Post by Gary on Jul 26, 2011 13:06:34 GMT -5
Hi All,
Was camping and fishing on Charleston Lake July 17-19 and the fishing was a bit slow, but we managed to get some. With the exception of the first day, which was windy enough that we had to take shelter in bays and behind islands, the conditions were hot, sunny, and calm. Water temperature was around 80F.
The smallies were difficult to find. We were marking a lot of fish in the 30 foot range but nary a bite from them at those depths. The smallmouth we caught were shallower, in around 10-12 feet of water and we caught pretty much all of them on either Senkos, or tube-like baits in greens and browns. They were very finicky and took the baits very lightly. Many times you didn't even know they were there until you reeled up some slack and felt the weight. Even their fight was a bit sluggish. Dead sticking the baits seemed to be the best way to entice them to bite, they didn't want to chase anything. We also caught most of our smallmouth on isolated or main-lake shoals, not around shorelines or shoals attached to islands. Most of the smallies were in the 1-2lb class, with our best being a couple in the 3-4ish range.
Largemouth were biting a bit better. Most of these were caught flipping docks and such. They were up in the shade, out of the sun, and we picked them off with a variety of lures. For pitching docks, shoreline structure, etc. we were getting them on 1/2 oz. Booyah Boo Jigs in green pumpkin/red and brown/black. We used Power Bait Chigger Craws in matching colours for trailers. We'd flip the docks and simply get reaction bites. We caught a few largies in weed beds but they had to be adjacent to some sort of structure such as a shoal. The flat weed beds such as what you'd find back in bays, etc. produced nothing. The structure related weed beds produced fish in the 1-2lb range with the biggest largemouth coming off the docks, a couple in the 2.5 - 3lb range.
We had to work hard for every fish we caught. We even did some snorkeling on some of the shoals and rarely saw any game fish. There was plenty of bait fish around, but not much bigger. Speaking of bait fish... One pattern that worked well for the smallmouth on the main lake shoals was watching for bait fish on the surface of the water. Cast a Senko right to the breaking baitfish and bam...bronzeback every time. Our highlight of the trip was a nice 4lb laker caught on a brown and chartreuse tube deadsticked in 30 feet of water.
It was our first time on the lake in tough summer conditions so I think we did alright. We had a blast doing a bit of swimming, snorkeling and cliff jumping as well, just to cool off, and we stayed at the Charleston Lake Provincial Park which was very clean and enjoyable. It's a beautiful lake to cruise as well and I'd highly recommend a visit.
Cheers!
Was camping and fishing on Charleston Lake July 17-19 and the fishing was a bit slow, but we managed to get some. With the exception of the first day, which was windy enough that we had to take shelter in bays and behind islands, the conditions were hot, sunny, and calm. Water temperature was around 80F.
The smallies were difficult to find. We were marking a lot of fish in the 30 foot range but nary a bite from them at those depths. The smallmouth we caught were shallower, in around 10-12 feet of water and we caught pretty much all of them on either Senkos, or tube-like baits in greens and browns. They were very finicky and took the baits very lightly. Many times you didn't even know they were there until you reeled up some slack and felt the weight. Even their fight was a bit sluggish. Dead sticking the baits seemed to be the best way to entice them to bite, they didn't want to chase anything. We also caught most of our smallmouth on isolated or main-lake shoals, not around shorelines or shoals attached to islands. Most of the smallies were in the 1-2lb class, with our best being a couple in the 3-4ish range.
Largemouth were biting a bit better. Most of these were caught flipping docks and such. They were up in the shade, out of the sun, and we picked them off with a variety of lures. For pitching docks, shoreline structure, etc. we were getting them on 1/2 oz. Booyah Boo Jigs in green pumpkin/red and brown/black. We used Power Bait Chigger Craws in matching colours for trailers. We'd flip the docks and simply get reaction bites. We caught a few largies in weed beds but they had to be adjacent to some sort of structure such as a shoal. The flat weed beds such as what you'd find back in bays, etc. produced nothing. The structure related weed beds produced fish in the 1-2lb range with the biggest largemouth coming off the docks, a couple in the 2.5 - 3lb range.
We had to work hard for every fish we caught. We even did some snorkeling on some of the shoals and rarely saw any game fish. There was plenty of bait fish around, but not much bigger. Speaking of bait fish... One pattern that worked well for the smallmouth on the main lake shoals was watching for bait fish on the surface of the water. Cast a Senko right to the breaking baitfish and bam...bronzeback every time. Our highlight of the trip was a nice 4lb laker caught on a brown and chartreuse tube deadsticked in 30 feet of water.
It was our first time on the lake in tough summer conditions so I think we did alright. We had a blast doing a bit of swimming, snorkeling and cliff jumping as well, just to cool off, and we stayed at the Charleston Lake Provincial Park which was very clean and enjoyable. It's a beautiful lake to cruise as well and I'd highly recommend a visit.
Cheers!
