 F later in the day in one area. The skies were clear and a strong eastern wind was blowing in.
The tournament director, Joe Cummings, did a great job! It was very organized and efficient. Congratulations to the winners and everyone who qualified for the Classic!

Douglas Lake Fishing Report - 8/26/09

A friend and I drove down to Douglas Lake today and fished from about 12:00 pm - 4:15 pm. It was only the 3rd time I had been on Douglas and the first time in 5 years. We put in at the dam, which was not nearly as crowded as I had expected, and took a left into the Flat Creek area. We jumped point to point and tossed everything at them. Deep diving crank baits, spinnerbaits, jigs, Carolina rigged plastics of all sorts, poppers, flukes, all with no luck. It was very slow, no shad breaking or bass busting. Even the Great Blue Herons seemed inactive, allowing the boat to get extremely close before flying off. We ended up plucking 3 largemouth from the lake using plastic finesse worms. Two of the fish were keepers, a 14 inch and an 16 1/2 inch. Water temperatures were between 77 and 80 degrees, air temperature was around 85 degrees and there was no wind and no clouds. It was hot, humid, and pretty much miserable. But, at least we were fishing instead of working, right? You all have a great day!

New Look

For something new, I decided to change templates today. I'm not quite sure if I like it better than the old one, though. It does seem a little easier to read with this color scheme. I would like to get some comments from frequent visitors comparing this template with the old one and any suggestions. Also, any first time visitors please feel free to leave comments or suggestions. Thanks in advance!

Monday Night Madness - Fort Loudon 8/17/09

I fished solo in the Monday Night Madness tournament from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I started out shallow and landed 17 fish in the first 45 minutes with one that was a 16" keeper. The rest were 12-13 inches. These fish were in 1-8 feet of water. I moved out to a hump to try to get some bigger fish. I missed a few on a Carolina Rig. The weather was looking pretty bad, so I decided to head back towards the ramp just in case it began lightning. I often see guys fish through the lightning, but I refuse to risk my life over a few hundred dollars! So, after stopping at a very nice, long point that has been good to me in the past, the wind started howling. The bite instantly shut off contrary to what I thought would happen. I hooked up with one more small keeper that came off as I tried to swing him in the boat. It was dark and windy at this point and I was battling the waves with the trolling motor trying to stay on my spot, so I couldn't find the end of my line. When I tried to swing the fish in, it hit the back left side of the boat and came off. Oh, well. It wouldn't have helped me place in the tournament. The winner had 8+ lbs I think.

On a side note, there were several fish having trouble swimming after release. If you do not know how to "fizz" a fish, I highly recommend you to learn. It's easy to do and enables the fish to swim instead of float. Floaters always die, fizzed fish have a much better survival rate. Also, keep some ice for your livewell and Rejuvenade or some other type of livewell treatment. Good luck out there!

To purchase enough Rejuvenade to treat 500 gallons click here!

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 8/12/09

I took a good friend of mine, Bryan, out for the first time in over a year today from 2:00 pm to 4:45 pm. The sun was intense and it was HOT! My only goal was to get him on some good fish. We started on a hump in the Louisville Point Park area and I caught 1 largemouth, 13 inches, on a Carolina rigged Net Bait Paca Craw. We moved to an area where we noticed frequent surface activity. I let Bryan borrow a popper and a fluke and tied the same on for myself. From that moment we started landing one after another. A school of white bass came by and we had a blast catching them on poppers. We caught 8 of them and all were right at 2 lbs. We also caught 13 largemouth and 1 smallmouth for a total of 22 fish. Three of the largemouth were keepers. We missed many more than that. The smallmouth was caught on a shakey head worm. I tried a crankbait with no takers. I don't believe that I could catch a fish on a crankbait right now if it was starving! One thing I noticed surprised me. There was no wind when we started catching fish, but when the wind picked up, the bite died. Once the wind went away we started catching them again. Usually, it's just the opposite based on my experiences. We had a great time and I encourage anyone that wants to have some fun to go out and get after those schoolers. Now would be a great time to take a kid and get them excited about fishing! Take care and good luck!

