BASS FISHINGBass Fishing Sports Blog

It’s late October and two and half hours’ drive north of new York City, the first snow of the season blankets the Catskill Mountains. Visibility extends for miles, snowfall softens every contour, and forested mountains rise from either side of the valleys in which churning streams start their journey to the Delaware and Hudson rivers. elsewhere, barns and silos mark areas where the topography is more forgiving.

With elevations above 4,000ft, the Catskills lie in the southern part of new York state and spread over several counties. the names of local villages reflect a variety of influences: land-use (Bovina), the response of a long-dead official to the surrounding mountains (Andes), the aspirations of early settlers (Phoenicia). sixty years ago, it took five hours to drive here from Manhattan. later, new highways reduced the drive to the eastern Catskills to two and a half hours, or three hours to the western parts, opening the area to weekenders.

“In the 1970s the Catskills appealed to hunters who wanted lots of land on which they built simple chalets. Today many of the buyers have professions which allow them to enjoy the benefits of telecommuting,” says Carol Spinelli, an agent at Coldwell Banker Timberland Properties, who estimates that in the past year around 90 per cent of her sales were to second-home buyers.

Many of these buyers spend three days a week at their mountain homes while others travel to new York just once or twice a month, according to Ron Guichard, a long-time Catskill resident and head of the Sotheby’s International Realty office in the hamlet of Andes. “The serenity; the quality of life, including air and water quality, and safety are what people like. there was also an influx of people after 9/11,” says Guichard, referring to the area’s lingering bolt-hole status.

An 1865 three-bedroom Greek revival farm in Roxbury listed at $1.35m

More influential, though, is what Spinelli calls the “four-season resort experience”. the Catskills have highly regarded trout fishing on the Beaverkill and several golf courses, but it’s often the ski resorts that tip the scales in favour of purchasing a second home. once committed to the thought, says Spinelli, buyers look for privacy, mountain views and a water feature. Catskill properties can fetch as much as $2m, particularly those closer to Manhattan. yet you don’t have to spend anywhere near that to obtain an exceptional home. Spinelli is selling a four-bedroom property with mountain views for just $750,000. Located in Bovina, it includes a pool and 12 acres of grounds.

One discernible trend is the increasing number of buyers seeking estates, usually of 100 acres or more. many new Yorkers are interested in buying former dairy farms and returning them to pasture or alternative agricultural uses. the advice for people seeking these properties is to head west into eastern Delaware County. “Delaware County offers more acreage than Sullivan or Ulster counties, and is more rural,” says Jean Orr, an associate broker at Prudential Fox Properties in Margaretville.

Guichard is selling several properties in the county, including Evergreen Farm and Stables, a 330 acre equestrian estate in Franklin, for $1.59m. In addition to the 3,500 sq ft main house, there is a guest cottage, stables, and a spring-fed 10 acre swimming lake stocked with bass and catfish.

Catskill home prices have not been immune to the recession, but the availability of large tracts of land is slowly diminishing. the cause is the watershed effect, whereby new York City buys up Catskill acreage at market prices in order to protect areas of runoff that feed into the city’s drinking water supply. with the city having recently committed to another 15 years of land purchases, Prudential’s Orr believes that reduced supply will underpin demand and prices of estate-size properties.

Brokers also highlight a small but growing number of new Yorkers who have decided to forgo a home in the Hamptons – or who have sold their Hamptons home – in favour of a Catskill retreat. International buyers are also emerging, says Orr, who in recent years has sold estates to Israeli and European clients. Among her current offerings is an 1865 three-bedroom Greek revival farm. Set on 89 acres, of which 80 per cent is meadow, the fully restored estate includes a pool and converted dairy barn. the Roxbury township home is listed at $1.35m.

Tom Munro, a British fashion photographer based in new York who has directed videos for Madonna, is one of the new wave of new Yorkers to have opted for the Catskills over more traditional second-home locations. “I ended up there one day when I was killing time just driving around. Andes was covered in snow, and I thought it was charming. then one weekend I arrived with the ambitious thought of finding a farm. I was taken to a derelict Greek revival farmhouse that hadn’t been out of the owner’s family since the 1850s and was unlived in. it was an ambitious project but the landscape was gorgeous,” he recalls.

