By Ronnie Parris
Hey folks, I hope all is well with you and yours. Loving these cooler mornings and so are the fish. Most of our mountain lakes are fishing great and were catching really nice messes of fish. Key to a good catch now is finding the right combination to fill the live well.
First and foremost is to pick the best lake an sometimes it’s gonna depend on timing If it’s a busy weekend day for example I’m not gonna fish a lake that’s gonna be loaded with jet skis and tubers I’m gonna pick one of our less known lakes for some relaxing fishing and not fighting the waked from pleasure boaters. Next I’m gonna figure out where the best water temperature is going to be an keep in mind this may be as little as 1or 2 degrees, but it makes a huge difference.
Figure out what the fish you’re seeing are feeding on and match that pattern as best as you can, be it live bait or artificial. On the trip with the picture included this is exactly what I did. The first and best thing I did was included my beautiful wife as my fishing partner on this day. We hit the waters at daylight so as to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and less boat traffic. I already knew from a recent trip where these schools were located and within a couple minutes we were both hooked up. Penny struck first with a nice largemouth bass and I followed right behind with a beautiful yellow perch.
As the morning went, on we continued to boat a good number of perch largemouth red eyed rock bass and 1 nice walleye penny was able to grab. On this trip the water was staying 78.1 in most of the lake, but I had found a section with temperatures ranging around 76 to 77 and it was loaded with good underwater cover and lots of bait fish. The Garmin live scope was priceless on this trip as the small schools were constantly moving and we had to be ready to put our bait’s which were live minnows and wasp nest larvae right in front of the moving schools to capitalize on the bite. The morning bite was fast and enjoyable until about 10am when the first jet ski appeared around the bend followed by a wake boat. That’s when we decided we were ready to head back home.
Arriving at the boat ramp I was confronted by one my pet peeves. At this ramp there was only 2 launches and as we arrived, one had a boat pulling out the other had a flatbed trailer with a canoe occupied. The 2 guys kept that lane closed for at least 25 minutes, lazily walking around, strapping it down while stopping to talk and changing out of their hip waders and checking the back seat. For what I don’t know. Meanwhile, boats trying to launch and load had to wait for the other ramp to open.
Folks please don’t be that person. Get your boat ready while you’re out of the way and quickly launch or load and move out of everyone’s way before strapping it down and stowing equipment for the ride home. Don’t make someone stand baking in the hot sun waiting on you to get out of the way. Common courtesy goes a long way. Well, I’m done ranting— as always, get the kids on the water, be safe and build memories.
Ronnie Parris is owner and head guide of Smoky Mountain Outdoors Unlimited-Fontana Lake Fishing Guides, headquartered in Bryson City, N.C., www.smokymountainoutdoorsunlimited.com; (828) 488-9711.