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 8/11/09

Went out from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm and had to leave due to lightning. Started out near Carl Cowan park and found schooling fish EVERYWHERE! We caught 5 in one school with a popper and fluke and had several others come off. I am currently using the Zoom Fluke because I'm out of Strike King Caffeine Shads. All these were just short of being keepers, so I decided to move. I found a hump that went up to 8.7 ft from 25 ft and noticed bait covering my depthfinder with big arcs beneath the schools. So, I dropped a buoy and backed off to fish it. I missed several at first on a Carolina Rigged fluke, so I switched my plastic to a Net Bait Paca Craw. The second cast I hooked into a 4 lb plus smallmouth. He jumped near the boat and threw the hook. I'm glad I wasn't in a tournament or I would have been really mad! Got a couple more bites there, then several boats started coming by and fishing relatively close. At this point I moved to a bluff. We caught around 10 or 12 more on different plastics and a popper. Missed some smallmouth with the popper. All caught on plastics were largemouth except for one. It was a meanmouth so that was pretty exciting. If you don't know what a meanmouth is, it's a hybrid smallmouth/spotted bass. They fight extremely hard! All in all a great day! Going out in a few minutes to try again. I will keep you posted!

Crankbait Modification - Part 1 - Getting More Depth

Over the next few weeks, I will be discussing and providing examples of modifications anglers can make to their crankbaits to achieve better performance. There are many things one can do to turn an ordinary, mediocre, out of the package crankbait into a great fish catching tool. Perhaps the most common question I hear is, "How can I get my crankbait to run deeper?" So, this topic is going to be the first covered in this Crankbait Modification series.

One of the most important things in getting your crankbait deeper is to be sure it is tuned. Having a properly tuned lure is the basis for catching fish with it. If it's not tuned right, no amount of modifications is going to help. If you cast it out and notice during the retrieve that your line is moving to either the left or right, then your lure is not tuned properly. There are several reasons this could happen with the most common being a bent line tie and uneven lip. To fix a bent line tie is very easy but can be frustrating. Sometimes, you can adjust it too much and it will start running the opposite direction. I have found the easiest way to tweak lure direction is by taking a pair of needle nose pliers and placing one side on the line tie and the other on the side of the lure's lip and gently bend. You should bend the line tie in the direction that you want the lure to run. Photo 1 is an example of me tuning a Norman DD22 that has been custom painted. Do not apply too much force because you will break the lip! If the line tie doesn't bend easily, you will need to grip only the line tie with your pliers and bend. It may also be necessary to bend the front edge of the line tie to the right or left. Photo 2 shows an example of this.

Remember to make small adjustments and test before making any additional adjustments. Definitely take the time to learn how to do this because after catching several fish or getting your crankbait caught on the bottom a few times it will need to be tuned. Sometimes, the lip will crack or break. You can buy replacements from several sites on the internet, but I find it easier and less hassle to salvage the hooks and split rings and buy another lure.

Now that your lure is tuned, let's get it going deeper. The most obvious way to get the lure to dive deeper is by adding weight. There are many ways to do this, but here are a few that I have used and work great. First, you can add Suspendots or Suspenstrips. These are easy because there is no drilling, sanding, or painting required. Just stick them on evenly on each side of the lure and you're ready to go. Placement of these on the lure depend on personal preferences. I like to put them on the bottom front just behind the lip to achieve a more vertical dive.

Some other ways to add weight are a little more time consuming. These include adding lead wire to your hook shanks, drilling into the crankbait and adding BBs (which also makes it louder), drilling into the lip of the lure and adding lead, and changing to different hooks.

To add lead wire, simply wrap it around the shanks of your treble hooks. If you do this to the front treble, it is more useful in getting your lure deeper.

Drilling into the crankbait involves drilling a small hole, but big enough to insert BBs, putting the BBs in, epoxy over the hole, sand, and repaint. This method is entirely too time consuming in my opinion. It also works better with plastic crankbaits.

Drilling into the lip of of a crankbait involves using a dremel tool to hollow out part of the center of the lip and inserting weight with epoxy. This is tricky and can easily throw the balance of the lure off if done incorrectly.

Changing to different hooks is something I do on all my deep diving crankbaits. I prefer size 1 Owner Stingers 2x. They make up to a 4x, but I think that is overkill for bass fishing. The 2x is very strong, heavy and very hard to bend. The main reason I choose this hook is because it is much heavier than those on most factory packaged lures and has great holding power.

