Fishing Report Archives

Hey ya'll from the Excel Storm Cat 230. If you haven’t had the chance to fish and ride in the Storm Cat, you are missing a treat.

I was telling Vicki tonight; I get so many compliments from clients about how they love the boat and all the room it provides.

I couldn’t be prouder since I took a tournament catfish boat and turned it into a crappie boat. To do what I do with up to 4 or 5 adults, it takes plenty of room. That room has to be safe with the ability to get back to the marina in a hurry if need be.

I found out recently that I’m going to have to have my left hip replaced July 12th. First, I was totally surprised by the news then I was relieved that I can get it done on my time frame and with scheduling. July and early August are often slower fishing months with hot temperatures, a combination for uncomfortable fishing. I will be down for about a month hopefully, sitting under the A/C.

Fishing continues to vary daily. What and where worked yesterday may not today. I’m seeing the crappie move to summer areas offshore, both inside and outside the bays. Deeper structure in the mouths of bays should be considered when starting your fishing day.

Pico cranks in Purple Splatter, Pink Splatter, Geezer Clown, and Zombie are taking most of the fish. I will typically run 4-5 rods for 2 clients and up to 8 rods with 4 clients.

Right now, you can bet Purple Splatter will be on several. Purple has rarely been a go-to color for me but Justin called me about killing crappie on it on Barkley recently. You have to change and go with what is working.

I’m also varying my depths greatly. I may have one Pico out 80 feet and the one next to it out 45 feet. Go with a variety of depths and colors to see what is working then.

If your favorite bait isn’t working, give it a try a few hours later. It might be the hottest thing going.

Catfish, both blues and channels, have made our day some days and made our day miserable on others. I’m losing a lot of cranks as well as a lot of line by not putting heavy pressure on catfish and allowing them to use their defensive measure of rolling or spinning when hooked.

A nice catfish seems to know that its best chance of escape once hooked is spinning the line up and cutting the line with its sharp fins. I’ve had these happen a bunch lately and there goes my bait and some line.

It’s very frustrating and I tell my clients: you are free to play with a fish as much as you would like once it is in the boat.

When it is outside the boat, you need to be listening to me about landing your fish. Many folks think that a catfish is a creature of the bottom. That is just not correct. Many of the catfish we are catching are coming on our shortest line out, suspended well above the bottom.

We were hoping for the lake to warm up earlier this past spring. Now I’m commonly seeing surface temps in the mid-80s. The lake level has been staying right at summer pool recently. I’m seeing some half-hearted white bass jumps and some surface action around the banks, enough to have me searching for that first willow fly.

We are still catching several trophy sized crappie. I consider a crappie 14” and up to be a trophy. There are still plenty of the 9-9.99 inchers that will be our future fishery. Each day we are also catching several small bass with an occasional 3-4 pounder thrown in.

Our trip to Grenada Lake was a disaster. We drove the 4.5 hours down there only to find the area flooded with up to as much as 10 inches of rain over night. Enid Lake and Grenada were both flooded so Vicki and I said good-bye to Mississippi and drove straight back home.

Now, that trip will be rescheduled after my surgery.

Sunday found me with a Father and his 3 adult sons. We had a ball talking and laughing about stories of all sorts, just a typical day. This day was interrupted by some really nice fish that were promptly released per the group.

Monday, we got into a few crappie but they were BIG. Tuesday, we got into a lot of crappie but nothing trophy sized. All of those days were interrupted by the constant attack from catfish on our cranks. I had a ball with all the groups.

Today I was able to leave most of the catfish behind and concentrate on big crappie. Throw in some keeper sauger, and all is OK with the world for a short while.

I have a few dates left prior to my hip surgery and several from mid-August on.

Be careful out there. The lake seems to be covered up with inconsiderate folks who only care for themselves. It’s up to you to take care of yourself much of the time. Wear your PFD, leave the alcohol on the bank, help those who might need help. What goes around, comes around.

Welcome to our slice of Heaven!