# SS report 4-1-10, Mr. Jim goes fishing with us below the dam.



## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Mr. Jim went fishing with Lee and me below the dam to cash in before the crowds start in on the white bass and cat fish. Which should be about tomorrow evening sports fans. We had a great time fishing was excellent, and the wind not too bad below the dam, I bet the lake is rolling big today!








We caught shad and went over to the spot where I had such good luck the day before and it was not long before everyone was slinging big, mean, hard fighting white bass into the boat.
I started using jigs and could do pretty good, the fish were smaller than the monster roe laden sows that would bite the live shad. So I went back to using it soon.
We caught our fill and had little room in the cooler all ready for cats, so we went towards the middle of the river and had to try several spots before we did any good. Then Jim, who is BTW a friend of Sunbeams and runs the Beacon Bay Marina on week ends, started dropping blue cats in the boat faster than both Lee and me could catch them. 
Soon we had the cooler full and put the rest in the live well until time to go.
In the end we had 25 white bass and about a dozen nice blue cats that Jim took with him.
Jim is a very good fisherman, he caught most of the cats and his 3rd of the white bass like it wasn't his first rodeo!








Lee and me caught some more shad and went back to the spot and tore them up again. 








Big (13" to 16") and very hard fighting white bass. 
A couple of boats came around and asked if they could join the club, so after we had another cooler full of fish we left out they took over. 
I think at least one, if not both, are 2coolers and I bet they had good luck too.
We gave all the fish we caught (50 white bass and some cats) the 2nd time out to a family fishing from the bank, boy they were happy!
The white bass are all over the river, the blue cats too. It's all about finding a spot where you can get a bait to behave correctly and look natural in the strong current that the river has at this time.
Yesterday I watched two gents catch a lot of white bass down river of me using artificial lures. Not as many and not as big as the ones I caught with live shad, but they caught plenty along the weed line on the west side. 
I took notice of several schools of fish on the sonar today and think the fishing will be good with live shad anywhere with this cfs flow with enough weight. It took at least 1 and 1/2 oz to get a bait down today, I used a 2oz sinker most of the time with the live bait today. Jim caught an under sized striper today and I caught a few yesterday pretty far down stream of where the cable line is. That means there are most likely a lot of big stripers in the river and if you have enough boat you could catch them at the cable right now.
SS


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## Lone Eagle (Aug 20, 2009)

Great report and photos, SS. Thanks for the information.


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## FISHNNUTT (Oct 27, 2007)

nice catch and report SS
way to stay on em!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Great report. Nice pics too.
Jim dropped off some of those cats and WB on his way home. Awaiting the wife to get home so she can clean them. LOL Just kidding but she does want to clean the scale fish since she cooks them Asian style which means head, hide and eyeballs intact.
I bet there will be standing room only down there this week end. Well Jesus liked fishermen so I guess he won't be too mad if we skip church Easter Sunday.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Great Loy! 

And yes, the lake was rolling today, but I just had to get some break in on the new engine. The dam made a good wind break though.

2 at a time is all you got? LOL


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## Blastn & Castn (Mar 11, 2010)

Nice fishing report SS. It's hard to take all these good reports while stuck @ work... But thankful to have a job! Sunbeam tell your wife she's not the only one that loves fish Asian style. SUCH GOOD FLAVOR THAT WAY!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

My Filipino knew 20 ways to cook a fish when we married 20 years ago. She had never seen a fillet rolled in meal and deep fried.
My favorite Asia fish is in Tom Yum Goong Thai spicy and hot soup. Chunks of fish and shrimp in a nuclear seasoned both. Great on rice. Also the only thing I know that will kill crab grass.


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## SaltH2oAssassin (Jan 25, 2006)

Sunbeam said:


> My Filipino knew 20 ways to cook a fish when we married 20 years ago. She had never seen a fillet rolled in meal and deep fried.
> My favorite Asia fish is in Tom Yum Goong Thai spicy and hot soup. Chunks of fish and shrimp in a nuclear seasoned both. Great on rice. Also the only thing I know that will kill crab grass.


If you need some Vietnamese recipes for these fish, I will be glad to share. My wife is an excellent cook. Might head that way tomorrow.

Great report and pics Loy!


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

Good report Loy. As high as the lake is they may start releasing more water and that could change things a lot. I will give it a try tomorrow also.

Matt


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## obiewan57 (Sep 14, 2005)

Nice fishing, and glad you found a place out of the wind a little. Looks like fishing is hot right now. Way to go


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Sunbeam, I have a good friend who is Cajun with a Filipino wife. She cooks fish like you described and calls it "with the face on" when she istelling us how to clean it.


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## BIGJOUSH (Mar 30, 2010)

how big of anchor do you need down there, are fiberglass boats safe


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## stewman773 (Jun 19, 2009)

Thanks for the report and pictures. its going to be on at the dam this weekend, everyone be safe, that water is still flowing pretty good you can easily get into trouble if your not paying attention.


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## dbullard (Feb 13, 2008)

wtg SS,You just might turn into a pretty good fisherman !!!! LOL
I knew if you went back with your WB tackle you would tearem up.


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## bueyescowboy (Apr 10, 2005)

loy save some of them white bass for me.....
Looked like a really nice day to be catching a cooler full of fish.....
good show young man

p.s. I ain't eatin no fish thats looking back at me


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## justin-credible1982 (Sep 12, 2006)

another awesome day!


