Triggerfin Report
Rachelle and I were pretty miserable out there in that weather. We got to humphreys ridge/belews at 6:45 and it was 36 degrees and snowing. Snow coming down, steam rising up - tough launch conditions. I'll try to post some pics of the snow/team mix. The steamy belews is a little on the dangerous side for yak - on the paddle over to the hot-hole area we had a bass boat pass ~30 ft off my bow (we were running lights but we didn't see each other until maybe 30 yards). He did us the favor of veering (but not slowing down) and gunning his engine just as he passed me giving us a nice white-cap to nose into and navigate. He was the guy fishing right there in the hothole with the hardcore team. We fished the cove just north of the hot-hole pretty much the whole time. The cove was running about 62 degrees. We fished carolina rigged worms, crank baits, and weighted flukes. I came up with a 15" LMB about 45 minutes into fishing on a fluke in 5' of water. Very lethargic guy. I felt a little weight on the end of my line and set the hook and he put up very little fight. Saw a very large 1 in about 2 feet of water but we spooked her. There were fish holding on cover in about 20 ft of water in the center of that cove but I couldn't get them to bite anything (mostly tried jigging them with a pig & jig, then a spoon). We caught nothing else (couple of maybe bites) and decided we couldn't handle the conditions any longer (we were wet and frozen) - headed in about 12:30... A friendlier bass boat on the way back to the dock was catching them right and left right there by the boat ramp (figures). He said he had 12-15 in the 1-3 lb range and said he had a 4.5 lber in the live well. All in fairly shallow water, on wood, w/ shakey head/finesse. Finesse seemed to be the way to go on Belews. Weighed in about 1 and got to the bar in time to watch my tarheels lose to florida state. I wasn't feeling well so we headed back to holly springs to thaw out and sleep. Pretty miserable day, but great job/ great event by get outdoors. Many congratulations to the folks that were able to hang in there, catch fish, not complain, and show up for weigh-in and awards! Thanks very much to Will and the Get Outdoors team! Looking forward to next year!
Scott
|