Personal Reports - July - December, 1998- The following reports are colored by my personal preferences (I guess most are). Many are for Callaway Gardens as I guide fly fishing on the private lakes there. I fish West Point Lake a lot too, but no reports on live-bait or deep-water fishing (I fish almost exclusively with a fly rod - usually shallow water). There are no reports that include far-flung locations on the lake (unlike some "bass-masters" on the lake I don't like to "set the water on fire" while racing from one spot to another). And there're few catfishing reports (`though I love to take big carp on a fly).
December 27 -Callaway Gardens - 8:00 am - Wren Lake - Fished the trout lake with Keith H. Keith did well - his first time with a fly rod. He landed a real nice "golden" and we took several others, including a big 19" brown and a "football-fat" brookie.
December 20 - Pine Mountain -7:30 am - Fished with Norman P. Fished trout stream on back side of Callaway first - we each took several good fish (mainly browns) on sparkly muddler. Then for some reason (the grass is always greener, etc.) we decided to leave Callaway and it's really great bass & bream ponds to fish a private lake in town we'd heard about. Naturally, the fishing was not good there and we spent the ride home wishing we'd stayed at Callaway. I got the chance to throw Norman's new 5-piece Winston 3-weight rod (I want one) - light and quick, it'll still throw those bigger bass flies (to bad I didn't catch anything on it).
December 13 - XXX River tailwater -7 am - Fished with Joel D. Looked like a lousy weather day as we headed for the river in the dark, wipers barely clearing the windshield in the downpour. When we got to the parking spot however, the rain virtually stopped and we had practically no serious rain all day, just perfect overcast skies and comfortably cool temps. Unfortunately, the hybrid didn't like the weather as well as we did and didn't show at all. Joel did hook one small largemouth, but that was it.
December 12 - Callaway Gardens -9 am - Fished with a great group from theAtlanta Fly Fishing Club. I'd fished with Mike Wilson last month and thoroughly enjoyed it. The whole group was great - these people are friendly, unpretentious, accomplished anglers who like to have fun. We caught a mess of trout (browns and brooks and golden), plus a few bass, bluegill, and a few big catfish (including a real sow that Joe hooked an a secret-recipe fly). Marc was the one who first got the skunk off, catching the first three of the day and Barbara hooked the only golden. Thanks y'all, for a fun day.
November 29 - Callaway Gardens -7:30 am - Fished the back creek - had to see if the trout were still there. They were (took my first "golden") - actually a hybridized rainbow), though the predators (heron & otter primarily) are taking a quick toll. Such a pretty day, I went over to the big lake & fished from jonboat. Took numerous small bass and a few bream, many on shallow flats.
November 23 - Callaway Gardens -Holy flying trout , Batman!!! Today they arrived. Went over to help Gib with the stocking - never saw this before. Big fish - browns, rainbows, brooks and goldens to 24". Put them in Wren Lake (about 4 acres) and a hidden creek on the back side of the property. By the time we finished putting the fish in Wren, they were rising all over - it was terribly hard to stand on the bank and watch this! Then to the creek - a little bigger job here as we carried the fish in to the creek in buckets. I thought Waters Creek and the Mills River were something - wait til you see this. Gib and I went out for a late lunch, and on carefully considering the situation, decided we should head back to the creek and make sure the fish were OK (the old rod test) and maybe take a few pix. We caught David W.(another guide who'd come to "help") there when we got back.Well, I shot two rolls of film (got a couple with the grin on Gib's face wider than the creek) and put what may be a permanent bow in my little rod!
November 17 - Callaway Gardens -1 pm - Fished Robin, the ski lake. Took two big bream on wooly sparkle-booger and then several bass in shallows. Windy, so I moved to Wren & took many on topwater tarantula.
