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View Full Version : Trout fishing was Berry Berry at Lake Wohlford!!



etucker1959
02-26-2018, 07:21 AM
In the Lake Wohlford Press release, I commented I thought trout fishing and the weather would be good this Sunday. I was sorta right and very wrong on my prediction. The trout fishing was excellent for us!!! (with 3 consecutive weeks of trout plants and cooler weather this lake was set to explode!!!) It did and it was a 1 stop shop for limits of good quality trout for us with a 2-3 lbs average size. Where I missed the mark was the morning weather forecast. It was a nice sunny day with temperatures reaching the high 60's. Why things went terribly wrong was the wind forecast. (it was suppose to be 7 mph at 9:00 am and peaking at 9 mph at noon and dwindling all afternoon) When we arrived at 9:30 am the wind was blowing double digits!!! With the forecast for it to get worse it looked like it might be unfishable. (that's my private boater experience talking when I used primarily my trolling motor for power) Then after I calmed down from the shock of all that wind. I realized we had a powerful gas motor on the rental boats and the wind was suppose to calm down in the afternoon.

So I had to come up with a workable plan on the spot. I told Phil let's drive down to the East end of the lake and take a look at the wind by the reeds. We got down there and saw the reeds made a bit of a wind break so anchoring would be very possible at that location. The last couple of trips that was the hot area anyway and if Phil didn't mind pulling the anchor a few times we were in business. So we made that our plan and we went back and purchased our fishing permits and boat rental. As soon as we bought our permits the wind kicked up another notch but we were pot committed at that time. (going for broke) As we got down to the boat dock a couple of people came in and obviously were calling it a day. It didn't help our confidence of us making the right decision, when the boat dock attendant told us he might have to call in all the boats for safety reasons if the wind got any worse. On a positive note the boats were all in the right places to indicate the fish were biting. Boat Dock Cove had several boats in it and there was several Fly fishing boats all around the last air ratter in the East end. Even the misc tourist boats were in at least area's that might look to be holding fish.

On to the fishing!!

So as we were motoring down toward the East end of the lake the wind started to calm down, even to the point you might be able to drift it. So as I approached the Buoy's, Phil asked if we could anchor for a couple of minutes so he could rig up before we started drifting. I said, sure and we threw our anchor out right above the second to the last Buoy on the South East corner of the lake. After Phil finished rigging up, he told me he was ready to pull the anchor and we could start drifting. I told him "not so fast" we are in a pretty good spot and my superstitious fishing nature took over. I told him, "let's make a few casts here" and wouldn't we be total fools, if by chance we landed on the Mother load of trout and we just drove away. Guess what??? I caught a fish on my first cast, not even 3 minutes after I threw it in. Hmm I thought, we did catch a lot of fish this year right before the buoy's. (that's right where we are at) I told Phil, "let's give it 15 minutes to see if we get another bite." 5 minutes later, I did get another good bite and missed it. 5 minutes later I hook and land another fish. I think we are on to something here!!! The wind was still blowing a bit, so anchoring up still made a lot of sense, but also my fishing experience was kicking in. You never leave, "Biting fish to find fish!!" So we weren't going anywhere!!! Besides no one else even caught a fish in the other boats fishing around us.

Let's go over our rigs again because there was a slight variance when we are anchored. Same standard Green Garlic Power bait (aka Rainbow P/B with a lot of green in it) and dipped in Bite on Garlic. Because we are anchored, "Mice Tails" worked good too!!! (Orange body with a green head was working good for Phil and make sure you dip them in garlic) Mice Tails don't seem to work as well when drifting. A medium size split shot is all you need for weight. You can just cast your bait's out and just let them sit there. Or cast them out and slowly work them back to the boat. I started doing that and getting bit a little better then just letting them sit there. Eventually the wind backed off pretty nicely and we could drift, but every time I said, "let's give this another 15 minutes to catch a fish or we'll move," we caught another fish. In a little over 3 hours we were all limited out on trout. (we never even drifted at all for them) We landed 10, lost 2 and missed 4 bites. The size of these fish were nice and very hard fighting!!! We did try for some catfish and got no love at all!!!

In the afternoon the weather was perfect. Sunny sky's and just the right amount of wind. Another boat was drifting the East end and was catching some fish. But the other boats we saw were struggling a bit. If you go down there after reading one of my reports. You should catch some fish, if you follow the tips I give out. I apologize to anyone who read my inaccurate prediction about the morning weather. But if you stuck it out, it did turn out to be a very nice day weather wise and fish wise, if you knew what you were doing!!!

This coming week there will be no trout stocking and some rain is predicted. (so be wise if you decide to go) However, with 3 consecutive weeks of trout stockings. There is still a ton of them in there. So if I can find a weather window, "I might go again."

Tight lines till the next time.