BigBendFishing.Net

Went with my son to the Jim Woodruff dam for the first time. water temp at the dam was 51.8F and 53.5F at the discharge creek down river. Bottom machine showed a great deal of good fish and bait schools. We had a few hours of good weather in the AM then the storm blew in strong gusts of wind, rain and lightning. We had a great day despite getting wet! We explored from the dam down to the warm water discharge creek and found a lot of places to fish the next time we go out.
We netted shad at the cat walk on the dam but for the next time I think I am going to try to net some of the schools we saw going by on the bottom machine they were tightly packed about 2 to 3ft under the surface.I have a 10ft cast net we will use.
We caught 2 good fish a 23 inch striper on my new rod/reel (x-mas present from my son) and a 20inch bass that may have been a smallmouth the first I have ever caught it did not have the large mouth that a largemouth bass has but was built like football and had striking markings.We took pictures and when we finish the roll I will post them so that someone can help me with the ID on the bass. I have caught a lot of largemouth but this bass was very different.Both were caught on live shad we had plenty of bait all day.Both fish were caught before 1PM when the weather got bad We did stay until about 7Pm. We did not catch any of the catfish that Tom Keils and his dad
caught earlier maybe next time. We had a very good day of father son bonding despite getting soaking wet.The dam is only about 45 minutes from Tallahassee by way of I-10 so we will be back trying for the elusive 40 lb striper! Also I saw a sign stating that they have sturgeon in the river also. something interesting but, I wonder how many have been caught there?
Gray Fins
Gray Fins Jr.

Mystery fish could have been a warmouth, they kinda look like a smallmouth......but that would be a BIG warmouth.

Buddy, Nice report.

If you go to http://www.bigfishtackle.com/

on the opening page at the bottom left hand side under the heading "Resources", you will see "Fish Species", click on that and it brings up a list of sea and freshwater fish groupings.
Colour photographs,description, location, best baits etc.
You may find your mystery fish there.

Glad you had a good day Buddy. By the way, there are smallmouth bass in the river. It's a rare catch but they are there.

Mystery fish
Could be a shoal bass only found in the flint river and it's tributaries.
This fish is one of the best fighters in fresh water due to the fact they live thier entire lives in swift current.

I should have pictures next week!
I will be sharing with every one.
I had to go through cabin fever and I know how much I enjoyed the pics and tales of others fishing!

Gray Fins

Well the pictures came back and there are some great shots of the dam,a small striper I forgot about and 5 pictures of my son's finger LOL He felt pretty bad so We are going back to try again soon.
I can guess that the mystery fish was a shoal bass it did not have a red eye but looked like the a large mouth with a small mouth. It had very a striking black line down its side.

Gray Fins

Send me the pics.

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