By Capt. James McManus
The holiday season is upon us and that means, family, football and fishing. There is no better time to be out on the water. Fish, up until the really cold days in January, are still trying to fatten up to better take on “old man winter”. Every fish I have caught lately looks as if they have eaten a baseball and the water is full of half-digested shad when they come to the surface. Not sure about other lakes but the fish in Fontana are still deep. Not sure where the bigger spots have spent the summer but they are showing up more every day.
I have been fishing around 50 to 60 feet deep lately and have noticed something that may be a key to finding the bigger spots, when they seem to have moved to another state. Find a flat that has bait all over the bottom. The areas outside points, like the entrance to Greasy Branch or the point between the Little Tennessee and the Nantahala, most have held bait that has been in schools twenty to thirty feet deep, sitting right on the bottom. Move to the outer edges and see if you can find just a hint of something on the very bottom. I have been dropping a small jig and fluke or Kitech and bouncing it around a little. Miraculously, several fish will appear and you may get a bite or two if you are quick. My thinking is that there is so much bait that the fish don’t even have to try and float to eat, they simply move over a few feet and inhale all the shad they need. After swallowing a couple down they simply float back down to the bottom and rest until that urge hits again.
This is a lot different than seeing a big school that is up in the water column as the bait is whipped around, with strings of fleeing bait lines and arches pushing and corralling as they feed. All you have to do then is get bait in front of them. These little lazy pigs do nothing but lie there. The bait isn’t even scared- it will simply be in a regimented, solid blanket across the bottom. They don’t even notice when their brethren are getting eaten because there is little fuss. You have to initiate the action. It’s like your cat or dog that’s lying in the sun after having finished a snack; if you want them to play, you have to aggravate them to even get them to move. Fish are the same, and when you do get them to come up a little you had better be on your toes because I have found they may only bite once and subtly, at that, before disappearing to the lake floor once again, bored by your presentation that didn’t even taste that real to start with. Next time, out try this trick and I am going to try and remember it next summer when all the big spots are MIA.
Well, hope all your fish and bait schools look like Halloween spider webs strung from trees with half moons all mixed in but, if not, remember this little trick; slow down, work the edges and watch that sonar for anything that may be a sleeping beauty, you can even kiss it when it comes up if you want. Later, Capt. James
Capt. James McManus is the Owner of 153 Charters. Give him a call for a great day of boat fishing!