Carters, Second Night Run

Well the good news is the weather did not blow us off the lake this time..
the bad news is it was just about a skunk...

We " me and my daughter" hit the lake at dark set up in the same standing timber as last time" where we got one before the storm ran us off ", from there till midnight we watched the huge amount of bait swim circles around the boat.. but no bites:cool:..

We pulled the trigger and moved out to a wind driven main lake point that I had markes on the gps the first trip to see what was going on out there.. We got our only fish of the trip a 1/2lb channel cat.. There was not the bait out there but you could here the fish feeding all around us with no luck.. We packed it up this morning at 4:00 and headed to the house tired and beat...

OK,
We where drounding minnows "and a couple of worms" about 6-12ft down in the light and the edges, some rigged with 1/16 cappie jigs of different colors, some rigged with gold alberdeen hooks with a split shot 6-10" above them..hooked through the eyes..
Both places had some standing timber that I was hopeing to pull fish out of..
I was using two 100w halogen lights about three ft below the boat on each end and a floresent light on the other side of the boat in the middle, and they where pulling good bait... the first spot had about 25 ft under the boat, the second there was 15 ft below the boat,, and if you are not familure with Carters, its all insainly deep so these where shallow spots...
My question am I doing something wrong or was it just a bad night???
Bad night I can handle but when you are learning, it tought to figure out if its the night, or you, messing up..

Thanks for following along
and any tips welcome..
PJ

puddle jumper,
you said you was fishing 6ft. to 12ft down,ok how deep of water was in?reason for question lets say you are in 20 fow :i would have one pole all the way down just off bottom ,one rod lets say 15ft another rod 10ft and another
a 5ft. see what produces a bite and if you get more at that depth move your rods all to around that depth.now remember its hot now at least in south carolina it is and the fish don't like it hot either what you might want to try is go out at lets say 3am. and fish until sun up and see if that don't change your
luck.i just notice you said you had your split shot 10inches above the minnow thats a no!no!
but heck no!!!only put that split shot about 2inches to three inches above the hook you don't want that minnow to have that much free room to run.

strmwalker

you said you could hera them feding . that means they wer shallow . you had your bait below the fish probabley .i would think 2 to 3 ft.would be the depth to have your bait

I used to fish Carters for bass but never for crappie, I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination but, I tend to look for some sort of change like a depth change or a change from rocks to clay something that makes me say what was that on my depth finder, but if I don't get a bite in 15 to 30 minutes its time to move on. I look at it like this I can not catch fish in my bed just as easy as in my boat. I'd say you might want to try Toona it can't be much futher than carters from you, there are plenty of good places to fish with in 10 to 20 minutes of bartow county park ramp/Gatewood I'd be more than happy to turn you on to some of the places I fish on that end of the lake.


Mike

Ive never seen anyone night fish for them up on Carters, Im wondering if there is a reason why nobody does it now...I KNOW THERE ARE SOME MONSTERS UP THERE, so if I can figure them out I might have them to myself, anyways thats my thinking,,,
Thanks for the advise while I was sitting there I was wondering how long to give it before trying a different spot,,
Mike ,I was going to try Little River Bridge, one night soon if I didnt get anywhere on Carters, I just like that lake but man I cant seem to catch any fish up there, I was also hopeing for some bonus walleyes if I got into the fish...Thanks for the offer I might take you up on that if I dont have a breakthrough, my daughter is 13 and she hung in there like a trooper with me last night but I know she really wants to catch some fish...
and thanks for the help guys..
PJ

the fish are probabley there you have to figure them out. Carter is a small lake like blacksher . probabley more deep water than blacksher . blacksher is a hard lake to fish but the one that have figured it out likes it . there is a lot of big fish there and some have learned it and cough some big ones there .some have tried 2 or 3 times and gave it up and still drive 100 to 150 miles to catch fish for the # while on the way cross a lake that will produce less but larger fish .i say stick to your home lake and be the king of catching crappie on it when you Lear it . remember it is fishing not catching .crappie is a hard fish to catch and it takes a lot of patients

puddle jumper I will give this a shot.Be advised that it has been many years since I night fished on Carters.

We would put in at Doll Mt. and go up river,(Coosawattee),pretty soon you will come out of the deep water into about 40 ft of water. When the lake narrows into the old river channel you should be be in 20 to 25 feet of water with a lot of standing timber on the right looking up stream. The fish can't move as much as they can the main lake with all the deep water close by.

Woodring and Doll Mt. are just across the lake from each other. I don't know where you are launching from but i would think Woodring would be a easier launch, you need to be part mountain goat to put in at Doll Mt.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by papasage

remember it is fishing not catching .

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Funny,
I told Peanut "my daughter" the same thing last night...I just like to keep her interested,,, ive got several more spots farther up the lake to try before I give it up,, I know there are fish there, ive got a friend who catches 2lb fish durring the spawn, its just a matter of learning where they hang out after the water gets hot...will the fish hang in open deep water??,ive been targeting structure becouse I figure my odds are highest there...
PJ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gajud

puddle jumper I will give this a shot.Be advised that it has been many years since I night fished on Carters.

We would put in at Doll Mt. and go up river,(Coosawattee),pretty soon you will come out of the deep water into about 40 ft of water. When the lake narrows into the old river channel you should be be in 20 to 25 feet of water with a lot of standing timber on the right looking up stream. The fish can't move as much as they can the main lake with all the deep water close by.

Woodring and Doll Mt. are just across the lake from each other. I don't know where you are launching from but i would think Woodring would be a easier launch, you need to be part mountain goat to put in at Doll Mt.

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Thanks,
Im putting in at the dam but its not a bad run up to where you are talking about.. one of the places im still going to try is where the two waterfalls are in the standing timber just past the straightaway you mentioned...
I know the lake prity good just not how to catch fish on it.. Man its a tough lake...
Thanks brother..
PJ