Today Munro has expanded his holding to 65 acres, and he intends to add more land. “It’s 150 miles door-to-door and that doesn’t bother me,” says Munro of his weekend commute from new York City. “It’s better than sitting in traffic on the way to the Hamptons. and for the money, it’s a fantastic deal.”

……………………………………………………………..

Buying guide

Pros

? Plentiful cross-country and downhill skiing

? Acclaimed trout fishing on nearby rivers and reservoirs

? Relaxed village living or self-imposed seclusion

Cons

? Intermittent mobile phone coverage

? No excellent shopping centres or nightclubs

? Winters can be very cold

What can you buy for …

$100,000 a village home or a fixer-upper on two acres

$1m a refurbished farmhouse with 100 acres of woodland and pasture

Contacts

? Coldwell Banker Timberland Properties

? Select Sotheby’s International Realty

selectsothebysrealty.com

? Prudential Fox Properties

Flounders and Eels caught at Stanford

12:50pm Thursday 27th October 2011

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SEA ANGLING: ERITH & THAMESMEAD: Eddie Sharpe reports lots of whiting and a good number of flounders.

CHARLTON: Flounders of a decent size, all on lug.

STANFORD: Flounders and the odd eel.

GRAVESEND: Graham, at Dolphin Angling, reports dogfish plus 2.5lb Dover sole, bass to 4lb, codling to 4lb, flounder and lots of whiting.

GREENHITHE: Flounder, eels, whiting, bass.

WALTON PIER: Metcalf’s report lots of whiting, codling, skate, sole, bass, dogfish. Beaches too windy to fish.

SOUTHEND PIER: Rory, of Southend Angling, reports the odd mackerel, lots of whiting, dogfish, one smooth-hound, bass and the odd mullet.

SOUTHEND BOATS: Skate, whiting and a few codling.

FELIXSTOWE BOATS: Had so many whiting they came home early.

The Gravesend Open takes place this Sunday. Booking in is from 9.30am at the Ship and Lobster pub. Fishing is from noon until 4.30pm.

Read these Sport tales

Eloise was never known to be a person who liked to put a worm on the hook, sit in a boat all day and look at that cork every minute just to catch a fish but she always supported this writer in his love of the outdoors. Her brother Leroy loved to fish and was on the water searching for bass throughout his life here on Earth.

My wife went with me many times on these lakes in Florida but she never wanted to fish, just get a suntan and watch me as I caught a bass or two. Eloise has been the Light of my Life, the one person who taught me all about Jesus and how we should both follow him and we have for 58 years. it has been a fantastic life.

We were fortunate to have two children, a boy, Joe, and a girl, Cindy. now Cindy was the other angler in the family as she wanted to go with this writer on every trip to the phosphate pits near Bartow. Joe enjoyed fishing once in awhile but he had rather stay home and watch television.

I just want to thank my wife who has given this writer 58 years of happiness.

Fishing is getting better in the chain

This has been a week of some good catches made out of the Winter Haven Chain especially in Summit and Winterset. Tommy Johnson and Ernest Rogers of Lake Wales fished Winterset early Monday morning for bass. Both were using eight inch Junebug colored plastic worms and each caught three bass with the largest tipping the scales at five pounds. These two anglers fish the chain about twice a month. They said they delight in fishing the chain as they seem to catch a bass or two on each trip.

Walter Jones and Jacob Smith tried thier luck in Lake Summit on Tuesday morning. Walter said they come over from Plant City about once a month and their favorite lake is Summit. “We put our boat in the water at sunup and start fishing the docks with eight inch plastic worms,” Walter said. We had been fishing about 10 minutes when Jacob caught a three pound bass from under one of the docks. We ended up with seven bass weighing up to eight pounds working those docks.”

Fishing throughout the chain has picked up with the fall-like early morning weather. Bass is hitting off the grass lines in about four feet of water on shallow diving crank baits or plastic worms. Bluegill still hitting crickets. Best lakes for bass are Winterset, Summit, Howard, Cannon, Hartridge and Jessie. Better lakes for bluegills are Rochelle, Eloise, Hardridge, Jessie, Howard and Lulu.

Lakes located in Auburndale have been producing good catches of buegill and bass. Anglers fishing Lake Whistler caught some nice bluegills on Monday while fishing with crickets. Lake Ariana has been one of the top lakes for bass.

