Grand Lake in October, 2012

Started by Mike Cork, October 29, 2012, 01:44:38 PM

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Mike Cork

First let me say this is an excellent lake and I wish we had better conditions to fish it. The lake is down somewhere between 6-7 feet, this puts most of the shore line cover out of the water. Everyone that told me to fish the willows? Well that didn't happen  lo Water temps ranged from 62-70 depending on where you were and what day. When we got there it was 80's and a south wind of no less than 20 mph each day. The second day of the tournament the wind switch to the north at noon blowing between 20-35. The third day of the tournament was postponed because wind gusts were at 45 mph out of the north at launch time. So the last day of the event is when we seen the coldest water temps.
All creek names are going to be by the Fishing Hot Spots Map. I learned while I was there that locals call things different. Our home base was out of Echo Bay (Martin's Landing Marina)

First day of prefishing, while idling out of Martin's Landing. There were two boats fishing the mouth of the canal. One catches a 3 pounder on a buzzbait as we idle past them? I headed to Wolf Creek and spent 2 hours in there. Caught short fish on a spinnerbait and plastics. There was only two feet of water under the small bridge in the back, it's chalk full of shad and brush but no bass willing to eat. Left there for a couple places on the map that looked good above Cowskin (Elk) River. Working timber just off the main river but the water was pretty muddy and this proved to be fruitless. Later in the tournament there were some good fish caught up this way but they could not sustain a 3 day pattern. Moved back to Cowskin (Elk) River. Fishing various fall patterns, I found some bass in a small steep arm just before you hit the flats in the back. There was a large flat point on the mouth and it was holding bass. The white bass in this area would school on the surface so large and close to the boat that they would blow shad into my boat. Captk88 here on the site fished the back of this arm the entire tournament and placed 8th over all, Congrats Kyle :toot:

Day two prefish I headed south towards the dam. Looking at the map I decided that Drowning Creek was an area I wanted to spend some time. With the water temps and the fall season bass should be in the backs of the creeks feeding up, however that was not the case for me. I did however find plenty of bass in this creek willing to eat topwater baits on wind blown banks, good thing there was no shortage of wind. I also caught a couple with a shakey head around the docks.

Day three of prefish I spent some time in the mid lake area, hitting Elm Creek. Lots of great looking water in there, lots of shad and lots of flats to be fished. We did manage a few bass in there but they were few and far between. Talking to locals that fish this lake a lot catching a limit of solid fish out of Elm is easy if you know the right places to hit. Local tournament on Saturday took 19 pounds to win and 14 to take a check.

With the info I had, I decided to fish the first day of the tournament down towards the dam in Drowning Creek. I only boated 4 keepers. This was my fault however as I had the bites to make a good run on day one. Between a Rico topwater and a watermelon red shakey head fishing winding banks and docks I caught 17-20 fish? but only 6 would have kept and I dumped two of those. Fishing the boat docks is hard on line. Catching bass over the cables is difficult to impossible at best, but after the sun got up that is where you had to fish, the back sides of the docks. So even though I retied often, getting a bass over 3-4 sets of steel cables is tricky :surrender:

Day two of the tournament I draw out with another boater. This guy is from the area. He flipped for his boat on day one and lost and desperately wants to take his boat on day two. He talks a great game and has a plan. Well.... he did know the lake very well, he run his plan to a tee and it just didn't pay off. We end up close to a place in the Elk River that I had found (the steep cut) and I suggest we check it out. Third cast I catch a 3.68. He looks at me and says where's the rest of your spots, "28 miles down river" needless to say we didn't proceed to them  ~roflmao Only keeper of the day for the boat.

Last day of the tournament, after the postponement. The front has moved threw, temps have dropped by 40 degrees and we have bluebird sky's. I headed to Drowning Creek and caught several fish again but could only manage three keepers this time.

Predominant patterns were zara spooks on main lake points and flats, various soft plastics on the same areas. Some anglers were dragging jigs and catching a few but that bite was not fast enough to catch a quality limit. In typical fall fashion you had to cover water to get as many bites as you could. The part that through me was that the better bites were still on the main lake and I didn't figure that out until about 2 hours before quitting time on the last day :'(  Thanks fishing.  I learned a lot about floating docks ~c~ ~c~ ~c~

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

coldfront

any odds on ABA making it a routine lake in the NC rotation?

