I spent the morning on the river with good friend Jim Nell and the wipers and whites were going absolutely crazy. We hit the water at 7:00am (Sycamore access) and shortly thereafter we arrived where we had good success in the past. We anchored the boat on a current break and started casting topwater baits. With the Corp increasing the flow rate the day before, the shad were everywhere. We caught fish from 7:15am until 12:30pm and only had a couple of times, about 5 minutes in duration, when the fish did not bite. Most of the fish were 12-15″ with many small ones. We did manage a number of 16″ fish, with a couple pushing 17-18″. I would guess we caught somewhere over 200 fish total. The day before, I fished the bank up by the dam, and although I only caught 6 fish in a couple of hours, all were over 16″ and I had one that was 23″, I would guess 6.5-7 lbs. Keep an eye out for fish that are busting the surface. Use kastmasters, Pop R’s, Zara Spooks, or jigs with white twisters/shad bodies. Now is the time to enjoy this fishing as the flow rate will be reduced as quickly as it was increased. Be sure and let the big ones go as there are many small good eaters for the frying pan.
October 6, 2007 at 12:23 pm
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