Buggs Island
9/10/11 thru 9/11/11
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The lake level was at 296 feet which appeared to be about 4 feet below normal.
Water Clarity was slightly stained
Water temperature 82 degrees
Air temperature 68 - 72 degrees
We put in at the Island Cr. launch site at 7 p.m. and headed toward Goat Island. We went through a small channel that was only about 2 feet deep and when the water depth started to go down again we turned right and started fishing in about 15 feet of water. It was still daylight and all we had to fish with was the chicken tenders that I had marinated in garlic powder. Before I had all my lines in the water David and Big D already had a couple in the boat. After those first two fish the bite really turned off. Big D brought some carp fillets that we started using after it got dark. The bite got better after dark but it still wasn't near as good as what we were looking for. Big D put a light down to the water and attracted some shad around the boat and we threw a net out and caught about thirty of those. From then on we knew what the catfish really wanted. We cut the shad into pieces and that was what we used most of the night. The bite started to slow down around 3 a.m. so we moved and while we were moving we picked up a large school of Stripers. We anchored down and started fishing again. This time I was positioned where I had to throw out into the deeper water and where the Stripers were located. It wasn't long before I had a Striper in the boat but it was too small to keep (approx. 18 -20 inches). Sometime around 5 a.m. I caught a Drum which was about 18 - 20 inches in length so we kept it. We stayed put for the rest of the night and managed to catch over thirty catfish. We never made it over to Goat Island but we were directly across the main channel from it and our trip turned out to be a very successful one. We caught a total of 31 catfish, 1 striper and 1 drum.
Water Clarity was slightly stained
Water temperature 82 degrees
Air temperature 68 - 72 degrees
We put in at the Island Cr. launch site at 7 p.m. and headed toward Goat Island. We went through a small channel that was only about 2 feet deep and when the water depth started to go down again we turned right and started fishing in about 15 feet of water. It was still daylight and all we had to fish with was the chicken tenders that I had marinated in garlic powder. Before I had all my lines in the water David and Big D already had a couple in the boat. After those first two fish the bite really turned off. Big D brought some carp fillets that we started using after it got dark. The bite got better after dark but it still wasn't near as good as what we were looking for. Big D put a light down to the water and attracted some shad around the boat and we threw a net out and caught about thirty of those. From then on we knew what the catfish really wanted. We cut the shad into pieces and that was what we used most of the night. The bite started to slow down around 3 a.m. so we moved and while we were moving we picked up a large school of Stripers. We anchored down and started fishing again. This time I was positioned where I had to throw out into the deeper water and where the Stripers were located. It wasn't long before I had a Striper in the boat but it was too small to keep (approx. 18 -20 inches). Sometime around 5 a.m. I caught a Drum which was about 18 - 20 inches in length so we kept it. We stayed put for the rest of the night and managed to catch over thirty catfish. We never made it over to Goat Island but we were directly across the main channel from it and our trip turned out to be a very successful one. We caught a total of 31 catfish, 1 striper and 1 drum.
