This past two weeks, I've had the honor of being able to fish with CrappieLimits a few times. Although I already knew he was great fisherman, our last trips have shown me he is one of the best freshwater guys in this area. Theres a lot of great freshwater fisherman, some guys are spot guys, some guys are technical, crappielimits has it all, and has more knowledge on freshwater fish than wikipedia. This is a blanket report because Jo anne and I have fished several times over the last 2 weeks. We fished Lake Iamonia and although it has not returned to quite what it was, its getting there. This lake has probably one of the best forage bases for bluegill in this area next to Lake Miccosukee. I've fished it 3 times in the last 2 weeks, and we always did reasonably well. The fish are very scattered and it takes a lot of moving to find the fish. One pattern crappielimits and I have noticed is that the fish seem to stay inshore even during the middle of the day. Lake Iamonia is not a lake for the unskilled. Rod and reel, light line, small weights, and small hooks are the winning combination. The fish at Lake Iamonia are almost magically spooky. I learned real quickly that I had to adjust my game in order to catch fish. Over 3 trips we caught some very nice coppernose, and red belly blue gills. We caught most off of the main lake basin pad edges, and around the gator holes which are scattered everywhere. The fish could be in one place one day and the next day theyre somewhere else. On tuesday we fished the pad edges and did well. Jo anne and I caught about 40 spotted bullhead catfish in the pads and a mixed bag of 10 quality bluegills and fliers. To fish Lake Iamonia, you must fish at the crack of dawn or at dusk, most boats are off the water by 11am and for good reason. The fish move deep into the pads to escape the sun and are extremely difficult but catchable. One thing I noticed is the black water really makes the lake hot and unbearable in the June summer sun. A suspended cricket or worm is the best presentation for catching anything at Lake Iamonia. Right now the lake is in a critical stage of its development. The classes of fish this year are what will define the lake for years to come. Crappielimits and I caught about 30 quality bream last week, but we threw them back and worked hard not to gut hook them so that they can lay their eggs and make this lake as awesome as it was in the past. I've checked out about a third of the lake, most fish are in the sink basin and on the edges of the main lake basin. It would help to practice your skills with a rod and reel before you go. I practiced at Lake Hall monday night from 12-2am shortening my stroke until I could consistently land it within 6-12 inches of my spot at any distance and it really paid off on tuesday, I was only hung twice and the whole trip was much more enjoyable than my past trips where I had to constantly retie new hooks.
Today, 6/27, Crappielimits and I fished Lake Jackson. Crappielimits has not fished Lake Jackson in very long time so I showed him most of my spots in the Crowder area and explained everything I've ever noticed about the fish patterns over the last year and a half. When we arrived at around 5:50am the entire parking lot at Rhoden Cove was filled and there were 3 boats waiting to launch. The boaters all launched quickly and we were on our way fast. A couple floating islands had moved into the boat ramp but they didnt stop us from getting going. It seems everytime I come out here the lake looks different. The inshore maidencane and floating vegetation are dying off and leaving open patches near shore. The bass seemed to really be taking advantage of these gaps. We saw bass smashing bait all the way to within 5 ft of the shoreline. Crappielimits even saw a big bass try to eat a large bird wading inshore. We one poled the entire morning, the morning inshore feed was good, but not great. The lunar feeding time was 5-7am this morning and thats when we saw a ton of surface activity and caught the majority of our inshore fish. All of the inshore beds and spots are heavily pressured and really show it. We caught about 20+ working hard inshore. Around 10am we moved offshore as the bite had slowed inshore. We caught about 40 offshore fancasting and using electronics between 10 and 12 to make it a grand day. On the day we kept about 32 quality blue gills and shell crackers. We caught everything on big red worms, and crickets. Crappielimits suspended his bait while I bottom fished with worms for shell crackers and big gills. There were about 22 boats in the Crowder area alone today, the offshore boats seemed to be doing the best. Since my tablet got soaked I have no pics of fish this week, but I do have a pic of Oberyn Martell instead. Another great New moon of June!
