Fishing 7/31

[Angler13]

Fished Sunday night for approx. 2 hours. Walked the shore line between the day ramp and the office boat dock.

Caught 5 bass. 2 were keepers. Got my first three (dinks) on a green Senko. Then, got my first keeper slow rolling a spinner bait around 8PM. Caught my 2nd really nice Smallmouth this year on a white Terminator mini buzzbait (3.0 lb) as the park was closing.

For some reason, I kept running into these two boats. Each time I moved to a new spot they would show up a few minutes later and stop and fish right in front of me - about 30 feet from shore. It was obivous that I was casting farther than where they stopped. Accidentally, I almost hit this one guy in the head with a spinner. Unfortunately I missed. I have no problem with boats fishing near me, but this was way too close. Just because I'm not on a boat doesn't mean etiquette doesn't apply.

[TomM]

So did they back off when you almost knocked him out? LOL

I fished a few hours both Friday evening and Saturday evening. Caught six on Friday fishing the grass edges way back near where the road is. Three on a j-n-pig and three on a t-rigged 4" worm, only one keeper outta the bunch. Saturday I fished the other end of the lake, down by the dam and I went fishless until around 8:15 when I tied on a pop-r. I proceeded to catch 5 fish, lost one at the boat and had 3 other fish miss the bait, all in about a half hour. These were all dinks, some close, but NOTHING beats a few fish on a top water!

Tom

[teb67gt]

I fish from shore and most of the time I find that boaters are very respectful of "personal space" when fishing. Likewie, if I am working a shorline and find that I am heading towards a boat coming my way, I will get out and move below them or to another spot. Of course, if you fish often, you are bound to come across people who do not respect others when fishing, and they will just come right up to you. I find a few close casts beyond them sends a pretty good message.

I have also been doing mostly topwater fishing there now, and a have been getting a good amount of hits, with maybe 50/50 hookup ratio. No monsters, but I agree...nothing beats a fish on top.

[Bob Dole]

I have to tell you I fish from the shore or shallow water (wading) quite regularly on Marsh.

Most of the time boaters have complete disregard for other people fishing. In few instances they went right thru my line (had to pull it out quickly otherwise I would lose it).

Other times they'll pull up to the spot where I was casting and start casting their own lines right in front of me. Come on people, have a little bit of respect! The lake is really big, and if you're on the boat there are plenty of places you can go that I can't in my waders.

bob

[Angler13]

Don't get me wrong. I'd rather fish from a boat, and when I do, I treat shore fishermen with the same respect I give to boaters.

The boat from last night finally took off after about 15 minutes, and I wasn't going to move until they did - even thought I wanted to move to a better spot.

Yeah, topwater fishing absolutely rocks. The majority of fish I've caught this year on top were either Largemouth Dinks or Big Smallies. Just last night, I had a small LM hit my buzzbait so hard that the lure shot up about 2 feet. He must have smashed his head right into the lead head. I was expecting to see a bass floating in the water from the knockout.