After coming off of my high of winning the C&R tournament, I ventured out to Lay Lake on Sunday Sept. 20. I got off to a late start because of the football game I attended the night before. I finally made it out to the lake about noon and decided I would make the most of my day and fish all the way through till dark. Boy was I in for a long day.
As soon as I launched the boat I noticed that the water was almost thick enough to walk across. When I say stained I am not sure I can emphasize enough how muddy the water really was....not good at all for Lay Lake. I started out fishing an area near the boat ramp at Sunset Marina that I knew had been holding a few fish. It is a shallow flat that is covered with hydrilla about midway back in the creek. The shad had been there recently but were not there at all for me on Sunday. This was an omen for me and a good lesson for me to learn...things that have been happening in the past in fishing almost ALWAYS change. Needless to say the easy limit that had been there was gone and there were absolutely no fish around for me to catch.
After that swing and miss I decided to head out to the main river and look around for some clearer water and at least maybe just fish some current. I rode around for a bit and stopped on a few main river areas that were being hit with the strong river current that was ripping through the lake. Once again, no fish were to be had. At this point I had been fishing for a few hours and was beginning to get a little frustrated so I decided to go to a creek where I have had success in the past and I thought might hold a little clearer water.
Upon arrival at the creek of choice I was right, the water was clearer, but once again, the fish were nowhere to be found. I only fished shallow grass in this creek and I also looked around for baitfish but I could not find any. I will however probably return Saturday during the tournament and fish it a little more thoroughly, simply because it is one of the few areas I found with clearer water which I later discovered to be a key.
After leaving that creek I decided to venture out and go look for areas I have never been to before because the way I figured it, what I knew or thought I knew was apparently wrong, and something needed to change. This was the turning point in the day for me. Now let me say this, I was about 4 hours into the day at this point and extremely disappointed in what I was seeing. Thank goodness I had an open mind and was able to adjust. I had a feeling the clear water would be important but I also know that shad are of huge importance in the fall time, and I desperately needed to find some baitfish.
As I rode up the lake I decided to look for pockets off the main lake that had the entrance to the pocket facing downriver, in the hopes that the dirty water had not infiltrated them and they would be fishable. The first one I came to held signs of life and I was hopeful that the bass would be in there with the shad that I could see flicking the surface. I continued to fish the shallow grass this time with a swimming jig. Almost immediately I had a boil on the jig but I missed the fish. Within the next ten minutes I had two more bites and these fish I let just pull off. Things are looking good. I am keyed in to what is going on now.
After discovering what the pattern was, I rode around for about 2 more hours just looking for matching areas. I was able to find a few areas that fit the pattern, and I am hopeful that I will be able to turn that into success Saturday. We shall see!
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