Line size is another factor in getting your crankbait deeper. The lighter the line, the deeper the lure will go, which is due to line diameter. I wouldn't use any lighter than 8 lb test on a deep diving lure. There are too many things to break the lure off. With the cost of high quality crankbaits these days, I don't want to lose any more than necessary. In the past, I would use 10 or 12 lb monofilament because I liked the stretch provided. I feel this is best when using treble hooks. However, fluorocarbon line will get the lure deeper because it sinks. I have been experimenting with Berkley Professional Grade 100% Fluorocarbon and have been very pleased with it. You should make long casts which requires a longer rod. I prefer 7' to 7'6" rods for cranking. The farther the lure has to run, the deeper it will go. Lastly, use a slower ratio reel. I use a 6.3:1 and slow down my retrieve, but most pros prefer a 5.2:1. I just haven't brought myself to purchase one yet.

Another modification for getting more depth is to "shave" the front of your lure's lip. You must be careful to make it even. This allows the lip to slice through the water better, quickly achieving maximum depth. It also decreases the durability of the lip making it easier to break. To do this you need a good fine toothed file. Hold the lure in one hand and file the front of the lip at about a 60 degree angle.

Finally, here is a tip for those of you who want to get to the absolute depths of your lake. It's very simple. First, make a Carolina rig with a 1 1/2 or 2 oz weight. Then, tie your crankbait to the end instead of a plastic. This can be very effective when fish are deep because you can stop the retrieve and the crankbait will float right in their face. The bite can be hard to feel so pay attention. You can use any size crankbait for this because that heavy weight will take it to the bottom.

Hopefully, some of these tips will help you achieve the depths you desire. Some of these will require trial and error, but once you learn them they are very helpful. I recommend trying these modifications on some of your cheaper, least favorite lures until you get the hang of it. That's it for now. The next topic in this series will be about painting and color selection. Have a great day!

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!

Strike King Perfect Plastic Caffeine Shad Review

Caffeine Shad

Zoom Super Fluke

Recently, I have been chasing schools of fish that are actively feeding on or near the surface of the water. I believe the most efficient way to catch these fish is with a soft plastic jerkbait. It's also a heck of a lot of fun! Normally, I rig the shad imitation on a weighted 4/0 hook, cast in the middle or just beyond the target school, and retrieve it in a fast jerk-pause-jerk-pause motion. This has been the most consistent and efficient way to catch these fish for me under any conditions.

There are many different manufacturers of these baits with different names for them, but they are generally referred to as "flukes". Technically, the Fluke is produced by Zoom. They have different versions such as the Super Fluke, Super Fluke, Jr., Tiny Fluke, and a few others. Some other makes and models of these type lures are Yum's Houdini Shad, Lunker City Slug-Go, Netbait Super Twitch, Strike King Zulu, and the Strike King Perfect Plastic Caffeine Shad. These are only a few of what is offered on the market.

Lately, I have been using the Strike King Perfect Plastic Caffeine Shad. This lure works a little differently than my normal choice, which is the Zoom Super Fluke. In Strike King's interactive, online catalogue they describe the Perfect Plastic line as follows:

Strike King's Perfect Plastics are the softest, saltiest plastic lures ever produced and feature Strike King's exclusive coffee scent (patent pending). These baits contain the world's best blend of soft plastic ingredients! This allows use of large amounts of salt yet keep the bait soft, pliable and fishable. Coffee adds to the appeal as it masks human scents and oils and causes added bites and longer hold times which increase your hook-up chances.

I will also mention that Perfect Plastics are endorsed by Kevin VanDam and his picture is featured above the image in the catalogue.

When I first saw this product and read the packaging, which says the same thing, I thought to myself, "Those are some pretty bold statements!" So, I decided to find out for myself. I bought one pack of Pearl colored Caffeine Shads and rigged one in place of my Zoom Super Fluke.

Right away, I was impressed. The lures are much softer than the Fluke. The tail is bulbous instead of split. I like this feature because as the lure falls it shakes similar to a senko-type bait. It is also heavier, which provided two more advantages over the Zoom Super Fluke. First, it casts farther to reach schools of fish farther from the boat. And second, it sinks faster allowing for much easier, deeper retrieves.

The only thing I disliked was the lure's durability. I could catch several fish on it before replacing it, but not as many as the Zoom Super Fluke. This is because of the lure's softness, but I would rather replace a few more lures than sacrifice it's pliability.

The reason I chose the Pearl color was because I like to color the top of them either chartreuse, blue, black, or purple. I can change the Pearl into whatever I want it to be.

I highly recommend the Strike King Perfect Plastic Caffeine Shad and give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Many lures today are hyped by advertising campaigns and this one is no exception. However, it is one of the few that delivers as promised. The Zoom flukes will continue to have a place in my arsenal, but I can easily picture them being gradually replaced.

