Shit is getting real. I think for my August 10 trip we are doing an overnighter on my boat at Ram Powell or Horn Mountain. Leave around 1pm, make bait, deep drop the ledge, run to the floaters, fish the evening YFT bite, jig and chunk all night for yft and blackfin, catch the morning bite, deep drop on the way back in, get back noon the next day. Looking into a 50 gallon fuel locker, would get me up to 230 gallons and extended range.
I think we’re going to try to fish Green Canyon this Thursday . 125 miles to the rigs out there out of Grand Isle. All the orange markers on this map of Green Canyon are floaters and platforms that hold YFT. It is jurassic park out there
Good day on the water. Tight lines all morning and then the bite fell off close to lunch, we ate, and the rain came.
Fish weren't very active today. Mesmerized a pile of them with my dangling action but nobody would bite. Managed 1 crappie and got an awful pic
I just dropped $330 on some 15 gallon fuel cans and the spouts and shipping. So now I'll have 30 extra gallons . They are taller and don't take up as much room as the standard 5 gallon cans you get at walmart. Looked into a 50 gallon fuel locker from ATL but you need a $400 pump with alligator clips, ratchet straps, a bag for it, etc. And I don't think the dimensions fit my boat. And it's $2,000 all in with all the parts. Fuck all that. 15 gallons x 6 lb per gallon=90 pounds to lift up and dump into the fuel tank. Better hit the gym.
I would try those out and see if they actually work. Hopefully they aren’t the new anti spill ones. Otherwise, you’ll need to buy the spouts that actually dispense fuel without spilling half of it
I have 4 of the 5 gallon anti spill new EPA ones . Didn't think they were that bad. The spouts for these are not those anti spill spouts. https://www.acmetools.com/flo-fast-...MIBxz7PTa-DwOrAF0s5a51QXDF3O0R1RoCR3kQAvD_BwE
Guess it depends. It's a case of now potentially threatening the native species. Similar to what's happening in SC with the Bartram's Bass. Someone introduced Alabama Bass and now they are hybridizing with the native Bartram's Bass and changing them.
that hybridization is happening to redeye species all over. our rivers across the Southeast have such a mix of stuff, the impoundments really sterilized things.
The Chauga, Chattooga, and Eastatoe are still mostly pure according to DNR. The Hartwell and Keowee feeders are pretty hybridized.
I've been talking with the redeye bass dnr guy. He'd suggested Little Eastatoe as a good place. I'd tried that but no success.
Launched out of Grand Isle near Hurricane Hole on 7/25 at 5AM. Plan was to head to Green Canyon for tuna at Marco Polo. Stopped at a rig and picked up about 60 hard tails and a few 8 pound mangrove snappers and then headed to Marco Polo. Dead headed 2-3s for a long stretch of the run so was pretty rough. By the time we got out to southern Green Canyon there was a big storm over Marco Polo so we started with either Q4000 or Stanley Noble LaFoss Drill ship first (can’t remember which one), then fished Marco Polo, then Shenzi. We circled around all the rigs at about ¼ mile and eventually tried different distances further out than ¼ mile and up close to the rigs as well. Also putted between the rigs and drill ships. Never got any good tuna marks. Whenever we got anything resembling a mark we live chummed with no luck. Did some trolling to see if that would produce anything. We eventually chunked and jigged as well. Nothing. Water was really nice blue out there and we saw some flying fish but not a ton of life. Caught a barracuda trolling . Saw one boil and we threw poppers at it. But overall seemed pretty dead. We fished out there from about 11AM-5PM then headed back in. Ran 250 miles with nothing to show for it but 2 mangrove snapper lol. I think it’s just tough to catch tuna during the middle of the day in the summer. Much better luck doing overnighters and at least you’re pretty much guaranteed some blackfin. 7/26 we caught about 12 snapper in the 10-15# range each . Disapointed we didnt get any tuna or do any deep dropping but had a blast still
Went to a celebration for the Chattooga River last night hosted by the local conservation group. 50 years since being declared the first Wild and Scenic River in the country. Just 2 years after Deliverance was filmed there.
