Non SD fish report "The Coach is missing!"

Sooooo.. Will make a short and long report. All weights and numbers are estimates (see notes for the only exception) from my own partially faulty memory. All fish taken from lake Hamilton, Arkansas unless noted. Want what few pictures I took? Scroll..

Short
Night one. Flathead 8 lb, blue 12 lb and channel catfish 17 lb.

Night two. Flathead 12 lb, blue catfish 18 lb, channel catfish 12, 15 and 18 lb. (most productive one for me by far)

Night three. Flathead 6 and 12 lb, blue catfish 12 and 15 lb.

Night four. Flathead 5 and 10 lb, blue catfish 15 lb.

Night five. Blank. Turtles were out in force, slept at the wrong time as well, had difficulty making fresh bait as well.

Night six. One enormous softshell turtle, at least 25 lb, one blue catfish at 12 lb.

Fished day six with Scott Willis of Xtreme Strike charter service on Lake Ouachita. Awesome experience with a great guide, very relaxed, yet hard working guy for damn sure. Bite was tough all over, and he still put us on great quality fish, we worked like hell for each one.

3 striped bass, including my PB at 30.5 lb. Bested my IV striper from decades ago by almost 5 lbs.

Long report.
Went to the Natural State to visit with family. Was an interesting experience for sure. Spent my evenings making bait for my night time soak on my set lines, had issues making bait the last two evenings. Ran two every night but the first (only set one the first night), a long one in shallow along the bank out to the channel, and a short off of a floating jet ski dock. Used 7/0 circle hooks on 50 lb omniflex for my sets with a big bobber to hold the bait off bottom a few inches. Spider hitch for the dock/shore loop, Palomar to the hook. No breakoffs, somehow, biggest catfish was just under 20 lb if I had to guess. The bait was just gorgeous. I frequently forget how beautiful the sunfish are in some areas of our country. Dominant "bream" (as described in the AR regulations) I caught seemed to be some kind of longear/redear hybrid. Used size 10 hooks baited with corn or bread on a 7$ wal mart special loaded with fresh 6lb omniflex for the bait fish. Very attractive fish. Fish 3 inches or less were used whole dead, anything longer was cut into chunks. I caught ZERO BLACK BASS OF ANY KIND, somehow? Not complaining at ALL. Was odd though. One afternoon, I saw micro bait getting busted on off the dock from the balcony. Grabbed a trout spinner and casted into the fray, landed maybe a half dozen yellow bass in the few minutes they were up, first time I've caught those in at least 15 years, awesome stuff. Tried soaking corn off and on, Chummed half a three pound can each morning and evening, landed no carp, buffalo or suckers of any kind, waaaahhhhhh! Grrr.. My schedule was so jam packed, I didn't have much opportunity to chase down a gar or travel east or south to chase bowfin, ah well.. Turtles were a hassle, and my last night, I caught one of the largest softshells of my life. It must have weighed at least 25 pounds, maybe 30 or 35, holy shhhhhh!

My guided trip. In one word, awesome! Haven't been on a guided trip in 22 years. This guy had a boat that we would see at a launch ramp going out to chase tuna.. Clean boat, big livewell, a great guide that followed his instincts and found the fish on a tough day. All the guides were calling each other, trying to figure the bite out on a day the stripers didn't want to commit.. Slow trolled shad were getting boiled on and beat up, the fish just wouldn't go. He checked a few different spots, looking for the bass in the standing submerged wood.. He did a hook and hand on that 30 pounder, ran me into the trees and Scott dragged him back out. Was a beautiful fish. I asked him if we could do a release and he reluctantly agreed. Kicking up the trolling motor, he dragged the toad through the water to a bit cooler spot offshore even though it was a bit warm to do a striper release, but the fish swam off to the bottom fine on the FF.. We were fishing downwind and he never came up, hope he made it.. Flylined to get two more ten lb class for so) stripers , and the wife fought one in, with a big smile when it came in the net.. Just an awesome time with a great guide..



















View attachment 92369







View attachment 92373

 

Thanks geofish , mission accomplished on that level.

Master-Baiter , thanks man.. Was a good time.

Fat Spottie , if we had stripers, the lmb crowd would begin the haterade for damn certain. Lol

ScubaLee03 and Larry M .. Those sunfish were downright beautiful.. Almost a shame to use them for bait

 

Caught one or two with some pumpkinseed blood mixed in.. Stunning fish tho

 

Thanks VinnyBass and Fishbreath , was a fun trip with plenty of bigger fish than my typical. The beautiful scenery didn't hurt any..
kyle12345 , always nice to come home and go fishing with my people.. Look forward to it..
scisports and Roncador , since I am the only fish eater when I am there, apparently, I only killed one small flathead that got messed up bad by a turtle or gar, one of the smallest blues, which swallowed a circle hook somehow, one yellow bass I gill hooked (with a trout spinner? WTF?) and the bait. Everything else went back in in good condition . No need to kill that 30 lb job (already had loads of fish to give away), when they don't even reproduce in that lake due to low oxygen levels at the time of year they spawn.. Add in the 10 some pounds of striper meat in those other two, and well...

 

Better lucky than good, if you ask me

 

Probably so.. The 160,000 a year for that lake and Hamilton each hardly seems excessive, considering the volume of water there. My guide told me they find big stripers dead on the surface when they chase shad into shallow water that isn't oxygenated enough to support the bigger fish. He told mme this sometimes kills big LMB as well

 

Well.. If you, your people or our community here ever wanted to make a trip down there and wanted some tips, I would be happy to offer some ideas.. Definitely a reasonable place to go on vacation or go stay for a season...