Lake Hartwell Striped Bass Report (1-17-2010)

water temp 42-43 degrees – air temp 55 – sunny – day after rain and Low pressure – no wind

Started up coneross creek near bridge. Marked excellant bait between COC 10 and bridge. Pulled unbrella rigs from first light till 9:00. No takers. Ran up river to S 80 just before bridge. Bait and birds scattered all around large flat , on the elbow. Managed one on unbrella rigs. Later slowed down and jigged several large bait balls with mega bait 2 oz and 3 oz spoons and with dropshot. Once fish showed on scope we caught one that went 9 pounds. Left by 10:30.

Hartwell Striper and (the one and only) Todd

Ran up Tugaloo River all the way to Choestoea Creek meets river, just looking around and not expecting to see anything. No bait and no birds so don’t waste your time.

Capt. Frank Askew

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Lake Jocassee Smallmouth Fishing with Up-Close Outfitters (1-15-10)

water temp = 47 / stable weather / calm wind / sunny / 55 degrees

No charters today so fished for fun. Ran looking for Smallmouth today. Fished main lake points, bluffs and creek channels using jigs, tube baits and suspending jerkbaits. Would of thought it was a perfect day for jerkbaits but never got touched. Found excellant school of big bass where th Toxaway and Horsepasture meet. With the South wind a small current was created on the North side the of small Islands where the main river narrowns. Managed 3 nice smallmouth and 2 largemouths of off sloping point on backside of island. All fish were over 2 pounds with 3 being in the 3-4 pound range. Fish were positioned in 14-25 foot of water. Fished a small green tube on a 1/8 jig head on 6 pound test. Fished all day with no bites except this fortunate school of bass.

Two For the Fryer

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Lake Hartwell Guided Striper Fishing Report (1-13-2010)

Water Temp 46 – Air temp 47 – Wind Calm – Day After Small Low

Started near the Denver Recreation Area about 9:30. Marked good bait with several nice arcs between Centerville Road and the old Bridge at the mouth of a creek. Trolled large threadfin and trout on top with one at 20 foot. Spoke with another boat in the area and he said he managed 5-6 the day before at the same creek mouth. Tried jigging spoons when fish were marked heavily. Ran back to senica around Oconee point. Trolled unbrella rigs in 40 foot of water at 10-20 feet deep. Marked real good bait and some fish. Managed two fish off of unbrella rigs. The first went 14 and the second went 12 pounds. Moved up river past Martins Creek and fished large flat @ 40 foot of water before Cherrys Crossing. There is a large ridge that runs down the middle of the river just before the bridge, in the bend. Look for bait stacked up on either side. Marked real good bait with birds but no bites. Overall the day was slow but did manage some nice fish.

Tip: With water temp below 50 the stripers get real pickey. Sometimes it takes a fast moving unbrella rig to trigger a strike. Balloons and planer boards with small baits will sometimes get bit as the fish curse the shallows feeding on small herring.

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Capt. Frank Askew

Hunting Western NC National Forest THE PISGAH

UP-CLOSE OUTFITTER

Up-Close Outfitters is the ONLY Federally Permitted guide business to hunt the Pisgah National Forest. They scout and hunt a combined 56,481 acres of forest. These areas include: Farlow Gap/Daniel Ridge, Lickstone, Cathys Creek, Balsam Grove/Quebec, and some of the Hatchery, and Davidon River areas. Our mapping and scouting are crucial to our hunting success.

Deep water tactics for bass and trout on Lake Jocassee

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12-20-09 Lake Jocassee Guided Trout Fishing

Sunny / water temp 54 degrees / air temp low 40s / Day after record breaking snow storm / wind 15-20 kts

Fished with old fishing buddy Todd Plating out of Greer SC. Ran N up Toxaway River to where creeks meet and form Ys. Scouted out for a while with the sonar and marked on the GPS several good bait balls. Bait has moved out from the back of creeks so focused on 90-100 foot contours. Drop shotted finesse and gulp minnows to manage several nice browns over 17 inches. Also jigged mega bait spoons in 90 foot to produce about a dozen bass and 30, give or take, trout. Cold but had a good time.

Cold but the Brown Trout still bite!

