Thread: Yesterday at Lake Abel

Yesterday morning was COLD! The air was 24* and water 43* when I launched shortly after dawn. A little further down the lake, the water stabilized at 48* (upper end is shallow & still handling runoff of cold rain) and topped out at 50* later in the day.




Winter fishing's going to be lonely here--didn't see another boat all day. It's also going to be much harder to locate the fish. The summer hotspots are no longer producing, lake level is up 48"+, and the thermocline is gone (opening up everything below 25'. Now, the specks can be anywhere down to 60' deep.


Yesterday, they seemed to like 40' water, but were catchable from 6' to 18' down. I kept jigs in the water all day, but the fish seemed to prefer MINNOWs.


In addition to a few small greenies, I landed about 20 specks (including 6 keepers) up to 12.5".

It was a beautiful day/evening on the water!

Nice pics again, keep it up.

good job Cork bet it was nice to be out there with all that lake to yourself

Originally Posted by slabenomics

all that lake to yourself

Just me and the wildlife. No interesting sightings yesterday, but just after dawn I heard howling that sounded like a coyote. Does northern VA have these varmints, or were the banjos getting to me?

Nice Pics Cork. Good job on the catchin to.

Originally Posted by PaddleFishing

+48" beats wading to get the boat on and off the trailer I bet

No complaints about the extra 48". It's converted many beaver huts and laydowns from scenery to structure and kept me from wading in 43* water.

Originally Posted by fishman78

Good job on the catchin.

Nowhere near good enough, however. Yesterday was like fishing a lake for the first time. Everything I learned all summer was useless.

wouldn't be no fun if it were easy Cork.......I have found in my 44 years here that paterning fish alot easier and more fun than patterning women!!!!:D

Originally Posted by slabenomics

paterning fish alot easier and more fun than patterning women!!!!:D

True, true.

Nice report Cork!

If I had to venture a guess I would say that you probably heard a coyote, they are pretty much all over VA!

Originally Posted by Rapprunner

Nice report Cork!

If I had to venture a guess I would say that you probably heard a coyote, they are pretty much all over VA!

Four legged or two legged?