Submitted by OldEz (ip 72.154.16.91)

Date Fished: 6/18/2008
Water Clarity: 0

Hi All,

I know, long time, no post. Almost 4 years, in fact. In 05 I fished fairly regular, but was making re-adjustments partly due to the grass carp plague. I was also so PO,ed about the lakefront sell-off that I thought that comments might be unwise. The Lake James that I grew up on is dead and gone now. I still mourn.

In 06 and 07, Real Life got in the way of fishing. Troubles at home, long hours at work. You could finger count the 06 trips and, honestly, I think very short 2 trips in 07.

Couple of Weeks Ago: Motor woes. Gas probably from 06 (no Stabil) and a weak battery put us to the trolling motor. Probably 20 minutes to get to a fishing area. Some jerks cut us off and had to fish directly behind them, since I had no motor. Nothing. 10 more minutes to another “spot”. Had been a very hot and bright day. Got two dinks deep in the shade directly under wood & limbs. Should have been 5 or 6, but my timing and touch were 2 years off. On the water 3 ½ hours. We fished less than 2 hours and 1 hour not directly behind a pair of jerks.

Friday the 13th (WhuuWhoo!) New battery, fresh gas on top the old, had the motor running in ½ hour. Decided to ride most of the gas out the tank, so we toured the lake. More going on across from Black Bear, campground on the old Wildlife has exploded, even Burnettes seems to have expanded. The channel has moved a bit. But all the new docks and rock walls blew my mind. Worst of all, many, many long sections of timber were completely gone! Read up on the relationship of fallen wood to bass populations in not-so-fertile lakes(can’t think of the right word). We’ve had a very significant loss of habitat. I worry that the new dock/wall builders are more the pleasure boating types (judging from the types of boats that I saw there) and won’t replace the habitat with brush piles in the way that home owners have on several of our better NC lakes. I was very worried when news of all the property sales leaked out. I’m afraid all my fears are coming true. I hope that some people will start to replace the habitat. If 10 or 15 people would each take a section of the lake, they could make a real difference. I plan on working from the 1st large open section below the Moose (middle of the S turn) up this late fall/winter. It’s the closest for me and probably the section I know best. Yeah, it’s the section least effected by the docks/walls, but most impacted by the grass carp fiasco. The 2 worst areas looked to be the 2 coves directly below Gray’s. They always held a healthy population of bass and I always tied that to the fact that they probably had the highest laydown-per-square-foot-of-shoreline on the lake. Most of it looks to be gone. I didn’t do more than drive by though. Does anyone know of the wood was hauled off or just dragged out to deeper water? If it’s just deeper, great. If it’s gone, I’m really worried. I suspect that it’s gone.

Anyway, we rode around for almost 2 hours to empty the tank, and only fished for less than 2 hours. Blanked. A few taps that 2 years out of practice skills couldn’t translate into fish.

Wednesday, the 18th: Short trip mostly for 2 reasons: Get the daughter back on the water (2 years for her) and finish running out the old gas (of course topped off with fresh). Toured for almost an hour. Fished for a while in the drinking water, couple of follows, couple of taps, but nothing. On to the stained water. Got 1 about a pound & a half that would have pulled the guts out of most 4 lb’ers right off a log on the fall near the back. One dink on the inside edge of a small secondary point. On out toward the main, saw a couple of bass bust one of the minnow schools in the shade over a little deeper water. Tossed a plastic worm that way when we got there. Felt a tap, line went slack, saw 2 bass flash to the surface. My worm was on the side of one about 2 ½ lbs as it rolled. One about 4 ½ lbs grabbed it away and took off. My line took off. I set the hook and told the girl, “Nice one on!” But when I got it to the boat, it was the 2 ½ lber. Couldn’t understand. But when I went to take the hook out, the hook was lying loose in it’s gills. But the line wouldn’t pull out. Got to looking and the line (light braid) was wrapped around a gill! Apparently, the smaller fish was so excited by the battle with the bigger fish, that it had blown my worm through it’s gill and the bigger fish had taken it off the hook! Probably never see anything like that again! Imagine if I had hooked the bigger one too!

Anyway, 1 hour touring (motor running really good now), 1 hour in the Gin water with nothing, 1 & ½ hours in the Bourbon water with 1 dink, 1-1 ½ lb, 1-2 ½ lb and 2 or 3 more possibles that I probably could have turned into fish 3 years ago (TOW is everything).

Sorry for the long post, but heck you got 3 trips in 1 post and I’ve got almost 4 years to make up for!

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