AUF Anglers

[SaltyTiger 7,792]

9 hours ago, autigeremt said:

I don't own an Alabama rig......hard headed I guess but if the Elites can't use them neither will I. I've been hammering them on Martin and West Point lately. Especially Martin. 

What is your favorite lake or "home lake"? i grew up with a family place on Castaway at Martin. Still love that lake. After graduating from Auburn I lived practically on West Point early 80's. Lake was in its prime and unbelievable. Fished it on average 4 days week ( bass Heaven ). 40 or 50 fish an outing was just another day at the office. Rarely ever left the Shaefer Heard Dam area or Maple Creek.

Side note - I lived (rented) in Shaefer Heards old home while in WP. A bundle of the correspondence with different agencies getting the dam and lake pushed through was stored in the attic of that house. Boring material but neat.

[autigeremt 6,600]

2 hours ago, SaltyTiger said:

What is your favorite lake or "home lake"? i grew up with a family place on Castaway at Martin. Still love that lake. After graduating from Auburn I lived practically on West Point early 80's. Lake was in its prime and unbelievable. Fished it on average 4 days week ( bass Heaven ). 40 or 50 fish an outing was just another day at the office. Rarely ever left the Shaefer Heard Dam area or Maple Creek.

Side note - I lived (rented) in Shaefer Heards old home while in WP. A bundle of the correspondence with different agencies getting the dam and lake pushed through was stored in the attic of that house. Boring material but neat.

Interesting info I bet in that old attic.

My home lake is Hartwell back in South Carolina. I grew up fishing Hartwell, Russell and Clarks Hill with an occasional trip to Keowee. My grandpa had a place on Martins Creek near Clemson and Oconee Point and that's where I fell in love with fishing.

As for here in Alabama my home lake is Martin but I've fished West Point a lot. I like to go up the river and catch largemouth most often but I'll fish south of the 109 bridge for spots as well. I prob. fish Martin 3 times or more a month because it's 35 minutes to the ramp at Paces Point from my house. My favorite lake in Alabama is Logan Martin. Those big Coosa River spots are hard to beat and that lake has some big largemouth in it.

[SaltyTiger 7,792]

13 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

Interesting info I bet in that old attic.

My home lake is Hartwell back in South Carolina. I grew up fishing Hartwell, Russell and Clarks Hill with an occasional trip to Keowee. My grandpa had a place on Martins Creek near Clemson and Oconee Point and that's where I fell in love with fishing.

As for here in Alabama my home lake is Martin but I've fished West Point a lot. I like to go up the river and catch largemouth most often but I'll fish south of the 109 bridge for spots as well. I prob. fish Martin 3 times or more a month because it's 35 minutes to the ramp at Paces Point from my house. My favorite lake in Alabama is Logan Martin. Those big Coosa River spots are hard to beat and that lake has some big largemouth in it.

Thanks for the pics, Hartwell is a beautiful place. My career was in commercial construction. did a a large textile plant for Dundee Mills up there back in the day. rented a couple of places on the lake to house supervision during construction. fished it a couple of times but don't remember where.

[AUFAN78 3,894]

17 hours ago, autigeremt said:

I don't own an Alabama rig......hard headed I guess but if the Elites can't use them neither will I. I've been hammering them on Martin and West Point lately. Especially Martin. 

Good to hear they are biting well on Martin. Love that lake this time of year. Especially north on a jig. Had some good bags in the clearer waters down at Kowaliga and Parkers this time of year too. Great lake.  

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

High of 42 today when I leave work at 3. Thinking spinnerbait this afternoon. 

[AUFAN78 3,894]

7 hours ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

High of 42 today when I leave work at 3. Thinking spinnerbait this afternoon. 

I hope you have luck with that. With the high pressure system, it could be tough. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

41 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

I hope you have luck with that. With the high pressure system, it could be tough. 

Nailed a pig as the sun was almost down! 

[AUFAN78 3,894]

3 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Nailed a pig as the sun was almost down! 

Very nice!

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

Dunno why that bottom one is flipped, but whatever. 

I started on the spinner and then went cranking and got hung up on something underwater. Then moved back to the spinnerbait. Double gold willow blade, shad colored. Fish were busting everywhere and I was getting frustrated that they weren't biting. Then out of nowhere this girl slammed it almost at the bank. 

