April Fishing At West Point and Oconee

Jim Berry and I planned on fishing West Point on a Friday in early April but the awful weather that morning made us wait. We left my house at 12:15 and finally started fishing a little after 2:00 PM. It turned out to be a pretty good day even if short.

We put the boat in the water and started fishing at the ramp since there were loons feeding on baitfish in the area and we saw activity. Anytime baitfish are in a cove there is a good chance bass are nearby, and they were. Jim caught a bass on a crankbait then I landed a 3 pounder on a spinnerbait.

On a small point in the cove Jim caught two bass on a Carolina rigged Baby Brush Hog and I missed several bites. When I threw a Shadrap across the point I caught a small hybrid. That was probably what was hitting our Brush Hogs. Further down the bank Jim had a good bass hit and miss a buzzbait, then caught a keeper largemouth on the buzzbait.

We went across the creek to another cover and Jim landed a nice keeper on the buzzbait. I hooked a strong bass by a stump but it jumped and threw my spinnerbait. I thought it was about 5 pounds but Jim said it was bigger, maybe 6 or better. As we fished into the next cove we started catching spots on our Carolina rigs and caught several.

Around another point I caught two good spots, one about two pounds, on a Carolina rig then Jim pointed out some activity back in the cove. We went to it with the trolling motor and Jim started throwing a #5 Shadrap and immediately hooked a two pound hybrid.

For the next half hour Jim hooked a hybrid almost every cast. I did not have as much luck throwing my #7 Shadrap – I think it was too big since the hybrids were feeding on small shad, but I caught four or five while Jim landed at least 15. That was fun while it lasted.

Back out on the point Jim landed two spotted bass. Those were the last two fish of the day although we fished until dark. Not a bad afternoon, in five hours we caught 10 keeper bass, several throwbacks and about 20 hybrids. And the weather got nice, with no rain or wind while we fished.

I owe Andy Lee an apology. After our trip to Oconee a week ago Friday I wrote about it that night. I guess I was too tired to think and for some unknown reason called Andy the wrong name. I am sorry for that mistake and below is the corrected information about our trip.

Friday before last I took Zane Lee and his son Andy to Oconee for a bass fishing trip. Zane had bought the fishing trip at the Friends of the NRA Banquet, and I hoped we would have a really good day. And it started out that way. Andy caught two small bass on a spinnerbait the first cove we fished.

At the second spot, I caught a small bass on a crankbait then Andy hooked the biggest bass of the day, a nice 3 pound fish. A few minutes later he hooked a bigger bass, one the looked to be about four pounds, but it came off the second time it jumped.

A little further down the bank Andy caught another keeper fish on his spinnerbait, then added a throwback. At the next place we stopped I caught a small keeper on a Carolina Rigged Baby Brush Hog but then we went for about an hour without a bite before I caught two more keepers on the Carolina rig. By now it was after lunch and the morning cloud cover had blown away.

Although we fished until 5:00 PM we did not hook another fish. I had lots of excuses, the clear skies made them stop biting, the crowds of jet skies and pleasure boaters made them quit biting, or I was wearing the wrong shirt. It must have been one of those things.

We had a beautiful, if somewhat frustrating day. On the way home Andy was making his plans for killing a turkey Saturday morning. If he hunted as well as he fished Friday morning, he should have gotten at least two gobblers!

On Saturday I got a call from Al Bassett, full time guide on Oconee. He had a trip that morning and they had similar luck to ours. Al said they started fishing in heavy fog and caught six or seven bass, then the sun burned the fog off and they did not catch a bass the last two hours they fished. Bass just don’t like bright sun sometimes!