Some nice catfish have been caught during the week on cut bait such as chicken livers, wieners, or stink bait. Fish on the bottom for these fantastic eating fish.

Salt water fishing report

Redfishing is still inconsistent. Working all of the spots I have fished in the last decade has only earned us a few bites, mostly on cut baits.

Trout fishing has improved on the beaches. the west winds have torn up those areas in the past two weeks, making it hard to sit out there safely.

For those looking to take home a certain meal, Grunt fishing has been a sure bet. of course, the winds have to be cooperative.

In the coming weeks I expect a few changes. the Redfish will start to spawn in the fall, so we should see larger schools grouping up on the flats. of course the water temps should start to drop into the mid to upper 80s and not hover in the low 90s. as it continues to fall, it will also stimulate other fish to move like Mangrove Snapper and the deeper Grouper.

See you on the pond this week and be sure to take a youth with you on your next trip.

outdoorramblings@gmail.com or .

hey man, it really depends on the state or city in where you are fishing. i have seen places that want to bass to be 16 inches i have seen others where it is 14 inches and where i am it has to be 12 inches. there is not a set size for the country. what you need to do is look up your state's department of natural resources and there should be a list of the state's fish and the limit on the size and quantity. man i hope that helps you out a bit. good luck good fishin be safe and remember to share the experience

you need to check with you local wildlife warden office. Wherever you bought your fishing license should have a book of fishing regulations for free. In this book you need to look up the body of water in your county, and then it will give you special numbers that mean different things and then look in the back of the booklet and find what the numbers mean.

Example

Washington County
Grand Falls Flowage (water you are fishing)

Grand Falls Flowage- S24 and S19

Look up S24 and S19 in the back

S24:
you can keep two bass greater than 12 inches and not exceeding 14 inches in length

S19
you can keep 25 white perch per person per day

Most of the places I fish don't have bass. The others have bass because they were illegally introduced. those waters have no size or bag limit on bass so I do my part to help control an invasive species by killing every bass I catch.

Special rule S-13, Maine rules and regulations.

most states 12 – 14 inches but it varies state to state. some states have slot limits and some have none.
it's always best to check your local regulations.
here in cali the size limit is generally 12" but some lakes set their own. some have an 18" size limit.

Depends on where your fishing…where I live, South Alabama/Georgia, it depends on the lake…but it is usually between 12 and 14in…

12 inches in California and Utah but who would want to catch and keep a fish that small? it is still a baby!

without knowing where you live no one can answer your question correctly

its 12 inches in new york

Depends on what state your in.

It's 14" here in MI. I don't know where you are.

Im going out fishing this weekend to practice for my tournament next weekend and want to practice at one of these 3 lakes. I'll give you a resons why I should go and reasons why I shouldn't go of each lake and you guys choose which u think is the best. all lakes in NJ and Im fishing off land.

1.) Cooper River-
Should-This is where the tournament is taking place next weekend and where I have had some promising results last year in a boat. I got one bass about 3lbs and another about 1 and half pounds. I know of spots that have helped us in the past

Shouldn't- there isn't much shoreline to fish in the spots I've found to be excellent. I've been there before on shoreline and didn't catch anything. I've only done excellent in the boat. I always do bad in the tournament when I fish the lake the week before the tournament.

2.) Stewarts Lake
Should- Home lake. I've fished that place my whole life and I know where the fish hang out at. I've came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd within 6 years. with only one tournament a year. I've caught my biggest bass there and I seem to get a bite everytime I got there. I know the lake like the back of my hand.

Shouldn't- it has turned off the past few years and I haven't seem to get them in the spots they were. the fishing has turned off.

Alcyon lake-
Should- I've heard people in my school talk about it. it has some nice bass in it and it is smaller than the other two. I've seen some pictures of some nice bass out of there.

Shouldn't- I've been there once and I have had only one bite so it was promising to me.

Which lake? Doesn't matter Im just taking a poll

Cooper River. I would be at the place of the tournament for sure. fishing someplace else does nothing to prepare you for this lake.

there is more to it than just locating fish. if this river is anything like the lake I fish frequently, then the bass are always on the move. being there a week in advance gives you the opportunity to assess the lake conditions, and follow the weather patterns that will lead to where the fish are gonna be next week.

what is the water qualities and where are the fish today, then how is the next 7 days going to affect the water qualities and where the fish are moving to. where are the shade spots at certain times of the day, where are the hiding spots, where are they feeding.. this will all give you a leg up on the competetion who choose to practice elsewhere…

My boyfriend is going fishing and wants me to cook the bass he catches (if he catches any!) i was just wandering if its best for him to gut them as soon as he catches them or wait for me to do it when he brings them home?

