July 27 2011 – Joe Pool Lake – Loyd Park

Launched my yak around 7am and the first thing I noticed were some new orange/white low water markers going all the way to walnut creek. The area behind the marker in the picture below is normally covered with about three feet of water all the way back to the trees.  There is an area leading to the creek that is only about one foot deep.  My paddles were hitting the bottom as a passed through.

The gills were smaller than the ones I normally catch, but I caught 27 of them, so I didn’t mind too much.  Since the small gills could not take down the popper on my fly rod, I switched to my spinning reel with some pink Berkeley Gulp maggots on a small #4 hook and bobber.  Caught all of them close to the bank under the trees.

Caught one bass on the popper fly, and one bass with the white road runner.  I didn’t catch anything today with my texas rigged plastic worm today.

Caught two small mudcats and one small channel cat on the Gulp maggots.

Ran into TFF user  rg6942 in his canoe again.  He was catching bluegills with his fly rod.

Crept up on two carp in the shallows and threw my black wooly bugger in front of them, behind them, and on top of them.  No takers.

I hid in the shade while the sun was out, and managed to stay until just after 3pm.  It was 102 degrees, but I couldn’t feel it because I was hiding under the trees.

Totals: 2 bass, 2 mudcats, 1 channel cat, and 27 panfish. (bluegills,greenies,etc.)

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July 19, 2011 – White Rock Creek

 Put my yak in at the mockingbird bridge and went up the creek looking for bluegills.  Had to go about a quarter mile before I even got a bite.  Caught most of the fish on small grubs attached to a bobber.  Only caught three on the fly rod, one on a black bugger, one on a white bugger, and one on a black/chartreuse spider.

I threw everything in my fly box, but I couldn’t get these fish to hit it consistently.  They attacked the grub every time I threw one out. Caught 24 fish total.  I didn’t get too hot because I tied up really close to a shaded bank.

Saw another yakker who said he caught  6 bass down by the loop 12 bridge.  I was happy with the gills, so I didn’t go down that far.

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July 18, 2011 – Joe Pool Lake

 Planned to go across the lake and fish the big treeline at loyd park, but there was too much wind at 7 in the morning.  I did not feel like fighting waves today.  So off to Walnut creek I went.  Water was 88 – 90 degrees, getting lower, and more stumps are popping up everywhere.  I hit two on the way to the creek.

The bite was slower than ever. My normal bluegill spots only gave me two greenies today.  I kept finding small bass sitting where the bluegills normally are.   Two bluegills and one bass were caught on the black wooly bugger using the fly rod. . Three bass and another mud cat were caught on a green plastic worm.  I left the cat in the net, removed the hook and released it. Finally, I did not get finned by a catfish.

Apparently I need to learn how to catch crappie, since they were popping all around me eating minnows.  I tried a road runner, a minnow jig, then both together in a dual jig and still nothing.  I tried fishing them just below the water and on the bottom and did not get a bite.  Anyone know how to catch crappies that are chasing minnows, let me know.  (Using artificials of course.)

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