After some
high temperatures in the first week of September 2007, the climate took a
nose dive. The water temperature dropped from the mid-70’s to the low 60’s
in less than a week and the fishing became very difficult.
The
beauty of regularly fishing the same body of water is that, over time, you
get the opportunity to catch fish in many different weather conditions. If
you are diligent and keep a good diary of these catches, you can use that
diary to provide a “clue” as to where to fish when weather conditions change
drastically.
So, when my
fishing partner, Rob Meusec, suggested that we fish an evening location that
he and I had never fished, I checked my diary for some insight and the
Flowage map that I have been marking up since 1989. I came up with a
sub-surface rock hump that topped out at 2.5 feet from a depth of 24 feet.
Even though I told Rob where we were going to fish, when we actually got to
the spot, Rob said: “Where the heck are we.” His confusion was amplified as
he saw me throw a single marker off the back of the boat.
Note: I am a real advocate of open water
single marker fishing. That is to say that when you are fishing a
piece of sub-surface structure that is 500 yards from any shoreline
structure, you need a reference point.
I told Rob
that at the marker there was 2.5 feet of water. Rob was fishing from the
front of the boat and was amazed that no more that 20 feet from the marker
in one direction, we were in 24 feet of water. Rob and I began to make
concentric circles around the marker and were fishing a weedless rock pile
with varying depths from super shallow to very deep.
For this type
of spot, all lures are in play. Rob put a glide bait on his rod and I elected to
try a black and white Best American Topper. As we fished our circular
pattern, we were covering every type of depth.
