Flat Water Bassin'
With the holidays upon us and the temps slowly dipping further south I decided I was gonna fish as much as I could over the Thanksgiving holiday. It all started on the 21st at Houston Lake. Houston Lake has always been a favorite quick trip for me. It isn't the most dependable of fishing holes and I have had my share of days where I only catch one or two, and a time or two where I have been skunked. The lake has its fair share of vegitation. It has pads and all kind of aquatic grasses. I expected a lot of it to be dying off and was hoping that the bass would be chasing bait and fattening up for the winter. I was only on the water for about 2 minutes when I saw the tell tell ripples followed by the splash. I was no more than a hundred feet from where I had put in and it was fish on! There was a school chasing small bait fish and when they broke the surface I cast past them and burnt my spinner bait back through.... 6 cast and 6 fish ... then it went dead. All the fish were in the 2lb. range and when they hit that spinner bait they hammered it! I did slow down long enough to take a picture after the bite died off.....
I paddled around the north edge and then across the lake and back to the ramp. I managed to catch a Chain Pickerel about 20" long but she slithered out of my grip before I could snap a picture. I loaded up and pondered my next destination.
Day 2: Flat Creek PFA
I live in Centerville and my parents live down south in a litte town called Unadilla. Since I had to head south for Thanksgiving anyway it only seemed right that I leave a litte early and hit up Flat Creek PFA. The water has remained low for a couple years now after lightning took out the well pump that helped keep the levels up. It isn't known for big fish and most of the time there are more bank fisherman than boats. I expected to stay on the water for maybe a few hours at most and had hoped to pick up a few fish. After about 15 minutes on the water I decided to paddle back to a cove near the dam and fish some timber. I picked up a few dinks on a square bill. I fished around the timber and let the wind help me along. As I rounded the point there was a guy bank fishing and we chatted for a minute before I paddled off. I went straight across to another area with a good bit of submerged timber. I began casting and letting the wind push me gently towards the bigger timber. I hooked into something that felt like a good one only to have my line go slack on me a few seconds later. I fired the square bill back into the same area and as soon as I felt it deflect off some wood ... boom fish on! She started ripping a little line and turned my coosa 180 degrees as she run across the bow. Luckily it pulled me right into two pieces of timber and I was able to play her a bit to get some of the fight out of her. My first glimpse came when she turned and ran straight at me and under the yak and I could feel my heart rate double... she was a nice one and I wanted to get a picture with her something serious! A few more runs and I finally managed to lip her.... I got her unhooked and let out a big yell... I weighed her and snapped a few pictures and put her back for another day... she went 4 lbs. 9 oz. I figured it wasn't gonna get any better than that so after only and hour and a half on the water I loaded up with a huge smile on my face.... time for some turkey!
Day 3: Honey Hole
On day 3 I decided to leave the Jackson Coosa in the garage and head out with my old man in his Jon boat. This little place is special. One of those places you don't tell anyone about and try your best to keep to yourself. Well we hit the water around 10. Wind was a little higher than I like but I was in the bag seat all I had to do was fish! We had a decent day for this place. We ended the day with about 20 fish by 1:30..... usually that number is doubled easily. All in all it was a great day on the water with my Dad .... heck it would have been a great day if I hadn't caught a single fish but the fact that we did was icing on the cake. I took a few pics of the best of the day and even made the old man an honarary member of the Yak Devils ....
So there it is ... 3 days of fishing and 3 days of catching. I had planned on taking a trip to the river today but instead I opted for a warm couch and football game or two. I am already regretting that decision! Tight Lines ....
