Outdoors With John L. Sloan Copyright-John L. Sloan 2011
April 20, 2011
April Showers Bring Exciting Hours.
I guess I learned a lot of it fishing with the late Harold Dotson on the clear waters of Dale Hollow and Center Hill. We fished mostly for smallmouth bass but were not opposed to crappie, stripe or any other type of bass.
Seldom did we pick up a rod with line heavier than six-pound test and we used a lot of four on the clear days. Usually we threw 1/8 or 1/16 ounce jig-type lures-Slap Happy, Doll flies, Whirly Bees-small baits that depending on color and how they were fished could imitate shad or crawfish. We watched the sky and we caught many fish. Big fish.
This was back in the day of the 10-fish bass limit and we ate fish on a regular basis. We threw most of the larger bass back and kept the smaller ones to eat. However we did keep fish and we ate fish. I still do and make no excuses. Give us a warm, solid overcast day with maybe a shower every now and then and we were on the water. We did not share our techniques with many people but for sure, there were others who knew it. It was no secret, we just saw no need to crowd the waters. It was simple. It still is.
Overcast and rain dimpled water, combined with rising water temperature, the kind you find right now, brings baitfish to the shallow water and near the surface. That brings the game fish to the same area to feed, often in frenzy. When the weather was right, Harold and I would hurry and load the boat and head for The Hollow or The Hill and usually spend the night. Many times, we filleted two days, double limits.
Later I shared this information with the late Mickey Pope. We wore the water on J. Percy Priest out and added stripers-rockfish to the list and later hybrids. I recall one afternoon in Old Hickory Cove when we caught largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass, rockfish and hybrids in non-stop fashion for three or four hours. I even caught a walleye, one of the few I ever caught on Priest.
As the years went on, when bass fishing was slow, we started fishing for the striped buzzards with flukes. They did not cost as much when the fish broke you off and you could cast them well on heavier line, minimizing the break offs. One warm afternoon, between showers, Bob Julian and I got into the rockfish. Bob was throwing a casting rod and must have caught 15 in 25 minutes.
However, the clear water lakes, at least by our standards clear water lakes of Center Hill, Dale Hollow and Tims Ford were our favorites. We even lived at the Hill for a while, right above Cove Hollow dock. We fished every day and when a cloud came up, we could have the boat in the water in 15 minutes.
On one such morning fishing out of Cove Hollow, I was alone and hit a weather break just perfect. It was mid-April and the high was 74. It was solid overcast with scudding, black clouds, 10-mph wind and intermittent rain, no lighting or thunder, just rain. I had an old, yellow rain suit and of course, it leaked. I didn�t care. I flat tore them up, one heck of a mixed stringer of stripe, crappie and the three basses. When I got back to the dock, it was all I could do to lift the stringer. Buddy Mason helped me fillet them and I gave him half.
You can still do it, catch fish like that under those conditions. Mark Campbell and I did it a couple years ago. However, a word of warning, important warning. If a bad storm blows in, take cover. The fish may bite but it can get seriously dangerous. One afternoon, The Pope and I had to outrun what turned into a tornado on Priest. Use your head.
See, the cloud cover provides the bait fish with what they think is cover-camouflage. So they feel comfortable moving up toward the surface. They school there. Along comes the predator fish and bang! The frenzy begins. Slip the right lure in amongst them, maybe 3-8 feet down and hold on. Not a tried and true fact but it always seemed to me, the larger fish held deeper under the baitfish school. Except for being a pain in the tucchus to unhook fish, the suspending jerkbaits were flat deadly. It is hard to get me away from the single hook jigs and flukes. I also found that the larger fish held toward the edge of the baitfish school. Sometimes, when the sun broke through, the big largemouth came up. I remember Foster Butt catching a dandy one day just as it cleared up.
I�m hoping to try it again in the near future. Maybe I can teach Jackie Taylor the tricks and get him a nickname. I mean, we can�t just go on calling him, Old Milwaukee.
Yes indeed, April showers bring some exciting hours.