While gutting the catch as soon as possible after catching.
It may be against the law to "field dress" your catch and just dump the entrails in the water or on land.
if possible keep the fish alive ( In a live well or on a stringer. next best is to put the catch on ice until they can be prepared for cooking.

I always preefer to gut them as soon as possible.but. i prefer to leave them a couple of days in the fridge before cooking them to let the meat firm up a bit

Tell him to gut them it will feed the seagulls and save you the unpleasant task.

Like if you had a hundred gallon tank sitting at home and caught a bass or something and wanted to keep it? of course, that being the only fish in the tank because of course an ocean fish could give your pet fish diseases.

You could. but with a fish from the ocean, comes diseases from the ocean. You would need to keep it quarantined from other fish, for sure.
Another thing to reckon about and remember, is that that fish DID come from the ocean. You are going to take it from it's home, and place it in a new home. It's not like buying one from the store, that was bred and has always been kept in captivity. You would have to stay more on top of keeping its tank clean and maintained than the other fish.

There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, about how a bunch of drunks overturned their boat one night in Lake Emory just outside of Franklin.

Macon County’s emergency services and law enforcement turned out en masse. They arrived to learn the drunks bobbing about holding onto the sides of their boat, desperately awaiting rescue. the cops studied the situation for a moment; then cupped their hands around their mouths and hollered out: “Place down your feet.” the drunks did as bidden, and walked unaided to the shore across silt-filled Lake Emory.

That’s an amusing tale — unless your home happens to be situated next to the 174-acre lake, as is the case for Shirley Ches and her husband, Jim.

The couple went to their lakefront home in Franklin about 20 years ago. They were excited about living in the mountains and alongside water in an area they both loved. While they remain enamored with the beauty of these mountains and the region they call home, these days the couple has soured on the whole lakefront experience.

Shirley Ches, in particular, is frustrated by the silt and downed trees in Lake Emory. she is irritated by years of promises made by county and town leaders that something will be done, only for nothing to ever actually happen. Ches is tired of studies in Macon County that don’t lead to action; of talk that hasn’t led to results.

The silt buildup, Ches said during a guided walking tour along the lake of the couple’s slice of paradise, is the end result of storm damage that started with the blizzard of 1993 and continued with numerous tropical storms in the years that followed.

Before and after pictures tell the story visually. back at the house, Ches has spread out photo albums on the dining room table for her version of show-and-tell. There are photos of Jim fishing, and of her grandchildren playing in the lake, pictorial reminders of all-around-fun-times in the mountains that people who retire to Western North Carolina dream about when they are living in hot and sandy Florida.

Then came those storms. Silt from development upstream, from the former town dump on Radio Hill nearby, from virtually everywhere that can be conceived, poured down into Lake Emory, Ches said.

SEE ALSO: To Duke’s chagrin, dredging may be in the cards for Emory

The lake is positioned a small distance below the convergence into the Small Tennessee River of the Cullasaja River, Cartoogechaye Creek and smaller tributaries.

Trees, too, were knocked down in these storms. the trees washed into the lake, helping to fill it with more debris and provide still more crevices for silt to build up against.

Ches’ photographs of her grandchildren playing in Lake Emory transition to ones featuring her son. He’s wading in mud, acres and acres of mud, with a chainsaw in hand, cutting trees downed by the storms. Sisyphus-like, really, in his efforts to help his parents reclaim their dream — one man cannot cleanup a lake, but, no matter how determined he might be.

The lake, it seems, is headed for a future as a shallow wetland at best, mudflat at worst, if years of accumulated sediment aren’t dredged by Duke Energy, which owns the lake and dam as part of its hydropower network.

A developer’s dream

Lake Emory doesn’t just represent an implosion of the dream Shirley and Jim Ches once had of the merry life they’d lead once residing on its shores. Lake Emory is one of the first of the many boom-and-bust housing developments that today litter WNC and scar the region’s mountains — dollar signs turned to dust, a ghost lake of sorts.

