By Dickelsby Finn
Recently, the Angler staff had the pleasure of joining Captain Billy Wheeler for an early morning trip at Lake Oconee to see if we could benefit from all the spawning going on by the dam. Yep, the stripers and the hybrids were all there egg [roe] dropping while an enormous amount of shad were visiting for the same purpose. Of course the shad will reproduce while the big fish just go through the motions.
Enough of the marine biology stuff, let’s meet Capt Billy! He is a great guy who is a great bundle of energy catching bait, putting out rods, attaching terminal tackle, baiting hooks and sweeping up fish brought to the side of the boat with some very athletic netting techniques! This guy is all over the boat like it was his own personal elliptical machine. Also along for the adventure was Bob Rice, Atlanta Angler Publisher and special guest Matt Selke, Head Honcho at Pinnacle Credit Union.
Matt is enjoying some really good results from his decision to use The Angler Magazine to spread the word about helping folks finance their boats and recreational vehicles that help make the great outdoors so meaningful. Give them a call if you would like to explore your finance options, 706-485-2039 for the Lake Oconee group and 404-888-1648 for the Atlanta office.
Back to catching fish. We are now heading over toward the dam with all lines trolling at different depths and different sized baits. We are closing in on the rock lined bank where the birds are swooping down capturing the unfortunate surface dwelling shad. The excitement began with the rig nearest Matt .The rod was bending over almost double as he deftly lifted it out from the holder, and then began the great fun you have when fishing with a pro. The fight was terrific before finally a beautiful hybrid was thrashing about in the net and went directly to the photo-op in the front of the boat.
Little time elapsed before the wonderful process was again repeated by Bob Rice. Then another with your humble correspondent getting into the act! Holy Hybrid Batman!! This was some terrific action! There was a short break in the fish catching as we moved about trolling at different depths and adding two planer boards.
The next ginourmous hit [don’t look it up] was Matt back in play with a great fight with a large toothy garfish. Capt. Billy quickly had a loud conversation with the intruder who was immediately asked to leave! Then boom it happened again! These large gars are pretty scary looking and ruin a lot of tackle, but Mother Nature put them there to make it interesting for humans who think they are into a glorious fighting striper!
In just a few minutes a large crappie hit our bait….looks like we are into a seafood platter! And then a nice catfish was added to complete the dish! Yikes this is great fishing and you can easily become part of the crew by contacting Captain Billy Wheeler at his website www.gonefishingstriper.com His phone is 706-914-9859 or 706 444-6365. He also guides some at Lake Sinclair and is thinking about “noodling” trips for large catfish which are abundant in both lakes.
Another neat thing about fishing with Captain Billy is the great tunes he plays during the trip on his ‘Serious Radio’…Ok it is not spelled that way but that’s the way it sounds and I have to admit my experience with 50’s music just made everything more entertaining for me especially when it came to identifying the artists……Trivia Karaoke anyone?
In closing, we would like to invite any of you business leaders who would like to attract more new customers to your business to contact us at 404-427-3286 or Dickg@theanglermagazine.com