Also, a personal best. I don't know the weight(scale on the Christmas list), but I know he was 4+, but wouldn't surprise me if he was pushing 5. 

[AUFAN78 3,894]

4 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Dunno why that bottom one is flipped, but whatever. 

I started on the spinner and then went cranking and got hung up on something underwater. Then moved back to the spinnerbait. Double gold willow blade, shad colored. Fish were busting everywhere and I was getting frustrated that they weren't biting. Then out of nowhere this girl slammed it almost at the bank. 

Also, a personal best. I don't know the weight(scale on the Christmas list), but I know he was 4+, but wouldn't surprise me if he was pushing 5. 

It can be frustrating when fish come up like that and won't bite. I typically have about ten rods with different lures on the boat deck and it's just finding what they want. Sometimes it's a spinnerbait, rattletrap, spook, fluke, jerkbait, swimbait, etc.  I've seen times when my partner was whacking them on a spinnerbait with silver blades while I had the same spinnerbait with gold blades and couldn't catch a cold! It can be that specific at times, particularly with clear water. My thoughts are simply to try and match the bait the fish are feeding on. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

47 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

It can be frustrating when fish come up like that and won't bite. I typically have about ten rods with different lures on the boat deck and it's just finding what they want. Sometimes it's a spinnerbait, rattletrap, spook, fluke, jerkbait, swimbait, etc.  I've seen times when my partner was whacking them on a spinnerbait with silver blades while I had the same spinnerbait with gold blades and couldn't catch a cold! It can be that specific at times, particularly with clear water. My thoughts are simply to try and match the bait the fish are feeding on. 

That's why my Christmas list is also getting a new reel(Daiwa Tatula CT-R), new rod, and a new spinning rod to go with the spinning reel(Pflueger President) I bought about a month ago. My current baitcaster is an Abu Garcia Black Max 3. Good starting baitcaster, but I wanted an upgrade. I have an old Shimano Corsair that didn't get much use 15 years ago. I don't even know if you can adjust the brakes(if it even has any).

I want to be prepared, and not have to worry about cutting and tying baits. Versatility is nice. However, it can be somewhat cumbersome when fishing from the bank.

In the case today, I obviously would've had a crank on one, spinner on another, and plastic/finesse on my spinning rig.

Edited December 11, 2016 by ShocksMyBrain

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

And then on the other hand, I probably never would've caught the fish today if I hadn't gotten my crankbait stuck and was forced to tie on the spinnerbait. So one rig can also have its benefits. 

[AUFAN78 3,894]

10 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

That's why my Christmas list is also getting a new reel(Daiwa Tatula CT-R), new rod, and a new spinning rod to go with the spinning reel(Pflueger President) I bought about a month ago. My current baitcaster is an Abu Garcia Black Max 3. Good starting baitcaster, but I wanted an upgrade. I have an old Shimano Corsair that didn't get much use 15 years ago. I don't even know if you can adjust the brakes(if it even has any).

I want to be prepared, and not have to worry about cutting and tying baits. Versatility is nice. However, it can be somewhat cumbersome when fishing from the bank.

In the case today, I obviously would've had a crank on one, spinner on another, and plastic/finesse on my spinning rig.

Sounds like a plan. And a good one!  I think the Corsair has a brake adjustment knob on the same side as the handle. Never owned one but round baitcasters still work. A lot of anglers use them for heavy swimbaits because they typically hold lots of line and handle big baits rather well. May be worth a try.

[AUFAN78 3,894]

7 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

And then on the other hand, I probably never would've caught the fish today if I hadn't gotten my crankbait stuck and was forced to tie on the spinnerbait. So one rig can also have its benefits. 

I would note where I lost that bait. Some kind of structure there that perhaps you can target later.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

1 minute ago, AUFAN78 said:

Sounds like a plan. And a good one!  I think the Corsair has a brake adjustment knob on the same side as the handle. Never owned one but round baitcasters still work. A lot of anglers use them for heavy swimbaits because they typically hold lots of line and handle big baits rather well. May be worth a try.

I need to look at it again, it's still in my soft tackle bag. I'm sure the bearings are shot after being so long out of use. 

[AUFAN78 3,894]

6 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

I need to look at it again, it's still in my soft tackle bag. I'm sure the bearings are shot after being so long out of use. 

