Slow start, strong finish at Black Hat

Aug 29 2021

Stephen Ford

Fingerling

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
71

Reservation Number : 29520
Property Name : Black Hat
Reservation Date : 08/28/2021 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 21/ up to just over 3lbs
Lures Used : Some topwater on the edges but mostly slower soft baits around aerators

I had the pleasure of fishing with member Josh Massoud on Saturday. He might have a more detailed report.

We started off with very little action on topwater as the sun came up. We landed one on a prop bait and missed a couple of frog strikes.  After that it was dead for a while until we discovered some action around the aerators. There were shad and bluegill surrounding a few aerators, so we worked those thoroughly with Texas rigs, wacky rigs and soft swimbaits. We would get 2-3 bass on each then move to the next giving each time to recover and gain more bass in the vicinity before returning. 
We tried the shallow areas around the islands, but vegetation limited our presentations and boat positioning. Josh was finally able to get that elusive frog bite in the south corner opposite the boat ramp as we gave it a few tries between aerator fishing. 
We both landed a couple around 3lbs. We harvested 7 of 21.  A few of the bass were very healthy but several were quite skinny. 
We called it a day around 4:00. Overall it was a good day of fishing, but the bites we got were certainly earned. Nothing came easy on this summer day. 
It is always fun to meet up with another person who shares your interest and bounce ideas and thoughts on techniques around while enjoying a day not being at work.

Aug 29 2021

Joshua Massoud

Keeper

Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
487

Really enjoyed fishing with you and you have a great pontoon boat that made it very comfortable. Let’s do it again soon! I think you summed up the day nicely – here is what I’d add:

  1. The .75lb-1.5lb fish continues to be very thin (was same as when I fished last time) – the culls we made really needed to be culled. This class of fish looks like they hang in deeper water as they are white compared to the shallower fish which were thicker and darker (indicating they hang in the upper water column. 
  2. There is ample forage so I don’t quite get why they are thin – we saw thousands up thoasands of shad on the aeroraters and in the shallows along with bluegill, etc. 
  3. The water clarity was about a foot, 1.5ft, windy, and water was 87 iirc. 
  4. The fish liked a downsized presentation for the most part – most of my fish were on a wacky rig or ned rig.  A relatively small swimbait was the ticket on your end. I know that you caught a few on a larger worm.
  5. When the wind picked up, the fishing seemed better on average.  I caught two non-aerorator fish when that happened, but it made it hard to stay in one spot. 
  6. Continue to be astounded by lakes that I’ve fished multiple times being drastically different each time – I’ve caught 2, nearly 30, and then 8 or so on that lake at different times and the conditions were different each time (rainy, sunny and clear, partly cloudy and windy).  
  7. My struggles on low vis water continue to persist but it seems to get a bit better each time but that is a me problem not a lake problem.