bountyhunter
04-01-2002, 02:40 PM
any help on where to start fishing would be helpful going out 5am [no bugs then ]
Jim Corey
04-01-2002, 06:43 PM
I meant to reply to you on GFO but got sidetracked. Sorry. You are hitting Piedmont right as the Saugeyes are beginning to move uplake. There is a small percentage of the population that stays in the deeper end of the lake but the majority of the fish will begin to move up the system. The indications are that they have already begun to move. If you are launching at the Marina the area from the dam to Essex Bay has been holding fish. The numbers aren't great (we caught 8 Friday) but the average size is way up from last season at this time. Concentrate on any edge in the 16 to 25 foot range. The old roadbed down by the dam gave us 6 of our 8 Friday, with one coming in 20' just off the edge of the flat at the mouth of the Marina Bay. The other fish came in a crease where the bottom began to slope upward from 19 to 16 feet, on the right hand bank, just inside the entrance to Essex Bay. We have been trying everything possible but the lions share of our fish have been coming on small bladebaits, 3/16 and 1/4 ounce Vib-"E"s. 7 fish came on Vib-"E"s Friday and one on a jig. The Shad have disappeared from the basin; another hint everything is moving uplake. If you want to try the upper end of the lake, launch at the Reynolds Road ramp. We would have done so Friday but, following the rains and runoff, that end was nothing but mud and floating logs.