09-11-2014, 08:48 PM
[#0000FF]After my driveby checkout last Sunday I was itchin' to hit the Knolls again. It has been over 2 years. Water is low but I thought I might be able to find some depth if I went out far enough. I did.
Air temp 53 and water temp 65 at 6:30 launch. Figured the place I picked to launch should be easy enough. Gravel with no big rocks. And it was great...for the first 20 feet from water's edge. Then it got mucky. A long slog though shallow water and gooey mud to get my tube out into water deep enough to put down the electric motor and sit down in the tube. Even worse coming back in. See pic.
I was probably almost 200 yards offshore before I found 3' of depth. Put out a baby white bass for bait on one rod and started pitching tandem jigs on the other rod. Kept moving straight out to find deeper water. Just after i passed the 4.5 foot mark I had my first inquiry on the bait...but missed the hook set. Inexperienced fish. Didn't know how to hang on.
As I kicked into the 5' zone it was game on. Bang, bendo, beatemup. Netted my first catfish terrorist on 9-11. From then on it was not very long between hits on those baby white bass I had caught at Saratoga Springs...Pelican Bay launch ramp.
I did S turns while moving slowly east to west and staying mostly in the 5 foot zone. I probably covered about a mile and I was getting bites all along the way. Later in the morning I moved in shallower and got a couple of fish in about 3.5 feet of water and had my only hits on plastic. Probably small whities.
I had brought out a dozen baby white bass I caught this morning plus 6 that I had frozen from last trip. I went through them all. Brought somewhere between 14 to 16 cat terrorists to the net. Released a few for good behavior but kept 8 in confinement for torture and flaying (filleting). Most were 22 - 24 inches and fought very well. Got one small one on a half white bass I tried to see if I could still catch fish without using a whole whitie for bait.
Actually had my limit for the smoker in my basket by 9:30 but kept fishing until I ran out of bait an hour later. Then tried bottom bouncing with plastics and crawlers to see if anything else (walleyes) might wanna play. Nope. Motored on in and slogged the long muddy slog back in to the water's edge.
Stopped at the fish cleaning station at Saratoga Springs...Pelican Bay...and finished torturing the cat terrorists. Really messed them up. On the way home by 12:30. Tired...but a good tired.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Air temp 53 and water temp 65 at 6:30 launch. Figured the place I picked to launch should be easy enough. Gravel with no big rocks. And it was great...for the first 20 feet from water's edge. Then it got mucky. A long slog though shallow water and gooey mud to get my tube out into water deep enough to put down the electric motor and sit down in the tube. Even worse coming back in. See pic.
I was probably almost 200 yards offshore before I found 3' of depth. Put out a baby white bass for bait on one rod and started pitching tandem jigs on the other rod. Kept moving straight out to find deeper water. Just after i passed the 4.5 foot mark I had my first inquiry on the bait...but missed the hook set. Inexperienced fish. Didn't know how to hang on.
As I kicked into the 5' zone it was game on. Bang, bendo, beatemup. Netted my first catfish terrorist on 9-11. From then on it was not very long between hits on those baby white bass I had caught at Saratoga Springs...Pelican Bay launch ramp.
I did S turns while moving slowly east to west and staying mostly in the 5 foot zone. I probably covered about a mile and I was getting bites all along the way. Later in the morning I moved in shallower and got a couple of fish in about 3.5 feet of water and had my only hits on plastic. Probably small whities.
I had brought out a dozen baby white bass I caught this morning plus 6 that I had frozen from last trip. I went through them all. Brought somewhere between 14 to 16 cat terrorists to the net. Released a few for good behavior but kept 8 in confinement for torture and flaying (filleting). Most were 22 - 24 inches and fought very well. Got one small one on a half white bass I tried to see if I could still catch fish without using a whole whitie for bait.
Actually had my limit for the smoker in my basket by 9:30 but kept fishing until I ran out of bait an hour later. Then tried bottom bouncing with plastics and crawlers to see if anything else (walleyes) might wanna play. Nope. Motored on in and slogged the long muddy slog back in to the water's edge.
Stopped at the fish cleaning station at Saratoga Springs...Pelican Bay...and finished torturing the cat terrorists. Really messed them up. On the way home by 12:30. Tired...but a good tired.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]