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12-17-09 Lake Jocassee SC Trophy Trout DEEP

Jocassee at it's best

water temp 44 / air temp 43 / Partly sunny / Day before large winter front

Started S of Fisher Knob up Devels creek. Marked some bait toward back so trolled sutton spoons on downriggers at various depths (25-75 feet). No takers so ran up Toxaway to troll channel near forest point. Managed one stocker over tree at 60 feet. Moved up Horsepasture and marked numerous bait balls toward the back. The bait has moved out from the very back a good bit. As the water cools even more the shad should migrate to the main lake. Look around 400 yds from the back of the creeks. Marked 5 balls in about 80-95 foot of water. Fished bait starting with the shallowest. Managed several bass and trout on mega bait jigging spoon. Noticed bait and fish suspended off bottom so switched to drop shot with 6 foot leader between weight and lure. Fished Gulp minnows in smoke color. Gulp was a perfect immitation of the shad and the bite was on. Managed 50 plus trout with a dozen or so bass all caught from 90 feet. Several nice 15 plus trout and one over 21 inches.

Tip:

Mark bait while motoring up creeks on your GPS. Vertical fish just below balls with baitfish immitations. Blade baits, jigs, and dropshots work great for this. Start shallow and move deep. Once bite slows you have two options. 1) Speed presentation up or raise bait to level of arcs on your echo sounder. 2) Alternate between ballls of bait. Then come back to original and the bite should be on again.

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Capt. Frank Askew
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12-14-09 Lake Fontana Deep Bass and Walleye Fishing Report

water temp 52 degrees / air temp 45 / between rains / wind 5 kts

Great bait located near mile marker 84 to the bridge pilings up the little Tenn. Balls suspended between points in about 45-50 foot of water. Vertical jigging produced with three 3 pound largemouth. Alot of people fishing the train bridge, especially when the current is pushing. Walleye can be jigged using rapalla jigs up to 100 foot. White bass and walleye have been staging off of Forney Creek point in 65-100 foot of water. White bass are stacked in about 50-65 foot with walleye usually under these. These fish are eating 1 inch shad so match bait accordinally. Rapalla jigs produced 3 walleye at 85-90 foot of water with the biggest at 20 inches. No takers on drop shots or spoons.

Grubs worked deep in 25-35 foot of water on rock transitions and 45 degee slopes have been producing good numbers of smallmouth. Bump or swim the lure slowly along the bottom. Hits are often very light so set the hook on any detection of a bite. As the water cools presentations are going to have to slow down, sometime 10-15 min per retrieve to trigger a strike. Often the Float and Fly will become the presentation of choice in the comming months.

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Capt. Frank Askew
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12-10-09 December Striper Report For Hartwell Lake

water temp 51 / 15 mph wind / overcast / low 50s high temp

Started up Senica early near Oconee with a group out of Greenville SC. Fished from the beach to Coneross hwy. Marked real good bait with some arcs mixed in. Water was real muddy from rain in the previous days. Fished for 1 hours with no bites. Ran unbrella rigs and live bait. Several boats working with one fish seen caught on unbrella rig. Ran up to Martins creek. Fished flat near secondary cove that had 5-6 bait balls. Managed 5-6 hybrids and one striper. Left the bite in search of bigger fish. Marked good bait from bridge in to 1/2 way back creek. Fished the entire length with on takers. Fished large threadfinn and bluebacks at 20 and 35 feet with flatlines. 1/0 gamakatsu hooks and #6 trebble hooks used as stingers were tied to the 1/0 gamakatsu and positioned about 2 inches behind the tail on the larger threadfin (6-7 inch fish), six pound floro used since no trees were present. When fishing trees we bump up to 14-20 pound floro. Later fished the back 1/3 of Camp creek with no takers. Fished the creek channel where bait was marked using downriggers.

Tip: This time of year, with water temp around 51, you really have to be patient and sit on them. Wait for that magic hour. Once good bait and fish are marked be patient. Downrods and downriggers in 30-35 feet will produce!

Good Luck Fishing
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12-4-09 Striper Fishing Report Hartwell

water temp 57 degrees /just before strong cold front / air temp 51, overcast / wind 10 mph

Mark and Bryce with Hartwell striper

Searched for bait several hours before clients arrived. Most bait has moved up to the end of the rivers. Found great scattered bait between Coneross Creek Road and Oconee Point up Senica with some off the beach. Bait was stacked in there. Water was muddy from 3 inches of rain the day before. Figured the striped bass had been pushed south from the dirty water. Some acitve stripers still hung around. Managed several fish right off the start, missed 3 or 4. Sparce fish marked around the River Channel near Glen Ferry landing up the Tugalo. No real bait pods suspended in the river but larger fish were marked, never fished it. Marked 5-6 larger pods of bait off of Todd’s points and managed 4 more stripers with several 8 pounders mixed in. No bird activity to speak of.

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