Smithville 10/9, 10/11, and 10/12

[APKape]

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve been on CDC. Work’s been keeping me busy and away from the lake. But, I’m back. I’ve taken a couple of days off, chucked the cell phone in the desk drawer, and hit the lake for best sport ever created.

On to the report….

Friday: I got off work last at 2:00 and hit the lake around 3:00. I fished the brush pile next to the public beach (Area 1) till it got dark. I caught a bunch of fish, but only managed to get about 6 keepers. The temp was around 60 I believe and the water was around that temp too. I fished with 1.5” black/chart and blue/chart jigs with 1/16 oz heads. The piles are in 18’ of water and the tops are 15’ down.

I always know fall’s hit when I see the waterfowl start showing up. I snapped a picture of a huge flock of ducks that stretched from middle of the cove next to where I was fishing into the middle of the lake. They were some funny looking birds. They were jet back ducks with orange bills. Not sure what they were, but the flock was impressive.

[APKape]

Saturday: The wind kicked up and the day was cold. I didn’t make it out that day.

Sunday: The wind was blowing and it was colder than Saturday. I gotta tell ya, making my way to that days spot was colder than a well digger’s arse. The day was in the upper 40’s, wind was around 10+ mph from the NE, and the water was below 60. I hit the brush piles around Camp Branch and did pretty good. I caught 12 keeps all over 10”. I caught one monster black crappie. He was just under a pound. I don’t know about you guys, but I think those blacks put up much more of a fight than the whites. He was fun to land. I fished with 1.5” black/chart and blue/chart jigs with 1/16 oz heads. The piles here are in 15’ of water and the tops are 11’ down. I know my maps show three piles on the north side of the ripraps, but there are more.

I have to say that I’ve been really pleased with the brush piles around Camp Branch. I think they hold more fish than the other brush piles on the lake. I hope they put a lot more Christmas tree piles there next year.

[APKape]

Monday: Today was tough. The day started out cold, lower 40’s, no wind, and the water was 55. I started out at the brush pile next to the Visitor’s Center by the dam (Area 1). This pile is 25’ deep and tops are 20’ down. I caught only two small crappies here. I didn’t stay here long. I changed a couple of sensitivity setting on my fish finder and could not make out any distinctive fish reading. I’m not sure, but I don’t thing there was much at this spot today.

I headed toward a brush pile that I’ve seen other guys at during the year. This spot is at the mouth of the lake where you can head up to Camp Branch (Area 2). This spot produced more and larger fish than Area 1, but it was not very good. This pile is in 14’ of water and the tops are high, 11’ down; learned that the hard way by loosing two sets of hooks. If you guys try this spot be careful. It gets shallow real quick. On the way to Area 2, I noticed a lot of gulls and ducks enjoying one of Smithville’s new ripraps. There were a ton of bird. Watch where you step!

[APKape]

After Area 2 was a bust, I headed toward the W Bridge and brush pile in the cove to the NE of it (Area 3 and 4). I can’t say much for these spots either. There was nothing. I talked to a couple of guys fishing the bridge. They were not catching much and the fish were small. They were using purple/white and black/chrt tubes.

I headed south to try the cove just north of Sail Boat Cove (Area 5). I fished the trees at the mouth of the cove all in about 20’ of water. Not much was going on here either, only caught 4 dinks. I passed a guy fishing on the other side of the cove and he wasn’t doing any good either.

[APKape]

My next stop was the brush piles at Camp Branch that I hit Sunday. I only fished the pile on the north side of the ripraps. This was the best spot of the day. I caught about 30 or so fish and landed 4 large fish. I was using 1.5” blue/chart and black/chart jigs. I switched to 2” jigs to see if I could weed out the smaller fish, but that made the bite stop. I switched back to the 1.5” jigs, then the bite was back on (what a bunch of picky fish). I pointed the nose of my boat to kind of show you the general direction of the piles.

I passed a couple of guys fishing the bridge to see how they were doing. The guys on the left (east side of the bridge) weren’t doing so hot. They were catching small fish on minnows. The guy on the right said he did pretty well on black/chart jigs.

Well, that’s about it for today. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, you know where I’ll be. Hope to hear how the rest of you guys are doing – post a report.

[Pole Bender]

Your reports are very detailed and informative to read nice job.

[Speck]

Great report!!! Like the maps also

[olesilverside]

Sure like the warm weather outfit you got on, that is when it gets good and divides the stay iners from the get outers.......:D

[wildhunter066]

Once again excellent report and pics! I have never fished smithville but if i do i think i would no my way around from all your reports.

[Wknd Warrior]

Excellent report! Thanks. I need to get up to Smithville soon.

We were up by Smithville on Saturday morning training our dogs. It would have been a miserable day on the water. Cold and windy.