I'd try it first. Like I said, never owned a Corsair, but I use to fish with round Ambassadeur reels. The only problems I ever had was with the springs. Never a bearing issue. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

1 hour ago, AUFAN78 said:

I would note where I lost that bait. Some kind of structure there that perhaps you can target later.

Yep. I threw the spinner all around it because I knew it wouldn't get hung up. 

We've gotten a fair amount of rain lately, so a lot of what would be exposed structure is now underwater. 

That said, this pond I was at today is less pressured than the two I had been frequenting for the past couple months. It's just a difficult pond to fish because only half of it is accessible, so the fish seem to gravitate toward the middle(which seems to be pretty deep in terms of small ponds go) and the far banks that you can't even reach without stomping through the woods. 

For instance, this was the biggest fish I've caught out of there since returning to fishing back in late September(earlier this week). 

 

And just for fun, this was my first fish after returning to fishing from the same pond:

Edited December 11, 2016 by ShocksMyBrain

[autigeremt 6,600]

That was a nice one!! The spinnerbait bite is holding steady along with the lipless Crankbait on Martin. It's been great the last three weeks..caught 21.4 lbs (best five) on a War Eagle double gold willow/Colorado between 8:30 and 12 today. All spots! It was by far the best spotted bass day I've had on Martin. They are getting big here. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

2 hours ago, autigeremt said:

That was a nice one!! The spinnerbait bite is holding steady along with the lipless Crankbait on Martin. It's been great the last three weeks..caught 21.4 lbs (best five) on a War Eagle double gold willow/Colorado between 8:30 and 12 today. All spots! It was by far the best spotted bass day I've had on Martin. They are getting big here. 

It truly is nice to see that my efforts are syncing up with seasoned veterans. I'm going to be playing with the spinnerbait more now. Crankbait had become a crutch, and I'm not fond of that. 

The internet has been such an awesome resource for fishing. I've been teaching myself for so long(even before re-picking up the rods). I used to think cold weather=non fishing season. 

I really want to get out on a boat with someone. While it is nice to just go out and be by myself, and enjoy the quietness of nature, it'd also be nice to have someone to fish along with sometimes. 

Gotta get a damn selfie stick just to take pics of my big catches because my arms are so short.

Sorry, I used your post to ramble. 

Edited December 11, 2016 by ShocksMyBrain

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

What do you guys prefer to throw in windy conditions? Winds were about a constant 15mph today and I couldn't get a bite. 

[AUFAN78 3,894]

3 hours ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

What do you guys prefer to throw in windy conditions? Winds were about a constant 15mph today and I couldn't get a bite. 

Spinnerbait. Try and put the wind to your back and hit the banks the wind is hammering.

Going to Lay Lake in the morning. Hopefully a good report is forthcoming.

Edited December 12, 2016 by AUFAN78

[autigeremt 6,600]

5 hours ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

What do you guys prefer to throw in windy conditions? Winds were about a constant 15mph today and I couldn't get a bite. 

I also like to throw a lipless into the wind. It cuts right through it and doesn't backlash like a typical bait would. The thinner the profile the better.

[autigeremt 6,600]

1 hour ago, AUFAN78 said:

Spinnerbait. Try and put the wind to your back and hit the banks the wind is hammering.

Going to Lay Lake in the morning. Hopefully a good report is forthcoming.

We need to partner up for a day on that lake. I'm hit and miss on Lay and I need some time on the water with a local. 

[autigeremt 6,600]

Check this video out at the 1:00 minute mark.....tell me what you see.

 

http://g1.globo.com/al/alagoas/bom-dia-alagoas/videos/v/campeonato-de-pesca-esportiva-e-realizado-em-junqueiro/5492341/

[ShocksMyBrain 9,364]

Well, I WANTED to go fishing early this afternoon for several hours. However, I dropped my car off to finally get my side view mirror replaced(with my rods and tackle within). Left it at 9am this morning, it's now 3:52pm and they JUST took my car back.

Apparently it takes 7+ hours to replace a mirror, and by the time it's looking like it'll be done, the sun will basically be completely set--I might get a chance to go for 30 minutes.

Two lessons learned:

1. Remove my fishing gear before leaving my car somewhere. 

2. Never ever come back to this pathetic excuse for an auto shop.