November 11 - Callaway Gardens -10:30 am - Fished with Milton S. & Mike W. from the Atlanta Fly Fishing Club. Upper Falls in the am - Milton took a couple of good bass, one way back in shallow cove on a popper. Fished Wren after lunch - Mike got the hot hand on some big cats - took about three 5+ lb.ers in a row. Not to be outdone, Milton then naile a couple himself - his Lamson was singing. Not a great fishingday - recent fronts, perhaps - but we had fun. Good guys - let's fish again.
November 1 - Chattahoochee River -7:30 am - Fished with Dave B., aka "Hooker", above Atlanta. I love the upstream jet-boat thing - wow! We took about 15 browns and a rainbow or two - hate to admit but Dave took the large majority on his spinning rod with silver minnow baits. Mine came on white clouser and brown muddler minnow.
October 28 - Callaway Gardens -8:00 am - Fished with John H. from SunTrust - hoping to butter him up for a loan. Unfortunately, we took on one bass from the Chapel pond. Moved to Wren Lake where John tangled with a big catfish - lot different from bass on heavy baitcaster, huh, John?
October 25 - Callaway Gardens -8:00 am - Had a guide meeting for 1 pm today so, since I had to be there anyway, fished before and after. Upper Falls Lake at 8 am - took many bass on topwater right off the bank. Good meeting - got the status on trout stocking for Wren Lake & Mountain Creek - we'll be trout fishing still and moving water real soon. Fished Sky Meadow after the meet with several of the guides - lake way down with much structure visible - no I know why we've caught fish where we have during summer. Very interesting to fish with other guides - seems we all have different techniques, and most seemed to work as we took fish on topwater, small nymphs, streamers and even small dries.
October 21 -Callaway Gardens - 8:00 am - Upper Falls Lake - Fished Upper Falls with a great Cummings couple, Chris and Hesper. A cool start, both fish & temperature-wise. Then Hesper broke the ice with a nice bass on a sparkle bugger. We started finding fish shallow as the sun got higher. Caught most of them on topwater, including several big bluegill.
October 8-11 - Western North Carolina -Finally a trout trip, and a fantastic one at that. Many thanks to Carter Nelson, most recently the director of the fly-fishing program at Callaway Gardens, who's taking a fishing hiatus before re-entering the business ("a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it").
Vicious Shark Attack
The highlight of the trip came, appropriately, at about noon on Sunday on the Davidson River, shortly before we'd planned to depart. Carter and Norman were both fishing a large, deep pool. I'd been fishing downstream and had just crawled up next to Carter to tell him about the huge brook I'd caught on a lightly-twitched #4 tarantula when he hooked up with a 8-9" brown (one of the smallest of the weekend). As he gently maneuvered it into the shallow water on his 2 -weight (we were on the sand-barred side at the bottom end of the pool), a giant brook trout charged from the deeper water and viciously slashed at the smaller brown. Missing it, the brook twisted around in the shallow water, his dorsal and tail fins showing and bashed the brown again and again. This was happening literally about 2' in front of us. The brook had lost all caution when he spotted the struggling brown, and was determined to have him for lunch. Carter was still hooked up with the brown and it struggled frantically, and the fracas drew a couple of more big fish to the shallows. Norman, slightly upstream, was quickly tying on a big clouser at Carter's yelled suggestion. As the large brook continued to terrorize the brown, Norman threw the clouser into the swirls and hooked a good rainbow. The brook finally captured the brown crosswise in his mouth and was trying to swim away, although the brown was still tethered to Carter's bent rod. Carter manged to pull him free at last and land him, and the brook finally realized where he was and what he was doing and retreated into the deeper water. We all sat on the bank of this beautiful, serene moutain pool, completed stunned by the viciousness and wildness of what we had witnessed. I know trout are carniverous predators, but this brook trout could easily have been cast for "Shark Attacks" on the Discovery Channel (and made the great white look like a sissy). The savagery and strength of his attack was unimaginable and almost unbelievable, except that it had taken so close we could have reached out and touched the fish. We took several pictures as it was happening, but who knows if they'll turn out. Regardless, it's one of those fish pictures I'll remember the rest of my life. When we finally regained our composure, we packed up and headed out; I think we all now had a little different view of those lovely, peaceful mountain trout waters.