That said, Lake Emory does have its own beauty, sort of. There is something primordial about this shallow lake — the silt has formed into islands here and there. It’s sort of like watching the earth form. There are large expanses of wetlands, too. Birds, insects and wildlife use the lake, and locals do catch fish here, though it’s not exactly a Fontana Lake-experience. There are not going to be any national bass-fishing competitions anytime soon on Lake Emory, as any large bassboats launched in Lake Emory might run aground.

Like Fontana, and most of the lakes that dot WNC, Lake Emory is manmade.

In the 1920s, a group of residents formed the Lake Emory Company and started pushing for a lake in Macon County near Franklin. They wanted it for fishing, swimming and boating. They also wanted a power dam to generate electricity for the local community, plus a golf course and a 75-room motel to attract tourists, according to a history of the project compiled by Jamie Johnston, the former executive director of the Small Tennessee Watershed Association, a locally based conservation group.

The lake, the group decided, would be stocked with a variety of game fish for sportsmen, and hunters could come and shoot the many ducks that surely would use the lake for nesting and resting on their migration routes to other place.

The lake was expected to attract thousands of visitors. Estimates of projected income varied from $750,000 to $1 million annually, according to news accounts at the time.

Lured by these promises, the Town of Franklin in 1925 created Lake Emory by funding a $300,000 bond to pay for a 35.5-foot tall, 463-feet long dam on the Small Tennessee River.

The town owned the dam; Lake Emory Company was left to market and develop the surrounding property. that part of the project never really got off the ground, but. There would be no motel, and no golf course — just a small hydroelectric dam that sucked up Franklin taxpayer dollars at an alarming rate.

The town eventually offloaded the dam to Northwest Carolina Utilities, only to see ownership return when the company failed to make a bond payment in the early 1930s.

In 1932, the town transferred title to Nantahala Power and Light Company, which later morphed into Duke Energy. Today, the two hydro generators at Porter Bend Dam on Lake Emory produce just more than one megawatt. This, according to Duke District Manager Fred Alexander, represents a mere 1 percent of the generating capacity of Duke hydroelectric projects in its Nantahala Area of southwestern North Carolina.

Reasons not to dredge

A hop, skip and a jump away in Haywood County, a similar situation developed over the years at Lake Junaluska: silt filled the manmade lake there, too. But unlike at Lake Emory, the question in Haywood County wasn’t whether to dredge, just about how to actually pay for dredging. once that was solved, dredging promptly took place, and the lake was again a showpiece for those living along its shores. Dredging is now done on a routine schedule every few years.

That, but, isn’t the case in Macon County. Lake Emory, unlike Lake Junaluska, isn’t home to a group of well-heeled Methodists with united will and enough money to get the job done. Lake Emory is a place where everyday people such as Shirley and Jim Ches live in small, modest homes; outsiders, for the most part, without much political clout.

Last month, if there wasn’t already enough to hinder anything being done (and at least two of the town’s aldermen were then pushing for dredging), one of the region’s most respected environmentalists weighed in with his reasons not to dredge Lake Emory.

Macon County resident Bill McLarney, who oversees biomonitoring work for the Small Tennessee Watershed Association, strongly cautioned against digging into the muck that makes up Lake Emory. McLarney, during a noontime luncheon and unveiling of the group’s State of the Streams report at a League of Women Voters’ meeting, said he worried dredging Lake Emory would risk stirring up monsters of the deep — toxic pollutants that could be buried deep in the silt.

There were fantastic amounts of questionable materials being discharged into Lake Emory in the 1960s from plants in neighboring Rabun County, Ga., McLarney said, in those years before federal regulations came into play to prevent toxic spewing.

Churn that stuff up, and you risk the overall health of the 13-mile stretch of the Small Tennessee River below Porter Bend Dam, he said.

“I really hadn’t thought about that before,” Franklin Alderman Bob Scott, formerly a proponent of dredging Lake Emory who was pushing Duke to get off its duff and do just that, said after hearing McLarney.

Scott left convinced a lot more study needs to take place before any silt gets disturbed, if it ever does.

Ches, too, was at that meeting. an avid Democrat, a frequent letter writer to local newspapers on a variety of left-leaning issues, she is frustrated by the reactions of what would normally constitute her natural allies — a liberal such as Scott, an environmentalist such as McLarney. Even the local sportsmen haven’t readily embraced her dream of a lake where they could more easily hunt and fish and play.

