Pete Marino
07-15-2014, 12:08 PM
Okay so my family, and a couple other friends families decided to head out to Lake Skinner this past weekend for a change of pace and scenery for a weekend of campng and fishing from the shore. We all elected to leave our boats at home and just beat the bank in search of the green bass that inhabit the waters of lake skinner.
So we arrive at the lake on Friday early afternoon and get a look at the lake. I had never been there so I didn't know what to expect.
Upon looking at the lake I quickly realized that the shore access was pretty limited because a lot of the lake is surrounded with tullies and what shoreline that was available for shore anglers had long slow tapering banks that lead way out before the shoreline dropped off into deeper water... I knew that catching fish may be a challenge from shore this time of year..
But as always, I couldn't wait to step up to the challenge and give it a shot... So once camp was made we headed out to see what we could find. Because of the time of day (about 3pm) I didn't expect much action but we had to try anyways because that's what we do.
So we head to an area my buddy has fished before and it looked great.. It had a major point where the wind was howling. The area we mainly fished was calm and because the point formed an "eddy" in the area we were fishing...The bank was deeper then most and had a REALLY nice area of grass in 12-17 ft of water.
Once down to the spot after a short walk I opted to throw an Alabama rig on the windy side of the point. One buddy was also throwing an Alabama rig around the eddy side and our other buddy opted to fish slow and throw a senko out to the grassy area in deeper water..
We all fished hard for about an hour with only one bite and that came on my buddies Alabama rig but the fish didn't hook up...
I then started to switch it up and alternate between a topwater bait and the Alabama rig...no love...
Then about 5pm the wind started to calm down some and that's when things started to happen.
My buddy Doug was throwing the senko in the same area we had just fished for the last 2 hours. He made a cast and "Tick"..he gets bit and crosses its eyes.. "There are really fish in this lake"!!!! As he lips a little 1 1/2 lb bass...hey a bass is a bass...we don't care the size we just wanted to catch one.
That's all I needed to see to switch back to the senko and I start throwing it... within minutes.."tick" and I set the hook and lip a 1 1/2 lber of my own. "They are in this grass and Have been", I say... we just need to fish it harder now that they are starting to bite.
Then Doug gets bit again and has the bass almost to the shore and its a nice oe between 3-4 lbs. He plays it to the bank and in a last ditch effort it surges to the bushes and breaks him off...hahahahahahaaha... :LOL:
So he reties and continues casting.. and then he sets the hook again and brings a 2lber to the bank...again on the senko.
A few minutes later I get bit and it steals my senko...noooooo...:Embarrassed: So I put a new bait on and cast out and boom I set the hook and land another 2 lber of my own.. Then I get bit again and it too stole my senko.... About then we decided to head back and start fresh the next day.. Fishing wasnt easy but we managed 4 keepers, 1 lost good one and 2 missed bites..not bad overall for never being at the lake before and having to fish from shore during the worst time of day.. We actually left when they were beginning to bite but we had to get back to start the BBQs and make some dinner. So back to camp we went.
Once there we started the BBQs and made some killer burgers and hung out the rest of the night eating laughing sitting around the campfire drinking some ice cold Shock Tops, rum and coke and an assortment of other mixed drinks.. The plan was to go fishing bright and early the next day but we didn't call it a night until 230am so nobody thought we'd be up at first light. Nobody except for me, I should say...hahaha So we went to bed at 2:30 and I set my alarm for 5:15am...BUT as I do on every morning I go fishing I woke up before the alarm..in this case I woke up at 4:30...hahaha So I got up and started the campfire before I woke up Doug and James..hahahah The look on Dougs face when I shined my flash light in his eyes and shook him to get up after a mere 2 hours sleep was priceless!!!:Envious::Envious: LOL.. Hey when It comes to fishing Im as hardcore as they get!! lol
Little did I know we couldn't even fish until 6am... Dohhhhhh.......:Confused: oh well..we had a quick breakfast and headed out to the lake at 6am...