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

shadslinger said:


> Sunbeam, I have a good friend who is Cajun with a Filipino wife. She cooks fish like you described and calls it "with the face on" when she istelling us how to clean it.


Wow, another Cajun/Filipino twosome. My birth certificate was signed by a Cajun doctor in Lafayette many moons ago. Between my 10,000 country receipts and her Asian/Chinese heritage we can cook and or eat about any thing that don't get us first. The Company taught me how to eat raw python in Laos and Cambodia in the early '60s. Every thing has tasted better since then.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

Great report, good read.


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## BIGJOUSH (Mar 30, 2010)

ANY ONE GONNA ANSWER MY QUESTION


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

A big one. One that will grab the bottom. I have a couple that hold really good but when I take grown men fishin they whine like little boys when they have to pull the anchor up. I have a couple made from 5 in dia. ,thick wall steel tube and a round plate on the bottom. I made the round plate just big enough to fit in a milk crate for storage. It has been know to hold 2 boats at a time. All my anchors have a section of chain welded to them. Those metal folding anchors for saltwater will not work or I should say they usually don't work. I have seen to many boats drifting by with those. It seems like everyone out there has a different way of doing it but that is how I usually anchor. I also have some pieces of 8 in dia., thick wall steel tube that I use sometimes also. Remember, don't holler and some one will answer you !!

Matt


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I use a 25lb Ricter(sp?) anchor from Academy, kind of expensive but worth it. It does not all ways hold my boat, so I take a heavy cinder block and my son to pull them both. Getting and staying anchored is more than half the game below the dam.
Matt's gave you the best info, and I believe the grappling hook type would work well too, but I have many back problems and can't struggle with anything very heavy.
Yes it is safe to launch a fiberglass boat there, with plenty of caution, experience, and Stewman is very right, things can go terribly wrong back there very quick. 
All ways be ready with an anchor to hold if you should loose power and remember that right now and in times of high discharge the sides of the river will have a powerful back flow, or eddy current, that will take you right up to the standing roller waves and smash you in front of the gates.
Sunbeam my friend is from Caron Crow, just North of Lafayette, small world!


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## BIGJOUSH (Mar 30, 2010)

thanks guys


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## Sunbeam (Feb 24, 2009)

Anchors and their use have some simple rules that can be applied.
The primary rule is the hold power of the anchor. A danfolth, the one with the two spade point that pivot on the shank, has a holding power of about 10:1 in sand or firm mud bottoms. That means a 10 pound anchor will take 100 pounds of force to pull it free.
But that is only if the anchor line "scope" is correct. The scope in the amount of anchor line that is paid out between the boat and the anchor. Using rope or other soft line the scope should be 12:1 to the water depth. So a boat anchored in 10 feet of water should have 120 feet of anchor line. Anything less will reduce the holding force of the anchor.
If the anchor line is heavier, such as chain, the score is drastically reduced. It could be as short as 6:1 in some bottom conditions. That is why ships use chain anchor lines. Not for strength but for weight. Adding a length of chain above the anchor helps stop chaffing but also increases the holding power.
Most other anchors sold for small pleasure craft have very small holding power. Plus we fishermen never use enough line to properly set an anchor.
I for one do not like having all that line piled in the bow of the boat. Also the long scope means that the excursion is normally not acceptable to fish most honey hole. The excursion is the distance that the boat can move from side to side from the anchor point. Anchors at both bow and stern reduce the excursion.
Being old and lazy I have installed an electric winch on my pontoon. It holds 120 ft of 1/4" of kevlar line and will retrieve the 35 pound mushroom anchor at 60 ft per minute. I also have a 28 pound danforth with 10 ft of 1/2" chain and 150 ft of 3/4" kevlar as a back up or stern anchor. Like Loy's anchors, it comes with a stout 18 year old son to pull it up.

Some anchors and the holding force generated.

1. Grapple type. Will hold well it most conditions except soft bottoms. Can be very difficult to retrieve in brush or boulders.
2. Danforth. Best in sand or soft bottoms Holding force created by the weight of the soil plug above the buried flukes. Can be difficult to retrieve in brush.
3. Mushroom. This is a semi-gravity anchor. Generates force by acting as a scope against the bottom soil. These are normally very heavy anchors and require a long scope.
4. Gravity. This is the big dumb block. The unmovable object. Probably the best for any bottom at any water depth. The heavier the anchor the less scope required. Does not hang up on bottom structure easily. Cheap. But not for the weak of mind or body.


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## Kornbread (Nov 21, 2007)

I have a size 13 danforth, 4 ft of chain and 50 ft of rope, and I havnt found a place down there yet that I cant anchor my 18 ft boat.


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

I have found any anchor works better when tied to the boat, lol. I was below the dam fishing with a couple of friends who were telling the story about throwing the anchor over and not having it tied to the boat , as I did exactly that. It was a little embarrassing.


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## Mattsfishin (Aug 23, 2009)

I don't think anyone of us can't say we have not thrown an anchor over at least once without holding the end of the rope. I know I have thrown a really good anchor in and did not hold onto the end of the rope. It's just one of those things and we try not to repeat it.

Matt


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