Who really can say that dredging wouldn’t actually help the Small Tennessee River? Ches argued. and, she added, while she cares, too, about those small creatures in the river just like McLarney does, she and her neighbors are the ones who have to actually live next to the lake.

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Age: 46

Residence: Norman

Kenyon Hill has never had what most people would consider a real job. for 26 years, he’s earned his living as a bass fisherman.

He currently competes on the Bassmaster Elite Series, the top professional level of the B.a.S.S. (Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society.) he has won three tournaments on the tour, finished 22 times in the top 10 and qualified for four Bassmaster Classics.

His father, the late Loren Hill, was director of the University of Oklahoma Biological Station on Lake Texoma for 30 years and chairman of the OU zoology department.

Dad got his Ph.D at (the University of) Louisville. I was born in Louisville, Ky. when I was 2, he got the job at the University of Oklahoma. We went to Norman and lived over on Kansas Street.

Dad was kind of a rising star in the university. he was a biologist specializing in fisheries, which is ichthyology. he also invented different products in fishing. His first one really was the bill Norman Snaketrix, the plastic worm.

He came out with a pH monitor. he found out the various acid and alkaline balances in the water affected fish location and behavior.

Then he figured out that fish could see color and could differentiate different shades of the same color. They could see different colors better under different light conditions of water clarity, which was the color selector.

The color selector was the most successful product offering he ever had. Mechanically, it is a light meter. in simplified form, if the probe of the color selector disappeared in two feet of water it was considered muddy water. Two to four (feet) was considered stained and beyond four was considered clear.

It had three different bands with all different kinds of colors on it. You read whichever band it was and it gave you the color. (Fish) could see that color the best at the given conditions.

It went over huge and it affected lure companies and the colors they sold. that was a summer of ’85. he made a lot of money off of that.”

I grew up at the Biological Station on Buncombe Creek. even though we lived on the lake every summer for 14 straight years, I never learned how to (water) ski. Dad was a fisherman. I grew up fishing for anything.

He knew a lot of (bass fishing) pros and knew about the industry. when I got old enough to do it, he knew it was a legitimate deal. he even knew all the guys, Roland (Martin) and bill Dance and Jimmy Houston and all those guys. Dad kept me on my feet ’till I got them underneath me and that’s how I started.

It’s the only thing I’ve every really wanted to do. when you make the Classic that’s a pretty cool deal. when I won my first tournament, that was pretty special. The second one I won, I was like, ‘OK, I am not a flash in the pan. I am really legitimate.’

The last one I won I got to share with dad before he passed away. People at the Bass Zone flew home from Clarks Hill Lake (Ga.) with the trophy on the plane to take to dad. he had severe dementia along with esophageal cancer but I think he got to delight in the victory.

It’s not simple. Sometimes you are not catching them. I had to borrow money against the boat once to keep going. back in the early days, I remember heading to a tournament in Columbia, S.C., and fishing Lake Murray and had $26 in a checking account waiting for me when I got home.

The lifestyle is unforgiving, the time on the road. How many sponsors you’ve got is how many bosses you have. It’s not all about tournament winnings. Sponsor dollars is what you really count on.

I don’t know (about the future of pro bass fishing). I think things are really out of whack. I think $5,000 entry fees for a (Elite Series) tournament is ridiculous. I think the expenses have gotten too huge a pill to swallow, especially for a guy starting out.

If you are going to fish the Elite Series, you are in the hole about $85,000. You got to figure it’s just going to cost you that much to fish.

I will never be a wealthy man doing this but I got pretty much what I need. I just need something to get my boat to the lake. I just need a home to go to when it rains.

I like fishing in upstate New York. Hardly anyone bass fishes up there and there’s lots of small lakes there and the (bass) are dumber than stones. You can just catch them and catch them and catch them.

I like Venice, La. It’s a super special place. You can just catch them and catch them. Kentucky Lake has got an obscene amount of bass in it. those (Mexican) border lakes, Amistad (Texas) has still got a trainload of huge fish in it, and Falcon Lake (Texas) is one of the most incredible bass fisheries I have ever seen.