Our plan was to try a new spot in a completely different area. Which in hindsight was a mistake..hahaha The area we tried was tough...long sloping bank no deeper water until wayyyy out past our casts.... It made fishing tough to say the least. We fished for about 2 hours and the only fish that was caught was from Doug who managed to catch a 1 1/2 lb suicide bass. lol
So we headed back to make breakfast for the camp of 11 people.. It was pretty awesome by the way.. After breakfast we decided to head back out and fish some before it got too hot.... So we did and It sucked as I was the only one to put one on the scoreboard with a 1 1/2 lber. This lake is not so easy from the bank.. we were all wishing we would have brought one of our boats because we knew what we needed to throw and where to throw it, the problem was we couldn't get to the right water because the shoreline was so limited. To get bite we need to be casting to 12-17 ft of water over the deep grass and the areas like that accessible from shore were very limited..
So once it got hot we headed back with the plan to try later..
Then around 4 pm we headed back out and started walking looking for the right stuff...and we walked...and we walked...and we walked...hahaha (Note to self, never leave my boat at home again)...lol... On the afternoon trip I managed 3 more keepers and Doug and Barry each got one...
In total...
Friday-
I caught 2 and missed 2
Doug Lost 1 and caught 2
Saturday.
I caught 4 and missed one
Barry caught 1
Doug caught 2.
All of our fish were caught in 12-17ft of water on steeper banks with deep water access...and the other key was GRASS... the fish are in the deeper grass...plain and simple.
Overall it was tough fishing but it was fun..no we didn't catch a bunch but 1/2 of fishing is who your fishing with... and fishing with Doug, James and Barry was a blast...
here are just a couple pictures from Friday night..
Dougs first keeper of the trip
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/10553357_782434975120543_1849156816002593318_n.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/10553357_782434975120543_1849156816002593318_n.jpg .html)
My first keeper of the trip..
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/10514694_782435191787188_2233590603880034371_n.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/10514694_782435191787188_2233590603880034371_n.jpg .html)
Pete:Cool:
So we arrive at the lake on Friday early afternoon and get a look at the lake. I had never been there so I didn't know what to expect.
Upon looking at the lake I quickly realized that the shore access was pretty limited because a lot of the lake is surrounded with tullies and what shoreline that was available for shore anglers had long slow tapering banks that lead way out before the shoreline dropped off into deeper water... I knew that catching fish may be a challenge from shore this time of year..
But as always, I couldn't wait to step up to the challenge and give it a shot... So once camp was made we headed out to see what we could find. Because of the time of day (about 3pm) I didn't expect much action but we had to try anyways because that's what we do.
So we head to an area my buddy has fished before and it looked great.. It had a major point where the wind was howling. The area we mainly fished was calm and because the point formed an "eddy" in the area we were fishing...The bank was deeper then most and had a REALLY nice area of grass in 12-17 ft of water.
Once down to the spot after a short walk I opted to throw an Alabama rig on the windy side of the point. One buddy was also throwing an Alabama rig around the eddy side and our other buddy opted to fish slow and throw a senko out to the grassy area in deeper water..
We all fished hard for about an hour with only one bite and that came on my buddies Alabama rig but the fish didn't hook up...
I then started to switch it up and alternate between a topwater bait and the Alabama rig...no love...
Then about 5pm the wind started to calm down some and that's when things started to happen.
My buddy Doug was throwing the senko in the same area we had just fished for the last 2 hours. He made a cast and "Tick"..he gets bit and crosses its eyes.. "There are really fish in this lake"!!!! As he lips a little 1 1/2 lb bass...hey a bass is a bass...we don't care the size we just wanted to catch one.
That's all I needed to see to switch back to the senko and I start throwing it... within minutes.."tick" and I set the hook and lip a 1 1/2 lber of my own. "They are in this grass and Have been", I say... we just need to fish it harder now that they are starting to bite.
