Hookey

Cedar Creek Reservoir

Time: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Air Temperature: 63 - 82 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 582.63 - High
Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny, warm.  Winds Variable 3-10 mph.

I called Kyle last night and he also though it was a good idea to skip work and go fishing, so we did. 

Recent patterns showed that the fish really seemed to pick up as the day warmed.  We tried a couple typical shallow spots, but it was a little slow, so we worked some deeper structure early and decided to revisit shallows a little later in the day.  Kyle pulled a couple giant slabs out of the deep water.  The water in general was up a couple feet from recent weather patterns, so some new areas were good options for fishing today.  We had exceptional luck in the back of a southern bay where spring fed water was coming in.  After lunch, we fished around the road levee near Britton Bridge and also had exceptional luck there and along the back bay in that area.  We were catch good, frequent fish in the rear around 1.5 feed deep.  As the bays warmed, it was spawn crappie fishing at its best. It overall was an excellent day, even if it did start off a little slow.  Ended the day with 20 keepers with a the biggest being 13.25" and weighing 1.25#.  It was the first time Kyle and I had a chance to catch up in quite some time and it was a great time all the way around.  

"Eric!!?? Sgo fishing!"

Time: 7 AM - 1:00 PM
Air Temperature: 65 - 84 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 83 degrees
Lake Level: 555.82' - 31,152 cfps - Perfect conditions
Weather Conditions: Light winds, variable 3-6 mph

Kyle twisted my arm on Friday to go fishing on Saturday morning.  Ok, it didn't take much twisting... I just needed an excuse...

We did a repeat trip of what Joe and I did the prior weekend.  We launched at the house and put out 10 jugs on the flats in front of my house baited with a mix of chicken gizzards and cut shad.  We placed the other 10 out by the mouth of Mallard Creek.  We then headed to the nuclear plant to fish rod and reels.

As soon as I dropped line, I was pulling in a channel cat.  Fishing was a little slow, but I managed to catch 4 cats around the boil line across the channel.  We ran back fished the jugs and pulled in a nice fat blue clocking in near 20 lbs and another smaller channel.  The blue was bigger than the pictures made it appear.

We went back to the plant to the intake gates and I pulled in another good fish.  Soon after, we ran the other set of jugs and then headed to Lucy's Branch for fuel. We ran across to the bluffs and bounced bottom there and I picked up another fish, but it was slow and starting to get hot.  We decided to call it a day and headed back to pick up jugs.  I think we picked up 3 more cats on jugs to finish the day with 6 rod and reel cats and 5 jug cats.  Kyle took home a great big goose egg and I'm going to trash talk and remind him for a little while 😂.

It's been 2 years since we did this last and we had a blast.  Need to get out there together more often.

Location: Browns Ferry - Wheeler Lake - Alabama

Time: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Air Temperature: 75-85ish degrees
Water Temperature: 86 degrees in boils
Lake Level: 555.85'
Weather Conditions: South - South West 7 mph.  Hot, but good weather.

Catfishing with Kyle Macomber.  Had trouble catching good baitfish again today.  All shad were very small.  Caught 1 gizzard shad for bait in over 1 hour of trying.

Got to Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant at 9AM and fished the discharge water in 32'-37' of water.  Fished the drop off of the underwater gas line.  Depth changes from 24' to 32' fast.  Fished with shad and also raw shrimp.  Kyle caught one stripper.  We bounced bottom for about 2 hours and 40 minutes and caught 15 catfish.  Biting and striking upwards much of the time.  Mostly blues, but some channels.  Shrimp did just as good as shad.  Had trolling motor trouble, so left early because couldn't troll anymore.  Overall good day!