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!

Check Out This Blog

I was visiting some of the blogs I subscribe to today and came across this blog titled, The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles. From what I read this guy is a really good writer. The blog revolves mostly around hunting and fishing in Florida. Please check it out and I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 7/11/09

We fished in a tournament on July 11 out of the Loudon/Tellico canal ramp from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. Well, we had to quit early because of a brand new starter that ended up being bad. Anyway, we were able to fish until about 11:00 am. We focused on the areas near Lenoir City Park and Concord boat ramp.
There were huge schools of fish feeding on top early in the morning until about 9:00am. It was really easy to catch them, but getting keepers was a different story. They were smokin' any color fluke we threw at them! White Bass, largemouth, and smallmouth. I was looking the other way on one cast and my partner said the biggest smallmouth he'd ever seen rolled on my fluke right behind the boat. He said judging by the size of it's head, it would have been around 7 pounds. I'm glad I didn't see it or I would have been sick! These fish were anywhere between 10 and 40 feet deep.
Poppers were working well in the morning. Any brand and just about any color have been working. Brandon caught some nice smallmouth around 16 1/2 inches, but just short of keeping. Many fish were smacking at it, but just wouldn't take it well enough for a hookset. These fish were close to the bank and the boat was in 25 feet.
Perhaps the most action we saw was on a Zoom worm. At one spot, I caught 8 fish in 8 casts. I probably ended up with about 15 fish on the worm in about a half hour of fishing. The best colors for me were watermelon seed, junebug, and green pumpkin. I had them rigged on a 3/16 oz Spot Remover jighead. These fish were suspended around 15 feet deep over 30 feet of water. You wouldn't feel the bite, but you could tell one had it when the line went limp.
The day started out partly cloudy and ended up being bright, sunny, and hot.
Good luck! Catch the big ones and watch out for other boats!

The Cursed Home Lake?

Recently, there have been several unfortunate events happen on my home lake, or reservoir, Fort Loudon. First,I would like to say that I'm not one of these people that believe lost souls of the deceased wander around at night trying to find peace to move on to the next world. Frankly, I don't believe in most paranormal activity. Before moving on, let me explain. If these poor souls did exist, where are they during the day? Certainly, billions more people have died throughout history than are alive today. So, wouldn't there be ghostly images everywhere? And lastly, the Bible says we die and go to heaven or hell.
By now, I guess you're wondering where the heck I'm going with this! As I stated in the first sentence, there have been some unfortunate things happen on my home lake in the last week. The worst thing that happened was at a Thursday night tournament, July 9, out of the Concord boat ramp. A friend and fellow fisherman and his brother were idling to the no wake zone to weigh in around 9:45 pm. A drunk in a wake boat came barreling through and ran over top of their Nitro. One of the brothers is in ICU with broken ribs, an injured liver, and cracked vertebrae. The other wasn't hurt. The drunk was arrested and taken to jail. Please keep these guys in your prayers.
On a not so serious note, my brand new lower unit went out last Monday night during the Monday Night Madness tournament. We won the tournament with 5 fish that weighed 10 lbs and some change, but now my boat is back in the shop for warranty replacement, which leads to the last event.
We have been using my fishing partner's Ranger fish and ski as a backup boat. We installed a brand new starter on July 10 in preparation of the USA Bassin' tournament on July 11. We were tied for first place and the division championship with one other boat. Whoever finished higher would win the plaque. All was going great and we were getting ready to head back to some spots closer to the weigh in which was about 15 miles away. I went to start the motor and the starter just spun! It wouldn't jump up to hit the flywheel! Here we were drifting in the middle of the busiest bay on the lake with no motor and a trolling motor that was almost dead. I was so aggravated that I just said to Brandon, "Forget it! Just hand me a damn sandwich! We might as well eat!" So after eating my sandwich, we flagged someone down and got a tow to the nearest ramp, where Brandon's wife picked me up and took me to get the truck and trailer. Needless to say, it was impossible to fish anymore and we lost the championship by 1 point.
Now, some folks might think I'm crazy, cuckoo, or losing my mind. Heck, they might be right! But, until a string of good things begin to happen on this lake in my presence, I have to believe in the paranormal, just a little bit, and say that this lake is cursed!
Y'all have a great week and please remember to keep the Durham family in your prayers!

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!