I made it out to Randleman for the morning till about 1 before I needed to get other things done. Its been a trying past few weeks, and haven't been able to make it out at all, so I took what I could get.
Water temps: 75-77
Winds calm then out of the west.
Skies were kind of blue/hazy with what looked like rain/storms in the distance up north, eventually overcast rolled in. It sprinkled a little bit of rain, so it looked like the bigger rain wasn't going to get the lake.
Water level was up in the grass.
Water was actually the clearest I've seen in a while, stained but visibility about 2-3 feet. I was surprised to see it so clear given the high level.
There were carp and bluegills everywhere. I missed a couple hits on a baby brush hog T-rig, they felt like bluegill nibbles. When I came around in the shade that's when I saw the full force of the bluegills. Right then I decided to switch gears and go with the green pumpkin swim jig with rage craw trailer - to match the bluegill infestation.
Not long after, I came up to a spot where I knew there was submerged brush about 8 feet. I cast out past it and swam that jig along the bottom. When it got out of the brush area on my side, that is when the big one in the picture slurped it in. It was awesome getting that on the jig! It was 6 lb even on the scale. After that I lost the jig on the snag, and then everything else I had weren't quite the same size/color. But on a smaller one with speed craw trailer I got a few dinks, again, just swimming it along the bottom. Everything was sort of near wood and rocks, but not in the wood like you would flip to. Maybe there was a better pattern but that is the best I could come up with before I had to leave at 1. I did see balls of bait in a couple shallow spots, and i tried a chrome rattle trap in those areas but no hits. Notice the beat up tail in the photo - she looked kind of fat - I wonder if there are still waves of spawners coming in. Seemed kind of deep to be spawning though, maybe she was spawned out but feeding post spawn.
Jay
Water temps: 75-77
Winds calm then out of the west.
Skies were kind of blue/hazy with what looked like rain/storms in the distance up north, eventually overcast rolled in. It sprinkled a little bit of rain, so it looked like the bigger rain wasn't going to get the lake.
Water level was up in the grass.
Water was actually the clearest I've seen in a while, stained but visibility about 2-3 feet. I was surprised to see it so clear given the high level.
There were carp and bluegills everywhere. I missed a couple hits on a baby brush hog T-rig, they felt like bluegill nibbles. When I came around in the shade that's when I saw the full force of the bluegills. Right then I decided to switch gears and go with the green pumpkin swim jig with rage craw trailer - to match the bluegill infestation.
Not long after, I came up to a spot where I knew there was submerged brush about 8 feet. I cast out past it and swam that jig along the bottom. When it got out of the brush area on my side, that is when the big one in the picture slurped it in. It was awesome getting that on the jig! It was 6 lb even on the scale. After that I lost the jig on the snag, and then everything else I had weren't quite the same size/color. But on a smaller one with speed craw trailer I got a few dinks, again, just swimming it along the bottom. Everything was sort of near wood and rocks, but not in the wood like you would flip to. Maybe there was a better pattern but that is the best I could come up with before I had to leave at 1. I did see balls of bait in a couple shallow spots, and i tried a chrome rattle trap in those areas but no hits. Notice the beat up tail in the photo - she looked kind of fat - I wonder if there are still waves of spawners coming in. Seemed kind of deep to be spawning though, maybe she was spawned out but feeding post spawn.
Jay
It's been more about the loose 'trash' brush this past week than the bigger laydowns from what I've heard, so that also fits.