Pro Reel

My pre tourney thoughts were that the river would be the place to fish for someone that wasn't very familiar with the lake. It seems to have a lot less variables and fishes a little more like a lowland lake. Those floating docks are hard to fish. You have to nose the boat to the corner and flip it in there. I keep a boat bumper on a short rope up front and tie up to the dock. Not sure if thats alowed in tourneys? The triggerfish bait is killer on that pattern as you can steer it to the walkway from outside the cable. At least you learned a few things about the lake , maybe you will be there again sometime.

Captk88

Agreed I would like to fish the lake sometime when the water is up, saying that and it being tough fishing conditions I may not have done so well in the tournament! It was a tough three days I did find some fish in practice up Elk River but nothing that I thought was a killer pattern. After day one I spent the next two days fishing spots that looked excellent but just didn't pan out, I might say that some of those spots did have fish on them but I may have been fishing a little fast to find them in practice.

Day one I drew a local like Mike did day two so we decided to take his boat, ran to a couple bays picked up one keeper in about 4 hours. Finally about 2:00 we decided to make the run way back inside where I had found those few fish and in 30 min we poled down through gold and black rat l traps on an island point up there and I picked up my limit at over 11.5 lbs and my boater put a 3lber in the boat before having to run back.

Day two was a tough spot to be in, I drew a guy who was beating me in the tournament in weight and didn't mind taking his boat to my spot if his fish didn't bite. After fishing a completely different style with a small finesse jig and a watermelon red speed craw on the back I picked up one nice keeper and my boat had four before the worst front Ive ever seen hit. Instantly 20 deg temperature drop and wind about 40mph out of the north! After bruising our way through 4+ foot seas we made it up river to my point again, first cast I hit a 3lb about 10min later I hit another 3lb fish before having to run in because of weather and time. Ended up with a little over 7lbs day two.

Final day (after the delay) I drew a partner that didn't have any spots and was all for going to mine and using my boat. Ran up the river first thing and started trapping and cranking hard, to my surprise they had left the building! Wind changed direction, birds and bait moved, and water temp fell some all bad when trying to finish up strong. I moved to the pattern I learned the day before with my other partner, picked up 8lb P-LINE  ~sun on a spinning rod and the finesse jig again fishing docks and timber to picked up four bass at just under 10lbs. Finished up with 28.22 for three days putting me in 8th over all and I was lucky enough to take the Coast Guard's angler of the year. Not a bad week, just a long, rough, and slow one for fishing, had a great time and met some great people and new friends along the way  that made the trip one of the best in a long time!

d.branch3

Very good job CaptK88. Versatile and adapting very nice ~c~
Powell Rods.

Mike Cork

He's lucky he pulled it off with that P-Line though ~roflmao ~roflmao Inside joke ~shade

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

Captk88

P-Line and hand warmers made it possible!!!  ~roflmao

d.branch3

I have to agree with Mike, P-line?? lol
Powell Rods.

Captk88

I'm just going to say that on 8lb P-Line Flouro I flipped a 3.5 lb bass into the boat after fighting him out of a dock and around metal bars... I fully trust and have faith in P-Line, it may not be for everyone but its great stuff at an affordable price and I recommend at least trying a spool at least once.

Mike Cork

I think the Captain is taking it personal  ~roflmao ~roflmao

Non the Less, WTG and Congratulations on your check, 8th out of 220 is AWESOME :toot:

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

Captk88

Na haha its all in good fun, I almost forgot you wanted me to send you the papers on how to get on the staff with PLine, Ill get those to you    ~roflmao... And thanks, again just right place and time was all.

Mike Cork

Quote from: Captk88 on November 01, 2012, 07:48:28 PM
Na haha its all in good fun, I almost forgot you wanted me to send you the papers on how to get on the staff with PLine, Ill get those to you    ~roflmao... And thanks, again just right place and time was all.

You owe me a new keyboard  ~roflmao ~roflmao ~roflmao

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service

CrankinKen

Hey Mike!  It was good seeing you and some of the guys I haven't fished with in a while.  It was a great time out there and the lake starting growing on me once the tourney started.  Look forward to next year!.  Good luck with the upcoming events and I'll keep an eye on the posts.  BTW...I hope Chris made it back in one piece.

Ken
CrankinKen

Mike Cork

Thanks Ken, yep watch the boards.

Chris made it back fine. No pressure so he was good to go  ~roflmao ~roflmao

Fishing is more than just a hobby

Dobyns Rods - Monster Fishing Tackle
Cork's Reel Service