###
April 20, 2011
April Showers Bring Exciting Hours.
I guess I learned a lot of it fishing with the late Harold Dotson on the clear waters of Dale Hollow and Center Hill. We fished mostly for smallmouth bass but were not opposed to crappie, stripe or any other type of bass.
Seldom did we pick up a rod with line heavier than six-pound test and we used a lot of four on the clear days. Usually we threw 1/8 or 1/16 ounce jig-type lures-Slap Happy, Doll flies, Whirly Bees-small baits that depending on color and how they were fished could imitate shad or crawfish. We watched the sky and we caught many fish. Big fish.
This was back in the day of the 10-fish bass limit and we ate fish on a regular basis. We threw most of the larger bass back and kept the smaller ones to eat. However we did keep fish and we ate fish. I still do and make no excuses. Give us a warm, solid overcast day with maybe a shower every now and then and we were on the water. We did not share our techniques with many people but for sure, there were others who knew it. It was no secret, we just saw no need to crowd the waters. It was simple. It still is.
Overcast and rain dimpled water, combined with rising water temperature, the kind you find right now, brings baitfish to the shallow water and near the surface. That brings the game fish to the same area to feed, often in frenzy. When the weather was right, Harold and I would hurry and load the boat and head for The Hollow or The Hill and usually spend the night. Many times, we filleted two days, double limits.
Later I shared this information with the late Mickey Pope. We wore the water on J. Percy Priest out and added stripers-rockfish to the list and later hybrids. I recall one afternoon in Old Hickory Cove when we caught largemouth, smallmouth, spotted bass, rockfish and hybrids in non-stop fashion for three or four hours. I even caught a walleye, one of the few I ever caught on Priest.
As the years went on, when bass fishing was slow, we started fishing for the striped buzzards with flukes. They did not cost as much when the fish broke you off and you could cast them well on heavier line, minimizing the break offs. One warm afternoon, between showers, Bob Julian and I got into the rockfish. Bob was throwing a casting rod and must have caught 15 in 25 minutes.
However, the clear water lakes, at least by our standards clear water lakes of Center Hill, Dale Hollow and Tims Ford were our favorites. We even lived at the Hill for a while, right above Cove Hollow dock. We fished every day and when a cloud came up, we could have the boat in the water in 15 minutes.
On one such morning fishing out of Cove Hollow, I was alone and hit a weather break just perfect. It was mid-April and the high was 74. It was solid overcast with scudding, black clouds, 10-mph wind and intermittent rain, no lighting or thunder, just rain. I had an old, yellow rain suit and of course, it leaked. I didn�t care. I flat tore them up, one heck of a mixed stringer of stripe, crappie and the three basses. When I got back to the dock, it was all I could do to lift the stringer. Buddy Mason helped me fillet them and I gave him half.
You can still do it, catch fish like that under those conditions. Mark Campbell and I did it a couple years ago. However, a word of warning, important warning. If a bad storm blows in, take cover. The fish may bite but it can get seriously dangerous. One afternoon, The Pope and I had to outrun what turned into a tornado on Priest. Use your head.
See, the cloud cover provides the bait fish with what they think is cover-camouflage. So they feel comfortable moving up toward the surface. They school there. Along comes the predator fish and bang! The frenzy begins. Slip the right lure in amongst them, maybe 3-8 feet down and hold on. Not a tried and true fact but it always seemed to me, the larger fish held deeper under the baitfish school. Except for being a pain in the tucchus to unhook fish, the suspending jerkbaits were flat deadly. It is hard to get me away from the single hook jigs and flukes. I also found that the larger fish held toward the edge of the baitfish school. Sometimes, when the sun broke through, the big largemouth came up. I remember Foster Butt catching a dandy one day just as it cleared up.
I�m hoping to try it again in the near future. Maybe I can teach Jackie Taylor the tricks and get him a nickname. I mean, we can�t just go on calling him, Old Milwaukee.
Yes indeed, April showers bring some exciting hours.
###
