Time: 5:00 PM - 2:00 AM
Air Temperature: 90 Degrees
Water Temperature: 85 Degrees
Air Temperature: 90 Degrees
Water Temperature: 85 Degrees
Lake Level:
Weather Conditions: Slight to Moderate winds from the south.
Fished with Doug and Douglas Ainsworth tonight. I got there early to try to catch live bluegill to use to target flatheads. I fished blown over tops with worms and a bobber and managed to catch 14 with Doug’s wife, Shirley.
Douglas dropped 16 jugs at dark along the south shore of Wheeler with fresh cut shad. I dropped 6 along the north west bend then we headed to 2nd creek to drop the rest. We went north of the boat landing at 2nd Creek and dropped 8 more jugs in 8-12 feet of water as the creek narrowed just before the bend. All of these had live bluegill on the bottom hook and cut shad on the top. We dropped 6 more off the rocky point out from the boat landing and baited these the same way and returned to Wheeler.
After a couple hours, we checked my first 6 in wheeler and found a 4 ft long gar, but no cats. We ran back to 2nd Creek and ran the group of 8. We caught one nice blue and found one jug had run away from the others. When we pulled it, it had been tangled over and over around a sunken tree. We managed to pull the entire tree up and untangle it. I can only imagine a flathead did this. We ran the other group of six and caught one more small cat. We also found one more jug had a broken line.
We headed back to Wheeler and pulled Douglas’s jugs. We caught one more small cat. We found 15 of the sixteen pretty easily. We were watching the last one in the spotlight as it was pulled under and it never came back up. It had to have been a big fish. We searched for a good while but never found it.
Overall, it was a blast and a good learning experience for nighttime jug fishing. I think I would repeat the bluegill tactic next time, but concentrate a little more around the creeks and fallen structure. Will definitely do it again soon!
Fished with Doug and Douglas Ainsworth tonight. I got there early to try to catch live bluegill to use to target flatheads. I fished blown over tops with worms and a bobber and managed to catch 14 with Doug’s wife, Shirley.
Douglas dropped 16 jugs at dark along the south shore of Wheeler with fresh cut shad. I dropped 6 along the north west bend then we headed to 2nd creek to drop the rest. We went north of the boat landing at 2nd Creek and dropped 8 more jugs in 8-12 feet of water as the creek narrowed just before the bend. All of these had live bluegill on the bottom hook and cut shad on the top. We dropped 6 more off the rocky point out from the boat landing and baited these the same way and returned to Wheeler.
After a couple hours, we checked my first 6 in wheeler and found a 4 ft long gar, but no cats. We ran back to 2nd Creek and ran the group of 8. We caught one nice blue and found one jug had run away from the others. When we pulled it, it had been tangled over and over around a sunken tree. We managed to pull the entire tree up and untangle it. I can only imagine a flathead did this. We ran the other group of six and caught one more small cat. We also found one more jug had a broken line.
We headed back to Wheeler and pulled Douglas’s jugs. We caught one more small cat. We found 15 of the sixteen pretty easily. We were watching the last one in the spotlight as it was pulled under and it never came back up. It had to have been a big fish. We searched for a good while but never found it.
Overall, it was a blast and a good learning experience for nighttime jug fishing. I think I would repeat the bluegill tactic next time, but concentrate a little more around the creeks and fallen structure. Will definitely do it again soon!
