Well, this cooler weather just makes the fishing better. We were down to 80° surface temp when Mellissa Jelks from Timbo, Ark., caught this striper close to 20 pounds. Husband Jarrett caught one also, just a couple pounds smaller, and decided he could share in her glory better without showing she outfished him.
We missed about three more big fish before the day was over. Really, Jarrett was just happy to see his wife catch a big one, unlike the guy I had out on Mother’s Day who almost pushed his Mom out of the boat getting to the rod before her.
We’re still catching stripers down close to 30 ft. deep with 6 – 9 in. shad being the best bait. As we cool down these fish will come up to spend more time on the surface, and the top water bite will turn back on. That all got messed up in the spring when the floodgates were open, so hopefully the fall will be better so any deer hunters who get bored sitting in a tree stand just think of us on the lake pulling in fish and it might warm you up.
I did not get out this week at Holiday Island, but am hearing of more bass and crappie being caught since our cool down. A nice day fishing out at Lake Leatherwood now could catch you a mixed catch of crappie, bass, perch and catfish, they can rent you something to get you on the water at low cost or you can just find a nice spot along the trail to get a line in.
If that don’t work you can always just take some worms and a powerboat to search for some trout below Beaver Dam.
Well, that’s it for this week. Don’t forget to take a kid fishing. If you can’t do it on the weekend, I wouldn’t mind being pulled out of school. School and deer season just around the corner leaves us with a lot of open days, so if you don’t have a boat give us a call for the fall.