poor spawn in S.E.

Proof is in the puddin'. As I predicted on the S.C. Board. And inquired around the region, this spring has been weird due to the rain this winter, and colder than norm. temps. The silt build-up in the upper creeks has taken it's toll. The big mommas' have laid deeper so the eggs can be fertilizred before they sink in the silt up the creeks. They adjusted. Hope you did and caught a limit of slabs. If you did with traditional patterns--- Please let me know. I'm documenting as much as poss for future ref. in my journal. Hopefully the young will survive in the deeper water. Along with added pressure of ruinin' the youngin's mouths and relealse mortality of larger fish I hope they do a later spawn in a big way to help replentish the stock in the S. E.!

I caught my share of em but not the same as in the past. Most of my fish were caught deeper. beating the banks did not work this year. I have even caught bedding males in 12 feet of water not 1-3 feet like years before

I caught ALOT of fish real shallow pulling jigs this year. I even caught alot of the hugh females as far as a mile or more UP IN THE CREEKS in 2' of water.:eek::D I couldnt troll any shallower and woulda tried throwing jigs under corks but didnt need to since I was catching plenty trolling. Might of not been that way everywhere...dunno. This is the first year I longlined and am still having a ball catching fish now in about 6-10' of water. From what I'm seeing it looks like once it warms up in the mornings the fish are migrating towards deeper water in or near the 15' range (along with the bait) so it's close to time to break out the long poles for some tightlining minnows right off the bottom.;):) If you can find 'em you can still catch 'em.;):)

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Originally Posted by team james

Proof is in the puddin'. As I predicted on the S.C. Board. And inquired around the region, this spring has been weird due to the rain this winter, and colder than norm. temps. The silt build-up in the upper creeks has taken it's toll. The big mommas' have laid deeper so the eggs can be fertilizred before they sink in the silt up the creeks. They adjusted. Hope you did and caught a limit of slabs. If you did with traditional patterns--- Please let me know. I'm documenting as much as poss for future ref. in my journal. Hopefully the young will survive in the deeper water. Along with added pressure of ruinin' the youngin's mouths and relealse mortality of larger fish I hope they do a later spawn in a big way to help replentish the stock in the S. E.!

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i am a amiture but have said that all year as no one has cought fish shallow like they have in the past years

Caught a good many fish in shallow water, but long-line trolling mostly. Only had 1 day that we caught some good ones way back up in a cove in 1-2 FOW. Used to catch a lot of fish and some big females on Russell right up on the bank throwing a jig under a cork. That bite appears to have been WAY OFF from a lot of buddies that fish that way exclusively. I just started learning to toll this year and have had a blast learning. The nite bite should be heating up, though.