Interesting, the Buffalo in Arkansas is the first "National River" in 1972. Technically it's under the NPS. I wonder what the difference in distinction is?
Here's what I found on the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System website Chattooga - May 10, 1974 Buffalo - Apr 22, 1992 River Classification When a river is added to the National System, it is given a classification—wild, scenic, or recreational. These names have little to do with recreation, scenery, or wilderness, but, instead, are measures of the level of development along the river at the time of designation. Different sections of a river might have different classifications. Wild River Areas – Those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. These represent vestiges of primitive America. Scenic River Areas – Those rivers or sections of rivers that are free of impoundments, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. Recreational River Areas – Those rivers or sections of rivers that are readily accessible by road or railroad, that may have some development along their shorelines, and that may have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past. https://www.rivers.gov/about
Been shocking streams in Atlanta the past few weeks. Here are some (shitty) pics of some of what’s been collected. Spoiler Red shiners Southern studfish Blacktail shiner Chattahoochee bass (color a bit bleached from shocking/light colored bucket) Black crappie Intergrade spotted sunfish
A few more Spoiler Largemouth bass Warmouth Black-banded darters Alabama hogsucker Bluefin stoneroller Alabama bass
They typically do, as well as red on the caudal, anal, and soft dorsal. Like I said, this one was super bleached from shocking plus spending some time in a light-colored bucket. We collected it ~100m upstream of a confluence with the mainstem Hooch in a very rocky shoal. Field ID leaned towards M. chattahoochae but we ended up keeping it for further laboratory ID to count lateral line scales, etc. Also sent a fin clip to UGA to see if it could be a hybrid with a shoal bass. All the bass splitting has gotten to the point where I keep a laminated cheat sheet for ID in my field bag lol. Habitat shot
Looks like good territory for them. Was just asking since I've been learning a lot about the redeye and had a lot of discussions with the SC DNR specialist on them.
No, I'm just messing with the Bartram's. One of the guides at the fly shop has done it this year though.
Explored a new area today. First choice ended up requiring 4wd that I didn't come in, so went to the second option.
Well yesterday was my final trip until probably December or January. Exclusively deep dropped. Left at 4:30AM got back at about 7:30-8pm. Woke up at 2:30, at the dock at 4:15, launched at 4:35. Running in the pitch black on radar and charts. The pogies were so thick that when we were passing Horn Island you could see them jumping out of the prop wash in the blue underwater lights by the hundreds. Pretty nice run to the Ludwig Pinnacles which is 100 miles south east of Ocean Springs. It’s a bunch of rocky bottom and pinnacles in 400-600 feet. We fished that hard. Caught some snowy grouper , the 2 biggest long tail sea bass I’ve ever seen, and I caught my first ever golden tilefish. We found a beeliner hole that was a beeliner every drop as soon as you hit bottom in like 350 feet. We caught 40 of those which was our limit. Then we went to a spot where the old Beer Can floater used to be in 1500 feet on a dome. They removed it last year. We fished the bottom for the hell of it but nothing doing. Then ran to some bottom spots west and finished out the day. Caught a 10# snowie grouper there.
I will be in Bolivia to target Dorado in less than two weeks. This is probably the most excited I've ever been for a fishing trip. 7 days of fishing on Rio Secure and Rio Negra. I've tied about 30 large streamers (4" to 7") in preparation.
Speaking of tying, had another TU tying night. Junk flies (eggs and mop flies). I've never used or tied them before. Will probably save them for when I take my girls or my wife.
Went out for several hours two nights ago. Listened to a beaver work and smack the water a few times. Walked the bank throwing a chatterbait. Caught two within 3 casts at one point and none after that. Went back out before dark yesterday for 30 minutes. Saw my beaver buddy and hooked a small bass in a spot I targeted which is always fun.
August has been slow for me but my youngest keeps slaying gills and even caught a painted turtle the other day so it evens out.