October 4 -Callaway Gardens - 5:30 pm - Wren Lake - Fished w/Norman P. Fish were few, though we both took good bass, a couple of bream, and Norman landed big catfish he sight-cast to in the shallows.
October 3 - Callaway Gardens -5:00 pm - Hummingbird Lake - Back to this little lake for first time in weeks. On about 3rd cast took nice largemouth on popper laying up shallow under overhanging branches in shallow end of lake. `Thought it was gonna be a great nite - you may know that story. The first one was the only one, thought at last light I had what seemed to be a huge bass explode on my popper - a real heart-stopper though I never felt his weight.
October 2 - A note on Sage Rod service -Received my repaired rod (see 9/27 report) back today - four days after I sent it back to factory in Washington state. I'd included a note to "please rush" as I had a trout trip planned for 10/8. Rod was repaired like new, with no charge whatsoever (and I offered to pay for air shipping). Even more amazing is that I purchased my rod long before Sage instituted their unconditional guarantee. It's a great rod and a joy to fish, and their service is unbeatable (this is not my first excellent experience with them, and I've never had a bad one). Now - where to fish tomorrow?
October 1 - Callaway Gardens -7:00 am - Fished this morning with a group from Seabrook Wallcovering. Fishing was tough, so we moved to another lake. Weather apparently having effect, with storms just thru and cold front coming. On Wren Lake, we started slow but began to catch fish. The crazy thing was the catfish - they were swarming. Five to seven pounders on light rods - plus one that broke off after about 30 minutes (I had my hand on the leader for a second before he took off again, but even then could not raise him to get a glimpse). Plus we wound up taking several nice bass and a few big bream. A slow start that turned into a good trip.
September 27 - Callaway Gardens -7:00 am - Upper Falls Lake - Couldn't stay away. Small bass schooling in shallow coves - took tarantula. Then moved down dam - only a couple of fish. Over at the edge of dam on edge of woods saw BIG carp nosing against bank. Just for the heck of it, I threw my tarantula over toward it. In one of those rare accidental perfect casts, the fly landed about an inch in front of his nose and he slurped it down. I set the hook with a couple of strong strip stikes and he headed for deeper water. It soon became questionable as to just who had caught who. After about 30 minutes of having my float tube towed around the lake, I worked him over to the shore line and got out of my tube. By this point there were several of the golf course workers watching my struggle. I worked the carp to the bank twice, but he surged away before I could get a grip. He was huge - I'm not a good weight judge, but I know he was 20-25 lbs and maybe a good bit more. One my 3rd attempt to grab him, I let the line wrap around my rod tip (apparently) and when he slipped loose again, he popped about 12" of the tip of my rod, broke the tippet and was gone.
September 27 - Callaway Gardens - 10:00 am - Wren Lake - With a broken Sage 5 wt I headed back to the fly shop to borrow another rod and then fished Wren as it's real close. They were pumping water in hard thru an 8" pipe and it sprayed strong out 40' or 50'. The fish were stacked up in this current. `Was almost becoming tiresome with a fish (bass or bream) on almost every cast with my peacock sparkle chenille wooly worm. Until, that is, one of those hybrid bass showed up. I'd never caught one here before, tho' quite a few were put in a coupla years ago. The initial strike was like a big bluegill or red-breast, as the hit very hard in a current. Then the fish began to peel line so I thought "Oh no, another carp or cat, maybe". Got him close enoughj to see he was a hybrid and he took off again leading me thru the pump spray before I could land him. He would have been a good fish on a big lake from a boat - here in a float tube he was great (about 5 lb). Didn't think there was much to top this morn (except maybe an un-broken rod) so I headed home.