Oklahoma lakes are fair. We don’t have any really awesome lakes. It’s a habitat issue as much as anything.

Outside of Falcon, all the fantastic fisheries in the country have grass in them. We don’t have that in our major reservoirs. because we don’t, we probably will never have a world class fishery.

Our lakes are not terrible. they are just not awesome lakes. (Lake) Eufaula has the potential. An aggressive stocking of hydrilla (aquatic grass) would turn Eufaula into a mega fishery. it would super charge everything. The whole lake would hold more (fish) per acre.

Having a dad as a scientist gave me a deeper appreciation for all of the outdoors, not just fishing. I will drive down the road and wonder what kind of trees those are. All of the stuff we did (together) helped give me a better understanding of the smaller pieces that make up the whole.

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My home lake, Gibbon's Creek Reservoir close to College Station, Texas, becomes overgrown in many areas with thick lily pads and hydrilla. it is a power plant lake, and summer is my toughest time to fish it because I have no graph to see deep structure. because of this I have to find structure I can see on the surface. The lily pads seem my best bet. I cant figure out a excellent method to fish these seemingly inpenetrable lily pads, but I know there are fish in them. what would you recommend, and do you have any other tips for this lake during summer? it only has two docks, and it is characterized by tons of stumps.(I haven't been doing well around them either) By the way its a fairly small 2,500 acre lake if you haven't heard of it.

use a frog lure basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores…

Try using the artificial frogs that you can run over the pads and weedless jigs.perhaps even texas or carolina rigged worms weedless.even a top water bait that makes a lot of noise might bring them to the surface and make them hit.

Try using a Texas Rig, using a purple plastic worm. in cali,(where I live) I have yet to catch anything with a frog. -_-

Just want to add a couple words.

(Fantastic answer Golden!)

I agree with Golden. "Flip" the pads with a stout rod, Power Pro Braid and an 8-10" Texas Rigged worm! (Make sure to "juice up" the worm with fish attractant.) a Gambler Florida Worm Weight is ideal in this situation; GFWW have a "screw-in" design that stays on the worm well.

Personally, I've only had luck with "frog" lures in low-light conditions, (which leaves you with 8-10 "sunny" hours to find a productive lure that will work well in bright-@ss sun! lol ).

also, Frog lures are deadly after a rain or at the end of a drought period, (in other words- Don't forget to break out the Frog on cloudy, rainy, days).

1 more thing- Skip most of the pads and only flip/cast where the edges of the Lily's intersect with Hydrilla. and where-ever the pads/hydrilla meet your "stumps" should be PRIME Bass habitat!

Hope this extra tid-bit of answer helps ya? Excellent fishing!

ui would use a frog lure! but be sure not to make to huge of a splash when it hits the water because it could scare the bass away!

use fantastic huge rubber worms and cast them on top of the pads and then crawl it from one pad to the next

Last year I went to reelfoot lake in Tennessee and encountered the same quandary. after 2 days of trying various techniques, I finally found one that worked. I took a jig and pig with a stout rod & braided line and dropped my bait at each opening that I saw in the lily pads. after dropping the bait I would vigorously twitch my bait up and down like crazy from the bottom up 2 inches…twitch, twitch…almost like giving the bug a seizure. I did this technique in somewhat murky water and used a black skirted jig. I am not a fan of a jig under any circumstance except for this and heavy timber.

I tried the frog routine, but it was just a pain the **** because it would keep getting hung up (the line would wrap around some of the lillies). I only caught a few doing every technique and then I tried this & was boating fish all day long.

By the way, anyone that wants to go fishing there…the place I stayed was cheap and was pretty decent & it included the boat & motor, and some other stuff. it was bluebankresort.com

I have been having excellent luck in the weeds with a spoon called Johnson's silver minnow. I fish it with a 4" white grub on the end of the hook. These spoons are the most weedless lure ever. You should get a large sized one that can sink down underneath the lily pads. You can also reel a small faster so that the lure wiggles on or near the surface and snakes its way through the lily pads. when fishing this spoon keep your rod tip in the up.

Another excellent lure to try is a plastic snake. The way to fish a snake is to have your rod tip down near the water and pop the snake, letting it sit after a pop or two. when the fish hits the snake you have to wait a second so it can bite down and suck in the bait, than give it a excellent yank to secure the hook.

Excellent luck