Then Doug gets bit again and has the bass almost to the shore and its a nice oe between 3-4 lbs. He plays it to the bank and in a last ditch effort it surges to the bushes and breaks him off...hahahahahahaaha... :LOL:
So he reties and continues casting.. and then he sets the hook again and brings a 2lber to the bank...again on the senko.
A few minutes later I get bit and it steals my senko...noooooo...:Embarrassed: So I put a new bait on and cast out and boom I set the hook and land another 2 lber of my own.. Then I get bit again and it too stole my senko.... About then we decided to head back and start fresh the next day.. Fishing wasnt easy but we managed 4 keepers, 1 lost good one and 2 missed bites..not bad overall for never being at the lake before and having to fish from shore during the worst time of day.. We actually left when they were beginning to bite but we had to get back to start the BBQs and make some dinner. So back to camp we went.
Once there we started the BBQs and made some killer burgers and hung out the rest of the night eating laughing sitting around the campfire drinking some ice cold Shock Tops, rum and coke and an assortment of other mixed drinks.. The plan was to go fishing bright and early the next day but we didn't call it a night until 230am so nobody thought we'd be up at first light. Nobody except for me, I should say...hahaha So we went to bed at 2:30 and I set my alarm for 5:15am...BUT as I do on every morning I go fishing I woke up before the alarm..in this case I woke up at 4:30...hahaha So I got up and started the campfire before I woke up Doug and James..hahahah The look on Dougs face when I shined my flash light in his eyes and shook him to get up after a mere 2 hours sleep was priceless!!!:Envious::Envious: LOL.. Hey when It comes to fishing Im as hardcore as they get!! lol
Little did I know we couldn't even fish until 6am... Dohhhhhh.......:Confused: oh well..we had a quick breakfast and headed out to the lake at 6am...
Our plan was to try a new spot in a completely different area. Which in hindsight was a mistake..hahaha The area we tried was tough...long sloping bank no deeper water until wayyyy out past our casts.... It made fishing tough to say the least. We fished for about 2 hours and the only fish that was caught was from Doug who managed to catch a 1 1/2 lb suicide bass. lol
So we headed back to make breakfast for the camp of 11 people.. It was pretty awesome by the way.. After breakfast we decided to head back out and fish some before it got too hot.... So we did and It sucked as I was the only one to put one on the scoreboard with a 1 1/2 lber. This lake is not so easy from the bank.. we were all wishing we would have brought one of our boats because we knew what we needed to throw and where to throw it, the problem was we couldn't get to the right water because the shoreline was so limited. To get bite we need to be casting to 12-17 ft of water over the deep grass and the areas like that accessible from shore were very limited..
So once it got hot we headed back with the plan to try later..
Then around 4 pm we headed back out and started walking looking for the right stuff...and we walked...and we walked...and we walked...hahaha (Note to self, never leave my boat at home again)...lol... On the afternoon trip I managed 3 more keepers and Doug and Barry each got one...
In total...
Friday-
I caught 2 and missed 2
Doug Lost 1 and caught 2
Saturday.
I caught 4 and missed one
Barry caught 1
Doug caught 2.
All of our fish were caught in 12-17ft of water on steeper banks with deep water access...and the other key was GRASS... the fish are in the deeper grass...plain and simple.
Overall it was tough fishing but it was fun..no we didn't catch a bunch but 1/2 of fishing is who your fishing with... and fishing with Doug, James and Barry was a blast...
here are just a couple pictures from Friday night..
Dougs first keeper of the trip
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/10553357_782434975120543_1849156816002593318_n.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/10553357_782434975120543_1849156816002593318_n.jpg .html)
My first keeper of the trip..
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd134/TeamMarino/10514694_782435191787188_2233590603880034371_n.jpg (http://s221.photobucket.com/user/TeamMarino/media/10514694_782435191787188_2233590603880034371_n.jpg .html)
Pete:Cool: