12-26-11 Had a couple of hours this afternoon so started about 2:30 at Lemmons Br. Have been trolling and jigging lately so started off looking for fishable schools. After about an hour of looking and not finding decided to try something different. Went across from point 9 to some points and marked a few fish, but never more than one or two, so tried a fnf off the bank and then a crankbait with no luck. Switched to a small fluke on an eighth oz head and put her 30 feet deep. Took forever for it to get to bottom, but then just bounce it back out to 50-60 feet and at some point you'd feel that tick, just like a crappie. Had time to fish three points and caught 10 fish with 3 then 3 then 4 off consecutive points. Couple of nice fish with equal numbers of spots and smallies. Hooked and lost half again that many, would just lose feel of jig and couldn't catch up for a good hookset. Was good to cast to fish for a change so will plan on this for the next couple of trips. Never saw any bait schools, must be down lake. Water at 55 deg. and it's come back up a few feet. Later, Capt. James
153 Charters
Capt. James McManus
Capt. James McManus
BLOG.153CHARTERS.COM
1-1-12 Fontana
1-1-12 Fontana Just had a couple of hours, but like to get that first of the year fish out of the way early. Beautiful day with a little wind, but went to point 9 and with the wind so strong decided to troll and they are still in the general area and still finding them deep. Just hit a couple of points and had some nice spots and no walleye this time. Water 52 deg. with most fish showing 60 to 70 feet. Here's to a great 2012 for everyone! Happy New Years!
12-26-11 Fontana
12-17-11 Fontana
12-17-11 Fontana
Had a trip with three guys from Black Mtn. Children's Home and was hoping to wear them out. Instead the front pushed through the night before and the fish shut down. Marked plenty of fish around the junction of Tsali and caught a few, but nothing like we've been catching. Mike, Richard and Tom and I had a beautiful day with some lost along with those boated, but that's just the way some days go. Still most fish showing at 70-80 feet, may head to the lower lake next trip, but it is hard when you are marking lots of fish. Smallies may be more cooperative than the spots and walleye, just haven.t targeted them lately.
12-15-11 Fontana
12-15-11 Fontana Weather continues to be mild, so took friend , mild-mannered John to try for some walleye. Fish are moving, but when you find them they are bunched up. We started at Lemmons Br. and checked out Alarka, then Greasy Br. then on to the Tuck and found fish at Forney Ck. Several boats working the area, so we trolled a bit with no luck and realized we had forgotten the sandwiches, so back to the landing and a start over. This time saw a fish break just past Tsali and that is all it took. Find the bait and find the fish..... all the fish. Caught spots chasing schools deep, smallies chasing schools against the bank and whites and walleye deep, below the pods on the surface. Keep your eyes open and when you see even one break, check out the area good. Fish weren't quite as eager to bite as they have been, but still ended up with a nice mess, and a Fontana slam. John is mild mannered til he gets on fish, then he loosens the clerical collar and you don't want to be a finned creature. Most fish still at 60-70 feet and water at 56 deg. Later Capt. James
12-7-11 Fontana
12-7-11 Fontana walleye
12-7-11 Couldn't work because of the rain and didn't have a trip so decided to don the rain suit and hit the lake for a few hours. From Lemmons Br. barely got on plane and saw a few whites busting so stopped and started marking fish in 80 feet of water mostly in the channel where Alarka comes in. Put out the trolling rigs and the fish were really cooperative. Would get a white or walleye almost every pass. Fish stayed in an area the size of a baseball infield and if you got outside of that there was only the occasional bait pod. After catching some trolling stopped and got some jigging ice jigs. Tried jigging 3 or 4 spoon types, several colors of ice jigs and until I put on a brook trout colored jig got nothing. They were dialed in to that one color, period. Wind picked up and blew snow for a while, but those eyes will warm from within so took a mess home to fry up. Several of the fish had pretty well defined egg sacks so may spawn early, don't know a lot about their biology, but they were pretty well filled out. Later, capt. James
12-3-11
12-3-11 Fontana is still hot as a pistol. There are schools of fish in a
lot of places right now. The only thing is that you have to be willing
to fish deep for them. Left Lemmon Br. and stopped in the middle of
Greasy Br. flats first and the schools of shad were thick around 70
feet, scattered all around the flat with schools of spots mixed in.
Moved to the Tuck and after a few stops found massive schools of fish
from the surface down to 85 feet with most biting at 75. There were
smallies, spots and whites all mixed in, and the easiest way to get them
is to troll with small crankbaits. Stopped and tried jigging for a
minute, but didn't have the patience to stay with it seemed they were
moving around and trolling was the best way to stay on them. Have fished
way deeper lately than I ever have and there are just so many fish deep
it's been fun. Later Capt. James
12-2-11 Lanier
12-2-11 Lanier Had a trip with Ethan and Tom to the big pond on Friday. Wonderful day after the fog lifted, We pulled baits, mostly trout along small flats near the channel of the Chattahoochee. Didn't catch huge numbers, but had some nice fish. Ethan did a great job landing fish, the largest striper wrapped up another line, went around the trolling motor,and Ethan stepped in a 5-gal bucket of water but still landed the fish. Had worried about the cold front that blew through, but wasn't as big a deal as feared. Am tickled Ethan got his first spot and some nice stripes. Everyone should have a granddad like Tom. Later Capt. James
11-21-11 Fontana
11-21-11 Fontana Had a couple of hours to kill this afternoon so headed to the river junction to find some eyes. Terrible lightning storm, so after hunkering down against a shoreline for half an hour finally started fishing about 3 and tried jigging them. Fish are still deep, last week up the Tuck they were 30-40 feet, but they were 80 here and a good bit bigger, 2.5 lb whites were mixed with the walleye. Biggest eye was 24", pic makes him look skinnier than he actually was. Had to pull out the trolling gear with white Rapala jerkbaits the ticket. Had fat spots hitting small baits on top the whole time. They are as good as seagulls pointing out bait. They are sometimes harder to catch while they are on these small shad, but you know other fish are below them. Been using Crappie Pro 8' spinning rods for downrigger rods and that makes for some fun fishing. This is a great time to be out on the lake, before the real cold gets here. Later Capt. James
11-19-11 Hartwell
11-19-11 Hartwell Took Marty and his son Evan to Hartwell again for some stripers. They have been elusive for me and with a cold front just through didn't get too excited about our prospects. Couple of tournaments going on which is a good thing, more eyes, more fish. The problem is that they have been catching all the big fish on trout and they had scarfed up all the bait. We were left with herring and arties to throw. Found a few scattered fish, Coneross was loaded with fish and boats but we didn't get any big boys, lost a couple at the boat on an umbrella, but ended up spooning Marty a mess of white perch for a frybaby. Had one really nice greenie, so ended up with a pretty good day, just need more time on the lake to zero in on them. Should be better and better as time marches on. Later Capt. James
11-7-11 Fontana
11-7-11 Fontana Had John and Dick who's from Beaufort SC today and they hit Fontana on a beautiful day. Leaves are still pretty, deep reds left on the oaks, little wind and the fish are starting to bite real good. Went up the Tuck and the whites are still thick there. Caught fish from 65-20 feet, depending where you were. Flats are still the ticket, but channels next to them are also loaded and the deeper fish are generally bigger. Still not the giant ones we used to get here, but seem to be on the upswing. Had several spots and a smallie, but good numbers of whites. Trolled for most fish, still not much on top, so the best is still to come. Tried to find some walleye and just couldn't get them to bite, so we stuck with the whitey's most of the day. Water temp. is 63-65, but the wind is real cool early in the AM. Later Capt. James
