Lake Tugalo In The Canoe (rhymes)

5.28.18

We did some exploring on Lake Tugalo.  After a 4 mile drive down a dirt and gravel road we reached the steep ramp.

Being Memorial Weekend we figured a bunch of people would be there, but we only saw 3-4 boats today.

We broke out the ultra lite gear and caught our share of panfish and little bass.

It is a beautiful small lake with no houses on the shoreline.  Can't wait to go back and figure them out some more.

Another Good Bite at Keowee In The Rain

5.25.18

Water Temp 80

The bite continued on Keowee as the fish are still eating well on points.  I fished through the rain today and the fish bit through the rain as well.

Fishing in the mouth of Mile creed and hitting a bunch of points, 10 nice fat spots came aboard.

Many fell victim to the Hula Stick, but I also caught 3 on the Keitech Swim bait, which was a first for me.  It was a no doubt bite when they smacked the bait.

Good Day On Keowee

5.22.18

Rainy day greeting me as I took a neighbor out fishing between the storms.

I haven't been on Keowee in two weeks or in the Champion so it was time to get both going.

Started out with a buzz bait trying to catch a largemouth, but only had one blow up.

So it was off to worm fishing all the points I know.

Every point had one bite on it, but at the end of the trip, the last two points had multiple fish on them and they were eating.

Ended up catching 12 nice spots.

I was throwing a 1/6 oz Zman Shroomz jig head with a Zman Hula stick on it.

I also drop shot a couple of fish under the boat, video game style.

Also saw a armadillo, turkey, beaver, otter, osprey and a bald eagle, so nature was showing off in the low cloudy conditions.

Canoe, Smallmouth, Lake Jocassee

5.17.18

Took the canoe out a couple of times on Lake Jocassee.
The last trip was fun as the rain held off and we caught fish and enjoyed a wonderful view of the cloud capped mountains.



We caught 6 fish, 5 smallmouth and one spot fishing north of the canoe boat ramp.

Fish were schooling when we arrived and we tried to get them to bite on shad raps and jerk baits, but to no avail.

We switched over to the ned rig with a TRD or Hula Stick and started to get consistently bit.

I caught the biggest smallmouth I have ever caught since leaving Ohio 40+ years ago.



I was snagged on a tree and suddenly I felt this one whack my Hula Stick and helped me get unsnagged.  Superb fight to the canoe.

No Morning Bite, But A Few Like the Hula Stick

5.9.18

Water temp 66 degrees up and 72 down

Got out early looking for some topwater action...but to no avail.

Travelled up and down the lake looking for fish, even saw the Jocassee Dam today, pretty impressive, but no fish up there for me.

Headed back down towards Keowee Town Ramp and found some biting on broad red clay points and they wanted the Hula Stick.

Brought four to the boat.

Bite Faded Away

Week of 5.1.18

water temp 68 degrees

The Keowee Anglers tourney was this week and I was on the water a lot watching the topwater bite and shallow water bite slowly go away.

My and my partner only caught two fish in the little tourney on Wednesday.

The winning catches were on points in deeper water throwing a ned rig.  They were running and gunning points.

I managed to catch one good fish a day.

I drop shotted this beautiful spot practicing for the tourney.

The moon was full and bright every night this week and I think the fish fed all night, as the ones we caught were full of shad.



That is my theory and I'm sticking to it!

Topwater Is Beginning to Pick Up

4.27.18

Water temp. 68 degrees

I hit a bunch of points in front of the Keowee Town boat ramp this morning and found fish on all but one.

The Luckycraft Gunfish has been kind to me as it seems to call them up well.

Did some fluking and worming with marginal success. Brought two decent fish to the boat drop-shotting, but love that topwater splash when they hit!

Topwater and Fluking Has Begun

4.22.18

Water temp 66 degrees

Drizzly day.

Got out at 7 AM with Craig, a newby who moved here from Colorado.

He bagged 3 spots quickly on top with a Gunfish 117.  That success will ruin him.

We ended up with about 10 fish in 4 hours.

I nailed this nice largemouth out of a downed tree top on a fluke.  Which for me is a fluke.

Lake Jocassee Is Deep!

4.13.18

Fished beautiful Lake Jocassee today.  The water was in the low 60's. 

It is really deep! I actually graphed over 300 feet in places.

And Beautiful.

The haze in the picture is actually pine pollen.

The wind was howling towards the mountains and the pollen was flying!

Fishing? Not so good.

One little spotted bass and that was it.

Fished coves, steep banks, docks, gently sloping points, nada....

But I did graph a lot of fish.  Just not happening for us today.

Another day!

Quick Outing on Keowee, Still Biting

4.12.18

I caught 4 spots and 1 nice spunky largemouth in windy pockets on boat docks above Keowee Town this afternoon.

Tough detecting the bites as the wind was howling and the one tenth of an ounce shroom jighead was tough to control.

Basically, if it felt weird....jerk!

I am teaming the jig head with a green pumpkin Zman Hula Stick.

Water temp is about 67 degrees.

Lake Robinson SC Canoe Outing

4.10.18

Wanting to get the canoe out in some freshwater, we headed to Lake Robinson in Greer, SC.
It is a limited HP water supply lake and is said to have some nice bass in it.
It is a beautiful setting, with a great ramp and picnic area.
We headed out with the mountains in the background on a cool day.


Nancy got on board relatively quickly with a nice largemouth on the ned rig in a cove that had one of many beaver dams we saw on the lake.



I caught three more bass on the neko rig before calling it a day.

The motor ran great and we got to see some more of the upstate, which keeps impressing us.

Slower, But Nice Largemouth Kept It Interesting

4.3.18

Water Temp: 64-66

Got out today on my first mini tournament by Keowee Anglers.

Paired with a partner and you fish 4 hours.  You measure your fish by inches instead of pounds.

It is an interesting concept and much different than a "normal" tournament.

We measured a little over 80" for our catch.

I was slow crawling the white shad rap over some stumps and rocks early in the morning when this girl engorged the bait.  She put up quite a fight on my sissy stick.



We hunted and pecked for our fish with a bunch caught on the ned rig and one on a Staysee.

Did not see a fish shallow as I believe they spawned on the recent full moon.  Looking forward to the next full moon though, as the next wave should appear then.

Not a bad catch for my handful of times on this beautiful lake.

Good Fishing As Spawn Is On

3.29-3.30.18

Water temp in low 60's

It has been fun fishing the last couple of days as the boy and girl fish get together in shallow water.

Looking at fish on beds in 10' of water is pretty cool.

Starting the day out with slow cranking suspending shad raps and then not being able to resist looking for spawners, we head shallower.

The ned rig and neko rig have been the go to baits for me.



Rip rap and rocky points have been really good s.l.o.w.l.y cranking shad raps.



Nancy caught her first fish in Keowee and lo and behold it was a nice largemouth on the ned rig.



I put this 19" fish in the boat with the help of the Ned rig.

Really nice spotted bass that was on a trashy bank with a beaver dam.

Hate for this season to pass, but it sure is fun!