Thread: Lake Talquin

First, let me say thanks again to those who responded to me last month when I was looking for an update on Lake Talquin. I had not fished it in about 3 years or longer and my crappie skills are way down hill. What was shared tuned out to be somewhat like my experience fishing there a few days ago. Got away from crappie and have been working the Choctawhatchee River here in the Panhandle for bream/shellcrackers and catfish for the past few years.

Anyway, returned home yesterday after three days at Lake Talquin Lodge. The weather was first class for fishermen, but not so good for the bite. With water temperature 68 this was probably a contributing factor for mediocre 'catching'. The locals and folks with cabins at LTL were able to catch fish and we did a little as well. However, I did not see or hear about any big numbers.

We fished pretty much the whole time in the general Goat Island/Bell Lake area. That’s where about a dozen boats went each morning as well as a couple of guides. One thing I noticed. At least where we fished there were not all that many marks on the Garmin. What fish we saw were scattered all over the place and the concentration/schools were very small compared to what I expected. We just did not see the fish like I remember from past trips. We didn’t fish it much but even the channel seemed lacking on seeing very many. I wonder if it was due to the time of year, water conditions, or what?

There were a couple of guides working out of marina and we were able to chat with one at the landing. On a half day trip his clients were able to boat 31. It took his skills and bank of 16 inch screens with Live Scope to do that. This was a pleasant little visit with a pro and we enjoyed looking over his boat setup, and especially his secret weapon attached to two power poles on the back of his boat. I have never seen trolling motors rigged up like that.

After several years of just talking and thinking about it my buddy and I went looking for Little River. This was a first time and we got there hitting only one snag at low speed. We did better coming out. I was surprised at the water depth and sure want to seriously fish it before long. We were tied up fishing catfish when a lone fisherman came puttering by in a Carolina Skiff J14 rigged out to the hilt for crappie fishing. His setup looking like a ‘Rube Goldberg” design with a focus on catching fish. I wish we could have gotten a closer look and talked to the guy about what all he had.

Incidentally, here on my home waters all the rivers in the panhandle are extremely low. My river, the Choctawhatchee, there are many miles of hazardous conditions. Snags and sandbars are everywhere. Some boat ramps can’t be used and those that can you better be careful and not drop off and hang the trailer. However, the bite has been exceptional for many weeks and a lot bream/shellcrackers, catfish, and bass have been taken to the house. This week looks like maybe we will get a little rain and it sure is needed.

Haven’t posted in a long time so this one is a ‘catch-up’.

Sounds like fun to me.