Water temps are in the mid-70s, creeping up to the 80s but not too fast thanks to this nice cool weather we had this week.
Only had one trip this week and it was for striped bass with my people not wanting to get to far from Rogers, so no silver fish made it to the boat since stripers are closer to us now heading towards the dam.
We did catch a mess of bass and a nice catfish, so we’ll talk about the fish that have not spawned yet. Most species of bass have already spawned, but the largemouth are the last to go and a few males can still be found and seen guarding their nest off the shoreline on the pea gravel banks. Best way to catch is to just make them mad with a plastic worm or lizard moving slow like it’s going to eat their eggs.
Most your perch and sunfish are on their nest now, which you can find in the calmer water of the deeper coves and creeks. They build nests kinda like the bass, but what’s cool is they usually do it in colonies so when you find them it’s usually pretty easy to get a mess of good hand-size slaps that are very good eating.
Best way to catch is with a float baited up with a worm or cricket in water only a couple feet deep. Lake Leatherwood is well known for catching red ear sunfish this time of year below the docks where the lily pads grow. If the water is too clear they could be as deep as 10 to 15 feet.
Last but not least is the catfish. They like the major creek arms and coves that are a little murky, best way to catch is with a worm or anything dead just sitting on the bottom as you sit on the bank, or drifting dead shad by boat off the bottom with the wind.
As for stripers, they’re up here now in deeper water still hitting the top early but we’re adding weights to get down below 20 feet as the sun gets higher. Best bait now is shad and perch. Look off the flats from the dam area to the Point 7 area.
We are now doing striper trips going out at daylight from the Dam Lakeside Park, and our light tackle trips with your choice of Holiday Island or Lake Leatherwood going out at 7.
Be safe, take a kid with you and as the sun gets high in the sky let them swim.