Thread: Weekend Report

Started out Saturday at HD with a friend, we fished from 6 a.m. to 2p.m. Ended up with 24 keepers caught fishing minnows on a 1/16th jig and pumpkinseed and chartreuse beavertails. We fished 8-10 fow around hedge's, probably caught half on the minnows and the other half on the beavertails. If the tree was very wooly the minnow's worked better and if it was pole timber then the beavertails excelled. We caught a lot of shorts on the minnow's as well, didn't seem to catch as many shorts on the beavertails. The fish were typical HD 10-11" with a couple 12 1/2"'s mixed in.

Sunday we went down to Toronto and fished from 8:30 to 3:00. Finished up with 12 keepers a couple were around 14" with the rest in the 11-12" range. Black and pink beavertails in 8-12 fow, around 11:30 the fishing pretty much shut down on us.

What is everyone's expierence with fishing around gar? Besides occasionally hooking one, does it seem the crappie pretty much don't bite? Last two times at Toronto, places I have caught them in the past are loaded with gar and I can't buy a bite there.

We usually find those gar chasing the shad...more times than not its usually in the river channel or one of the (many) feeder channels that you find in the lake. Not to say that you won't find them in the flats and you will on occasion, but we predominately see them working over deeper water. Shad should be just about the right size now..... Have fished that lake at night during the summer and sometimes those shad are SO thick and bunched up together that it sounds like rain hitting the water.

There have been a couple times I fished for gar intentionally over at the River Pond. When nothing else will bite.... They go insane once they are hooked and some of them put on a pretty good aerial show. We have caught them mostly on inline spinners like a mepps. Some of them have been over 4' long and put up a heluva fight on light/medium tackle. Some guys really hate them, but I appreciate the fact that they are easy to find, easy to catch, and good fighters. If it's hotter than heck outside and you haven't had a bite in an hour, they sure can spice things up...:D

I don't know how they affect crappie, but the saugeyes, white bass, and catfish seem to tolerate them for the most part. Maybe crappies are more sensitive, or bite-sized to gar.

I caught four gar this weekend at LOZ in the slackwater below Truman dam. That is nothing new though. They are extremely thick there. It was fun on a 14ft crappie rod. Maybe your theory is correct, because I didn't catch many crappie.

labs they can get in thick at Pomona too....But I have not had it make too much of a difference there,....Last year there was a day when Hef and I caught over 100 fish that day and gar were all around. I even caught one of those toothy critters and he gashed open my leg as we were trying to get my jig back.

Thanks for the report Labs, I'm either going to HD or Pomona tomorrow(depending on a report from LBM & Ron @ Pomona dippin trees:D) We're you using the smaller size or the 2" beavertails? Also were you fishin individual hedge trees or hedge rows? I need all the help I can get when it comes to HD, that lake can sure be a bugaboo for me!

We took a family trip to Fall River for the weekend which did not leave much time for fishing but we did manage to squeeze in at least a few hours. We started fishing late Saturday afternoon and managed a few crappie with the biggest being 13.5". We also stumbled across a school of whites. It's fun when they hit 2 at a time. We got chased off the lake by an approaching storm with the fish biting and wife calling. The skies really opened up and I am not sure how many inches of rain we received but I know it was several. We drove by the low water crossing and watched the flash fload insue. I will try and add pictures later. Amazing that within 10 minutes water that was flowing below the road turned into a raging river carrying trees down. Speaking of floating timber I managed to run over what appeard to be at least a 3' diameter tree floating in the lake. Did not see it until I ran over it and at the time I had my wife and kid in the boat. I was not paying attention and this could have been serious. It is very easy to get into a conversation and get distracted while driving your boat. Luckily we went straight over it and it knocked the hell out of my lower unit, so hard that the cover of the motor landed in the boat after glancing my wife. No real damage other then my steering is really tight. If anyone knows where I might need to crank to fix this issue please let me know. I am unable to see an visible damage but my guess is the steering rod is bent. Had we been in a smaller boat I am convinced we could have flipped.

We tried fishing yesterday after receiving all the rain and it was slow. We caught a few more crappie but it was slow. Looking forward to heading back down there Thurday to hang out for the weekend.

I raised this question last year almost a year ago exactly. My opinion was that the crappie bite died at Pomona when the gar were active. Most everyone else said I was full of stuff.....

Originally Posted by AntiochBA

I raised this question last year almost a year ago exactly. My opinion was that the crappie bite died at Pomona when the gar were active. Most everyone else said I was full of stuff.....

In real shallow water I think it could hurt, but in 7ft or more I am not sure it really matters...the gar are on the surface and the crappie are near the bottom. Its logical to think it would push them out of them, but I have had days where it had no effect whatsoever.

Slabby we caught them on both, mostly on rows though. Also we were using the bigger beavertails.

I'm still convinced that the gar had something to do with them not biting, at least thats what I'm blaiming it on.