Made the command decision to go fishing Wednesday.

Mar 11, 2024, 12:20 PM

As the forecast degrades quickly heading into the weekend.

Haven't wet a line since December in Hartwell (the boat is on Hartwell, so I only fish Hartwell, for better or worse.)

I plan to take five rigs on the boat with me:
One with an Ito jerkbait.
One with a Shad Rapala #5.
One with a brown/black jig trailing a creature of some sort.
One with a Carolina Rig/blue or black finesse.
One rigged for live bait.

Is that a good overall set up?

And, are they (largemouth) shallowing up yet/going to laydowns and cover, or are they still holding to the rivers/main points?

Any tips are appreciated. I'm not much of a slayer; I just enjoy the quiet and the sunshine. But I do like to catch something every now and again.

I also find the bass do enjoy Merle, Willie and Waylon as long as the decibels are kept low. So Hartwell bass are clearly salt of the earth bass.

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with few exceptions was pulled from about 5 feet of water in all conditions using either shallow cranks or topwater plugs.

Sometimes I'd be in less than three feet of water in some random cove. Usually I fish high up the lake on the Seneca branch. Sometimes I'll head over to the Tugaloo side and try my luck.

Occasionally I'll go down to the big water if I'm feeling froggy and get an early start. I never troll for striper although my boat is rigged for it.

I never have a ton of success below 15 feet - drop shots and the like - probably because I'm not the greatest technician in the world and tend to use the same retrieve speed.

I try to keep five to six rigs ready to go so I don't have to do a lot of knot-tying and the like.

And I'm impatient - if a cove or a particular point/spot doesn't yield a hit or two in 15 or 20 minutes, I pull up and roll on to the next one.

Made the command decision to go fishing Wednesday.

Re: Made the command decision to go fishing Wednesday.

Paging Dr. Spud.

Here you go....

You get me 50 bucks for a thirty minute fishing seminar and I will throw in free

Re: Made the command decision to go fishing Wednesday.

Re: Made the command decision to go fishing Wednesday.

Re: Made the command decision to go fishing Wednesday.

Every fish (largemouth) I landed on Hartwell last season

Trade the live bait for dynamite...I mean, if you are gonna cheat...Go BIG!!***

Ha! I didn't say I'd be stopping for live bait. Only rigged for it!

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