OK - I have come to the realization that I really don't know how to fish this lake. I fished for seven hours total today (bass)- four in the morning and three in the evening, and caught four fish total. One nice 3 lb on a bridge piling on a spinnerbait in the morning and another keeper on topwater in the evening. One dink on a Crig and another small one on a topwater. So, let's see - that's four fish in seven hours. This is also in the prime times - morning and evening.

Hunting and pecking for good deeper structure is a tedious process. So you really have to pay attention to other fishermen. I saw a boat this morning (Monday, remember, so not just a bunch of people everywhere) fishing a certain area, and went back there this pm - sure enough, good structure in 10-20'. But you could fish for hours and miles without finding the right structure on your own. So, I guess one thing to remember is to pay attention to what others are doing around you.

But even though I found some good points and creek bends, with structure, the bite was limited. I pulled a Crig throgugh what felt like excellent places - ranging from 5' to 20', but not many bites.

I believe there was a tournament out of Longwood on Saturday, so I spent some time near the launch thinking some of the released fish might still be around - nothing. I had two hits on topwater right at the boat ramp at dusk. Tried the points out in front of Longwood - nothing. So much for that great strategy.

But one thing is for sure - fishing on the weekdays is the way to go. I was at a park with my kids on Sunday and there were boats everywhere. Seems like today I had it to myself. Gotta love that. Maybe one boat would pass per hour.

I love this lake and am determined to learn how to fish it. This message board is helping a little, but at the end of the day, I suppose it is simply time on the water. That's time well spent as far as I'm concerned. Now, if I could just get my catch rate to at least one per hour, that'd be some nice lagnaippe.

Time on the water is the big one, but a good chart, GPS, and fishfinder are helpful in at least figuring out possible starting points and letting you mark your good spots for another day.

Keep your VHF on 68, it is mostly helpful for figuring out possible striper spots, but enough largemouth get caught by accident trolling for striper that it might also give you some ideas of posts.

Have not made it up there during the week, but even on the weekends it is a lot less crowded than Falls ever is.

learn to troll by readin Buck Perry's book an you will learn to map an find structure anywhere its at. ya mite not like to troll cause doin it rite is really hard an takes a lot of concentration...an practice. i can teach most people to cast beside that stump they can see in shallow water in a very short time. whereas it will take many hours, days, weeks months an yrs to be able to troll beside that stump in 30 ft of water. this i can do.

oh yea, an we caugt 20 LMB sat an sun in 8 hrs trollin each day...along with a dozen stripers, 2 dozen whiteperch, 15 whitebass, 18 cats up to 14 lbs. an a couple new brush piles an drop offs were found while trollin.

Thanks for the tip. If there is one thing I've learned from this board, it is about trolling. Not that I have the first clue about how to do it though.

But be assured, I am now a student of it.

Fishdoc,
What size spoon plugs do you use?

Like you said, nothing will substitute for time on the water. Get a good topo map and mark locations and structure you catch fish on. When you see someone catching, mark that area on your map and after they leave go see what structure they were fishing. Before long you will have a map filled with different types of structure to fish. From there you can develop a pattern each time you are on the water.

ru, i use the 500 size when fishin 2-4ft of water, the 400 size in 4-6ft of water, the 250 in 6-9ft of water, the 200 size in 9-12ft of water and the 100 in 12-15 ft of water. i use fireline to get each size bout 30% deeper. and wire or leadcore to double the depth. i've used the 700 an 800 size in clear water like philpott an SML to fish down to 50 ft. hope this helps ya!

Keith,
Thanks for the info. I'm going to try trolling more. Been using crank baits and rooster tails. I just wanted to see what sizes to start with. On my end of the lake looks like 100, 200, and 250 would do it.

ru, you are rite about that. used the 200 an 100 sun an had pretty good luck. got several blue cats to 15lbs an some channels up to 4 lbs. got a lot of whiteperch but most were small. had some nice sized white bass also. couldn't do much on the LMB, maybe next time.

Fishdoc, I was wondering where I could get the SpoonPlug catalog or book you mentioned to someone to read it. I am interested in buying some and trying them. Thanks for allyour help and great job on the video with Phil!

Wow - another "Glenn"! Who would think it? And all the way out in Nevada! How bored must someone have to be to troll? What a waste of a life.

I guess these "trollers" who post fake messages on this board are like kids making prank phone calls - I must admit I did that a time or two when I was a kid and thought it was funny at the time.

Crowmag Thanks for the quick catch. They have posted my name on several post, Smiles. G