September 25 - Callaway Gardens -6:00 pm - Upper Falls Lake - This lake is getting hot - bass schooling and chasing bait on the shoreline next to the 530 yd 15th hole where next week they'll be playing the Buick Open. They were bashing hard up under the overhanging trees and if you could get the fly in there, they'd take it. I used my "flip-flop" popper (an orange, black and chartreuse one cut from the sole of a cheap sandal on a #2 hook). Later I switched to a sneaky pete as bream were missing the popper, and took several nice bluegill and one huge redbreast, plus some more bass.
September 23 - Callaway Gardens -6:00 pm - Upper Falls Lake - This is a great lake, and with the weather cooling, it just gets better. Took feisty 1.5 to 2 lb bass til dark - most on popper.
September 19 -Callaway Gardens - 7:00 am - Upper Falls Lake - Some days are meant for fishing - this one was near perfect. Raining when I left home but I needed to get away and fish, and like they say - "the fish don't care, they're already wet." Rain had stopped by the time I got to the Gardens, but was still overcast and misty. As I launched the float tube, I could see the bass feeding on top out in the lake. Their heads cleared the water with gentle rises as they gorged themselves. Took about half-a-dozen with a "tarantula" before heading for the banks and overhanging willows to take many more bass, bluegill and redbreasts. I felt much better as I headed out about noon, just as the rain started again.
September 17 -Flint River - 4:30 pm - Fished the shoals well above Sprewell. Water level way down (1.6) and bigger fish were scarce, but even the small ones are lots of fun in the skinny water.
September 15 - Callaway Gardens -5:30 pm - Fished with Carter & Brian - took some bass early deep & on top. About 7:30 the fish got hot. Took many good bass on popper `til my float tube began to make like the Titanic about 8:00, then I caught a few more from the bank til dark.
September 9 - West Point Lake -6:30 pm - Yellow Jacket Creek & river channel - School days! White, hybrid & spotted bass have enrolled. On long shoal off main river, they took my clouser & popper without restraint til after dark.
September 6 - Callaway Gardens -6:30 pm - Fished Robin Lake with Norman P. We took numerous bass from docks around to the dam, mainly on topwaters. After dark we fished on around lake into beach area - fish very scattered, congregated mainly around lifeguard towers. Fishing by moonlight not as productive as we hoped, but the strike on a popper in the dark when you're fishing by sound and feel is fantastic (tho' it's a bit hard to control yourself).
September 6 - XXX River -6:30 am - Fished this tailwater at dawn with Norman P. I took a 23" hybrid on a chartreuse/white clouser at the base of the dam. A bit later, I threw to a riffle at the head of a sluice and a huge carp came right up and sucked down my fly (the same clouser). I'd foul-hooked one a few weeks ago, but this was my first legitimate carp on a fly. As I landed him the tippet broke about an inch up from the fly, but I managed to bare hand the slippery thing before he got away (picture soon). But 9:30 the party was over and we headed home to rest up for a moonlight trip at Callaway later todeay.
September 4 - West Point Lake -6:30 pm - Yellow Jacket Creek - Saw the hybrid bashing shad on to top from the boat launch - naturally they were gone by the time I got in the water. Took 2 spots from rip-rap, then moved down to main river. Found shooling hybrid in middle of channel. They wanted my clouser.
September 2 - West Point Lake -6:30 am - One good largemouth (19") off rip-rap at dawn. No hybrids anywhere - haven't found em in the morning in several weeks, tho they're there late in day. Fished points and shore structure - took a few spots & a coupla more largemouth.
September 2 - Callaway Gardens -6:00 pm - Fished in front of the approaching hurricane. Took many bass off the dam - they were chasing bait shallow.
August 30 - West Point Lake -6:30 am - Fished rip-rap at Yellow Jacket at 1st light - 2 nice largemouths & a spot on my popper. Found one lonely hybrid deep on long point off channel. No hybrid action in normal spots. Fished docks, ramp rip-rap & blowdowns - only 1 more good largemouth and a couple of spots.
