Sometimes it pays to read fishing reports.

I blog about 10 fishing articles each day on my site - mostly fishing
reports from
newspapers. Last Friday I had gotten most of my stuff ready for a night
tournament,
had a black spinnerbait, Mann’s Loudmouth crankbait, three Texas rigged
worms
and two Carolina rigged worms ready.

I put in a link to an article about Texas fishing and it mentioned they
were catching
bass at night on a jig and pig at Toledo Bend. I usually don’t fish a
jig and pig much
after April here, using worms instead until about October, but that
article got me to
thinking. I went out and rigged a black and blue Rattleback jig with a
black Fat
Albert twin curly tail trailer.

We were fishing from 7 PM to 2 AM Saturday night. I got to the lake at
6:15 and
put my boat in and tied up to the dock. The area was amazingly crowded -
almost
nowhere to park and people everywhere. I took up entry fees while
trying to stay in
the shade - it was in the mid 90s and high humidity. My shirt was soaked
with sweat
within a few minutes.

At 7:00 when I let everybody go I ran about 200 yards to the rocky ridge
at the dam
where I won the tournament last year. I was surprised nobody else went
there first
since I am the last boat out. Being tournament director has its
disadvantages!

I started working the ridge, casting a Texas rigged Mag 2 Junebug red
worm. The
water was heavily stained but better than Monday when I could not see
the skirt on
a black buzzbait as it came by the boat. There was still a lot of wood
floating, from
sticks to whole trees. I planned on staying on this ridge all night
since my motor
still was not getting good water pressure and the floating stuff made it
dangerous.

Almost immediately I started getting hits on the worm - and reeled in
half a worm
four or five times. I guessed it was small spotted bass and finally
hooked one 11
inches long. It was strange - they would hit the big worm, but when I
tried a six inch
U-Tail in the same color they ignored it.

I caught three short spots. That told me there was food here for bass,
and some bass
were using the area even if they were shorts. Maybe keepers would run
in shallow
after dark. That was kinda the pattern last year - I caught five bass
weighing a
whopping 5.95 pounds, all on this ridge on Mag 2 worms. I hoped to
catch some
keepers tonight - eventually.
At 8:30 I worked way out on the ridge where it dropped off from 10 to 35
feet deep.
Dragging a Carolina rigged black/red Trick worm, I found the rocks out
on that end.
About that time I noticed a ski boat idling straight toward me. There
were skiers and
skidoos everywhere but since I was sitting near the dam kinda in the
corner nobody
was riding right by me. But this boat was headed right to me.

As they passed I cast and almost hit the boat. They ignored me and kept
going,
idling right over rocks in a few feet of water. Then I saw the rope.
They were
dragging a log up to the corner of the dam. While they were untying it,
I felt a thump
on my worm and set the hook. It was a strong fish and fought good. My
heart was
racing as I got the net and pulled up. The lead cleared the water then
the fish came
into sight. It was a big yellow Charlie fish - about four pounds. Got
slime all over
my line. I let it go, calmed down, cleaned up my worm and line, and
kept fishing.

I had noticed a big deck boat idle up to the buoy line at the dam
earlier and then
leave. I saw it coming back - towing a log. He idled up near the drums
blocking the
dam, untied the log and left. I saw him do this six times before dark.
All those logs
he untied at the dam started drifting back into the main lake since
there was a
current on the surface moving away from the dam. The water was going
out the
penstocks at the bottom of the dam but the surface current had the buoy
line bowed
away from the dam - kinda strange. I wondered if someone hit one of
those logs he
dragged up could he be sued?

Apparently people were dragging all the driftwood to the dam to get it
away from
where they wanted to ski and away from their docks. Georgia Power keeps a
backhoe at the dam and cleans up the stuff that washes in - and we had a
flood here
two weeks ago that filled up the lake with debris.

Right at dark, a few minutes after 9:00 PM I was casting to the rocks in
a couple of
feet of water right where the ski boat had idled a few minutes earlier
and got another
bite. When I set the hook another small spotted bass came to the top. I
got it in the
boat and it looked a little longer than the others. On the Golden Rule
it just barely
touched the 12 inch line. I had a hard time measuring the fish, it kept
bowing up, so
I put it in the livewell. That would be a great one to cull!

For the next hour I fished out and back on the ridge. At 10:00 PM I
worked to
where some lights from the dam shone on the water and got a thump on my
jig and
pig. When I set the hook a small largemouth fought to the boat. It was
a solid 12.25
inches long! I finally had a comfortable keeper. Since I am in first
place for the year
in this club I really wanted to catch a keeper. With only 14 guys
fishing I knew I
would get some points with just one keeper.

I fished all around the dam area I could reach that was not buoyed off
and caught
another short spot during the next hour. At 11:00 I was way out on the
ridge, near
where I caught the catfish, and I cast the jig and pig back toward the
shallow ridge.
A thump and another spot that was 12.25 inches long. I had two or three
keepers
now, depending on the first one, and I guessed all three together would
weigh about
2.5 pounds. They were skinny!

At midnight I had fished around the lighted area again and back out on
the ridge. It
was getting late - only two hours left to fish. Near where the small
spot hit earlier I
got a bite on the jig and pig and when I set the hook I could tell it
was a pretty good
fish. When I got it to the boat it was not as big as expected, but it
was a 2 pound
plus spot. It fought hard but all spots do. Now I was pleased - I would
have close to
five pounds if the little spot measured.

For the next hour I fished back and forth, and got two bites but missed
the fish. At
1:00 out on the end of the ridge I got a bite and set the hook. I was
sure it was a
little fish, came to the boat easily and did not fight much. When I
started to lift it out
of the water I was shocked at its size. Managed to get it in the boat
and in the
livewell - turned out to weigh 3.32 pounds.

The very next cast to the same place I felt a thump and set the hook. It
was like my
line had been cut with a pair of scissors. There was no resistance at
all, just slack
line. I thought maybe a gar grabbed my jig, then I remembered lifting
the 3 pounder
over the side of the boat. It was a miracle I landed it.

I sat in the same place for the last hour and cast a new jig and pig to
the area where
my best fish had hit. Not another bite the last hour.

At weigh-in I pulled the little spot out and it easily touched the 12
inch line - maybe
1/16th inch over. I guess it was more relaxed but I was surprised -
usually fish seem
to measure shorter after being in the live well awhile.

My five weighed 8.22 pounds - better than I expected. Second place was four
weighing 7.99 and he had big fish of 4.04. My 3.32 was second biggest
bass of the
night. Third place was four at 7.31 pounds and fourth was 3 weighing
4.54. We
had 7 zeroes out of the 14 fishermen and I had the only limit.

I surely am glad I read the article about the jig and pig! Those bass
might have hit a
worm, but I will never know.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com