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Author:
PECo
Date:
Jul 17, 2013
Subject:
Winchester Lake 07/16
Message:
I hadn't been fishing since 07/07 and NWDarkcloud (aka Bob) hadn't been fishing since 07/10, so we decided to brave the heat and get out on the water. We chose Winchester Lake, because it's at an elevation of over 1,000 feet and the air is usually cooler there than in most of the state. On 07/16, the high air temperature in Hartford was 93 degrees, while at Winchester Lake, it was 88 degrees. The air was also a lot drier than it was at lower elevations, so even though we definitely got too hot, it wasn't [i:98935aefa5][b:98935aefa5]that[/b:98935aefa5][/i:98935aefa5] bad. We launched in Bob's boat, The Way More Better, at the ramp on the south shore next to the spillway dam at 6:00 am:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7220/3bnd.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
[img:98935aefa5]http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7243/f8w5.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
There was a steady but light north wind blowing down the lake. While Bob parked the truck and trailer, I tossed a wacky rigged Black with Blue Flake and Blue Tip five inch Senko at the spillway dam and boated a fish at 6:03 am:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9108/od8g.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
Yes, it was only an eight inch long largemouth bass, but it was a start. :wink: After I picked up Bob at the ramp, he fired up the big motor and we motored up to the north end of the lake, next to the dock for the house in the northeast corner. While Bob tied a wacky five inch Senko onto one of his setups, I decided to tie a spider-type jig with a crawfish trailer onto my setup that's spooled with 50 pound test braided line. However, there was already a wacky Green Pumpkin with Red Flake five inch Senko tied onto it :wink: , so I made one cast with it and boated a 12 inch largemouth bass at 6:17 am. 8) After I tied on the jig, I began throwing it at the stumps near the shore. We didn't have Bob's fish finder hooked up, so I don't know the exact water temperature or depth. The water was definitely warm and, although it was a tea-stained, it was clear down at least five or six feet. On the north end of the lake, we probably fished in six feet of water or less. While Bob threw his wacky Senko at the shore, lily pad beds and stumps, I stuck with the jig. I told him that I'd switch back to a wacky Senko if he were to catch three fish before the jig got me one. I think that Bob's first fish was a small chain pickerel. However, the bite slowed and he didn't boat any for a while, although he did get a few nibbles and missed a few bites with his wacky Senko, while I got nothing with my jig. :? After 45 minutes without so much as a nibble on the jig, I lost patience with it and began throwing the wacky Senko, again. Yes, Gary Yamamoto help me, I'm weak. :lol: But the wacky Senko quickly got me a 15 inch largemouth bass at 7:05 am:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8404/5cnw.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
I don't want to make it sound like Bob didn't catch any fish. I didn't take photos of most of the fish that either of us caught. Here's a fat 13 inch largemouth bass that he caught at 8:42 am:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6734/0wds.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
We worked our way counter-clockwise around the stump-filled cove on the north end of the lake in very shallow water. While Bob stuck with his wacky Senko, I also tried throwing a Bullfrog Zoom Horny Toad and a small white buzzbait over the pads and weeds. I didn't get even a swirl on them. :? The topwater bite was totally non-existent. With the wacky Senko, however, I caught six rat largemouth bass between eight and 12 inches long before we made it completely around the north cove. While Bob continued to work the shallow shore next to the house on the northwest shore of the lake with a wacky Senko, I decided to fish the deeper water on the other side of the boat with a drop shot wacky Senko. On my first cast with it, I got a few nibbles. On my second cast, I caught a keeper largemouth bass at 9:18 am:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/515/nkzx.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
While Bob tied on a drop shot of his own, I swapped out my drop shot wacky Senko for a drop shot Black four inch Gulp! Crawler, which is a spade-tail worm that I think resembles a leech. On my first cast with it, I caught a short largemouth bass. I really like drop shotting! :D I swapped out the drop shot leech for a drop shot Watermelon Pearl 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnow, but didn't catch anything with it before we decided to cross the mouth of the northwest cove and work our way clockwise around it. We continued to pull small largemouth bass out of the beds of pads and weeds along the shore with wacky Senkos, before mine got picked up by a bigger fish that slowly swam toward deeper water. When it realized it had been hooked, it pulled harder and I loosened my drag to keep it from breaking me off. It had other ideas, though, because it pulled back toward the shore, wrapped the line around a submerged stump and broke me off. Sonofab*!@# :x Although neither Bob nor I ever saw it, we're pretty sure that it was a northern pike by the way that it ran in straight lines without shaking much. We continued around the cove, where Bob caught his third species, a rock bass, and I got my second, a chain pickerel. After we rounded the end of the cove and began working our way back toward the house on the northwest shore of the lake, Bob's shoulder gave out on him and he became my fishing guide. Just before we got to the house, I felt a fish on the line as I began retrieving my wacky Senko from the edge of a bed of lily pads on the shore. Bob asked whether it was a netter, but I couldn't tell. Heck, I never even felt it pick up the Senko off of the bottom. As it got closer to the boat, we realized that, yes, it [i:98935aefa5][b:98935aefa5]was[/b:98935aefa5][/i:98935aefa5] a netter! And when I got it next to the boat at 11:28 am, we finally saw that it was a three-plus pound largemouth bass:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/539/6zod.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
It was 19 inches long, but we didn't have a digital scale with us, so I'd estimate its weight at 3-1/4 to 3-1/2 pounds. I'm pretty sure that it was a male, because it appeared to have recently healed injuries at the base of its tail. Since Bob's shoulder was shot, we came up with a plan to motor out past the shallow submerged island at the north end of the lake and wind-drift back down the main body of the lake with the north wind that was blowing at about 10 miles per hour. That way, Bob wouldn't have to really cast. Before we started, though, I decided to throw my drop shot minnow to increase my species count. I quickly boated a rock bass at 11:50 am and then a sunny at 11:52 am:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/4572/f4nf.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
I love sunnies! :D As we began our wind-drift down the main body of the lake, Bob dragged a drop shot wacky Senko, while I dragged the minnow. Here's one that Bob boated at 12:29 pm:
[img:98935aefa5]http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/3027/6le8.jpg[/img:98935aefa5]
After Bob boated a couple of more small largemouth bass, I decided to swap out the minnow for a larger lure and tied on a drop shot weightless Texas rigged red 10-1/2 inch Zoom Ol' Monster ribbontail worm. As we drifted down the lake, the wind rose to about 15 miles per hour. It took a while, but I eventually boated a short largemouth bass with the ribbontail worm. When we reached the mouth of the cove in the southwest corner of the lake, we decided to make a quick clockwise circle around the cove before calling it a day. After Bob and I both boated a few more small largemouth bass with wacky Senkos, Bob's shoulder took a turn for the worse, so he began guiding me, again. After a couple of more small largemouth bass, I called "Just One More" and boated a couple, before we headed back to the ramp and got off of the water at about 3:00 pm. Bob probably boated two dozen fish, mostly small largemouth bass, a few small chain pickerel and a few rock bass. I boated a few more than Bob, mostly small largemouth bass, one chain pickerel, a couple of rock bass and four sunnies. Although we enjoyed a relatively cool day, I'm really looking forward to the day when this excessively hot weather finally breaks. :wink:
Author:
x182dan
Date:
Jul 17, 2013
Message:
nice job guys! Did you fish the stumps at all?
Author:
NWDarkcloud
Date:
Jul 17, 2013
Message:
the ones up the north end ?
Just a little we worked some of the pad banks for a while then the wind picked up made boat handleing pain
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