August 28 - Flint River -6:30 pm - Great morning on the Flint - water way down and clear. Bass all in heavy whitewater, and in pools just below. Fished well above Sprewell Bluff til 11ish, then went down to Flint River Outdoors at Hwy 36 and fished the shoals there for a couple of hours. If you don't know FRO, you should. They'll rent you a canoe and ferry you up or down stream for about $35 total. Trips start at about 4 hours, and are suitable for beginners. Try it!
August 26 -Callaway Gardens - 6:00 pm - Prime time approaches - fished Robin Lake, the swimming & water-ski lake - now closed for season. The bass were swarming at the dam - couldn't wait to impale themselves on my "flip-flop" popper.
August 25 - West Point Lake -6:00 pm - Found a few spots chasing shad in Yellow Jacket near mouth - they took a small popper. Moved to flat off main river and hybrid were coming up sporadically - good fish, took 9 on a chartreuse & white clouser. About dark, school of small white bass moved onto schoal - switched to my lightest rod and threw small popper to them - they bashed the !@#@% out of it.
August 23 -Flint River - 6:30 pm - Fished w/ Jonathan & Jessica W. from Atlanta. First trip to the flint in awhile -Water level at about 2.8, slightly off-color, but very fishable. Took many bass, bluegill, & redbreast. Bass seemed to prefer heavy water, with lots of white & strong ripples - seeking more oxygen in this hot weather, I guess.
August 21 - West Point Lake -7:00 pm - Looked like a repeat of last nite - no hybrid but quite a few spots. Ran up the river aways, took one hybrid from only school I saw, and headed back down river about 8. At large shoals on edge of channel saw surface action - hybrid! Several good schools - stayed up til dark. Caught about 2 dozen, some to 3-4 lbs.
August 20 - West Point Lake -7:00 pm - Fished with Pat T. & his dad. Hunting the hybrid, but they didn't cooperate. So, we caught a few spots, a good largemouth, and a catfish to boot.
August 19 -Callaway Gardens - 8:00 am - Upper Falls Lake - Fished with Brian and another Florida group. This was their 2nd summer at the Gardens fly fishing - they like it, though there're not flyfishers at home. While we're out, Bill tells me that Jonathan has a relative who's a fairly well-known fisherman. I ask who and he says "Flip Pallot - have you ever heard of him?" The man, according to Lefty Kreh, whose "casting loop is so tight he could throw it through a screen door." Indeed - fairly well-know!! Jonathan doesn't fish at home, but I think he has some of the Pallot genes - you can tell by watching him fish that the rhythm and timing of flycasting enchants him; and he's a determined fisherman. Jonathan - if you're out there, you should pursue this.
August 18 - Callaway Gardens -8:00 am - Upper Falls Lake - Fished with David W. and a group from Florida this morn. They did good - caught several bass and numerous bream. Though they'd had no fly rod experience, I think a couple may be shopping for one soon. (I think there's an additive in that cork handle that absorbs into the skin & is quickly addictive - why, heck, I wanna go back out and fish some now. Imagine a sallow, red-eyed, run-down looking guy wandering the riverbank, muttering and mumbling "...fly rod, fly rod.... just one more cast...just one more... I need it bad").
August 17 - Callaway Gardens -6:30 pm - Upper Falls Lake - Bass were hot - took em in flats, off deep banks, and at culverts. They loved that sparkle wooly. Also threw small dry flys to cruising grass carp, but no takers.
August 16 - West Point Lake -6:30 am - Hunting the hybrids, but they weren't there this morning. Spots were, however; took many schoolers throwing to swirls and on long point with deep clouser.
August 15 - XXX River -6:00 pm - Fished the tailwater shoals w/ Norman P. Hard rain w/lightning gave us a long break in the woods as water came way up. After electrics subsided, we moved to sidechannel spillway but managed only a single largemouth.
August 12 - West Point Lake -5:30 pm - Yellow Jacket Creek & river channel - Boats stacked at old McGee bridge waiting for hybrid. I waited too, but fished shoals in meanwhile and took 2 good spots. Hybrid never showed in force so I moved upriver - found a couple of scattered schools and caught a couple. `Seems like these days the hybrid are up for a minute, and then gone - remember back in the good ol' days when they came up and stayed.
August 11 - West Point Lake -6:30 pm - Took 2 spots swirling bait on big flat off channel, then found the schoolie hybrid scattered across channel above the railroad trestle. Only stayed up for one or two casts & then back down, but I got a few. Blind casting a clouser in the vicinity I took 20" largemouth - what a nice surprise! Fished rip-rap at last light but only found a couple of yearling bass with a white foam popper.
August 10 - Callaway Gardens -9:00 am - Wren Lake - Supposed to guide a trip, but clients didn't show. So, with no work to do, I decided to go fishing (of all things). Clients missed out as I first hooked about a 5 lb. catfish on my "bitch creek" nymph (he was laying in about 14" of water & did he make a fuss when he felt the hook), then several nice bass and a couple of bluegill.
August 6 - Callaway Gardens -4:00 pm - Hummingbird Lake - Fished today with Doris and Tom S. from Baytown, Texas. Doris's first time throwing a fly and she picked it up real quick. Unfortunately, the fish were not so quick on the take. We took on one bass and one bluegill, with a few missed strikes in the process. Still, a pleasant afternoon on a beautiful lake.
August 5 - Callaway Gardens -6:30 pm - Another real treat today - fished with my webmaster (who's also my son) who was down from Atlanta. With his digital cam, he took a bunch of pix we'll have up here shortly. Tho' he hadn't throw a fly in several years, it turns out he's a pretty good flyfisherman. I'd like to say it's in the genes, but the fact is he outfished me. Several good size bass and hand-size bream fell for his sparkly wooly bugger.
August 4 -Callaway Gardens - 3 pm - Fished Upper Falls Lake with two beautiful ladies from Marietta, Deborah B. and her daughter Leigh (this job gets better & better!) With no previous fishing experience (Deborah - "my Dad didn't think fishing was for girls"), we had a casting lesson in the grass first. Terrific attitudes and their inexperience allowed them to pick up the fundamentals of casting quickly and we headed to the water.
August 2 - XXX River -6:00 am - Fished this tail water with Norman & Paul H. Took a few small, scattered mixed-species from shoals. Norman had decent hybrid take his popper, but that was it. Moved to the "wall" about 9. I finally took a good hybrid (about 25")on my clouser, but he was the only one we found there. Home about noon.
July 31 - West Point Lake -6:00 am - Yellow Jacket Creek - fished the rip-rap before sun peeked - only one good largemouth on my popper. Moved down the creek and found schooling hybrid. Didn't stay up long - about the time you got a cast off & landed the fish they were back down. Luckily they kept coming up. As sun and wind came up strong, I moved to bridge up small creek and took three good largemouth on popper (on the sunny side), and several small ones popping baitfish on surface. Storm blowing in - quit about noon.
July 30 -Flint River - 6:30 pm - Fished w/ Pat T. - water level up to 3.4 and discolored - fishing still pretty good with about 15 or 18 fish, mostly bass.
July 29 - Callaway Gardens -6:00 pm - Upper Falls Lake - fished with Norman, another Callaway guide. Several storms thru earlier in afternoon and bass were shallow. We took over 2 dozen, plus a couple of big bluegill Norman nailed. My best fish was about 2 lb. Saw a swirl way back in shallows, 6" off bank & thought I'd catch a bluegill - threw my sparkle wooly and he took it on the first strip - take so hard I still thought bream, but then he ran hard and came out of the water.
July 27 - West Point Lake -6:00 pm - Yellow Jacket Creek & river channel - schoolie hybrid are here! Found scattered schools in YJ, then large one just down river and at edge of channel. Good size fish, and a bonus of occassional largemouth (keeper-size plus) and spot schools roaming around, too. Caught `em on my clouser, other boats around using poppoing corks.
July 26 -Callaway Gardens - 7 am - Fished Upper Falls Lake with the Colson family. `Have to admit to being a bit intimidated when the trip was booked as these guys are from Alaska, and regularly fish the Kennai, the Russian, & other famous rivers for trout & various salmon. But it went just fine - we caught numerous bass, some huge bluegill & shellcrackers (with big knotted heads and fat chins). And in spite of their "big fish" experience, the "no-fear" strikes of the big bream and the aerial antics of the bass had `em laughing out loud. They said the weather was a bit warmer, too.
July 23 - Callaway Gardens -6:00 pm - Upper Falls Lake - fished with Joel D. til after dark - fishing so good we couldn't quit, braving our wives' ire for just a coupla more of those feisty bass and bluegill. All fish came on sparkly wooly worms fished sub-surface. Caught many at culvert water inflow just below 15th(?) tee, as golfers bashed, smashed , shanked, hooked and sliced balls all around us. One of them asked us if we could change our float tubes to submarines (ba..wooo....gaaa...DIVE!....DIVE!) He was right - we needed subs. There are some sorry golfers out there; maybe these guys should take up flyfishing - I know we had a lot more fun!
July 21 - Callaway Gardens -6:00 pm - Hummingbird Lake - couldn't stay away from this beautiful little lake. Fished it a couple of weeks ago with a group, but guiding leaves little fishing time and I was itching to toss a fly in some of those spots. Had a quick, hard rain before we started and it cooled off real nice. Fish a little slow, but we took numerous bluegill and one bass on "bitch-creeks" and green sparkle wooly-buggers, then on sliders.
July 19 - West Point Lake -6:00 am - Yellow Jacket creek mouth - Fished the bridge rip-rap at first light & took 1 nice largemouth plus a couple of spots. Then found scattered schooling hybrid that took my clouser. Moved to main river channel but no schooling there. Took a couple more spots off deep, shaded banks on popper, and headed home at noon as jet boats began to swarm.
July 17 -Callaway Gardens - 6:00 pm - Fished Wren Lake - after you learn not to cast to those loud-splashing golf balls, it's a great little lake. They say the fishing's been a little slow this week, but after 8 days in Atlanta I couldn't care less. Took several bluegill (big uns) off the bank right beside the green (envious golfers looking on)early. Slowed then til almost dark when I finally found a nice largemouth right at the edge of the dam, then 2 more as it got too dark to see.
July 7 -Flint River - 6:30 pm - Fished w/ Norman P.(who with a high-pressure sales job convinced me that I should spend my last nite in town before an 8-day biz trip on the river with him instead of with my wife). `Had a good trip - light shower before we arrived cooled things off & apparently ran off other fishers, as we had river to ourselves. `Caught lots of fish, Norman with "tarantula" and me with AK's hopper with black wooly-worm dropper.
July 6 -Callaway Gardens - 6:30 pm - Fished Bobolink Lake with Pat T. - the only way to get him to use a fly-rod was to take him to a fly-fish only spot. He caught a few, with one big, thick bluegill whose kamikaze strike made him laugh out loud. Right at dark I threw a little deer-hair mouse to rocks at base of dam, something swirled it in 6" of water, swirled it again 2' foot from the bank, and finally the determined 16" largemouth took it down about 10' out. Boy, do I love fishing here!
July 1 - West Point Lake -6:30 pm - Fished w/Pat T., below trestle. We took a few spots swirling bait on top w/clousers. Hybrid apparently still down lake.
1998 Reports... January - June ........... July - December
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