Monthly Archives: September 2015

Where Should I jig a Spoon for Georgia Bass?

Jig A Spoon For Bass

One of the most efficient ways to catch a bass this time of year is to jig a spoon. But which of our lakes are best for jigging, and what works best on them?

Way back in 1974 I was spending my Christmas holidays at Clark’s Hill. I had my first depth finder, a Lowarence flasher, on my first bass boat and I was learning to use it. On a ridge in Germany Creek I kept seeing flashes just off the bottom in 12 feet of water. Although I drug crankbaits and worms through the area I never hit anything, so I guessed it must be fish. But I never got a bite, either.

I remembered something I had read about jigging a spoon and dug around in my tacklebox. I didn’t have a spoon but did have some Little Georges, so I tied one on. After trying a variety of retrieves, from casting and hopping to dragging along the bottom, I found if I jigged it straight up and down about two feet, feeling the blade spin going up and down, I would get a hit.

In three days I landed over 60 bass from that school before they moved on. I often find bass stacked up in deep water schools like that and catch them on spoons and Little Georges starting in November and that pattern usually holds up until late February.

What makes a good jigging lake? Clear water helps. Deep structure like trees and rocks can be good, but sometimes bass like a hard clay or sand bottom. A good population of threadfin shad is good since they usually have a die-off from cold water and bass hold under the schools looking for an easy meal.

What do you need for jigging a spoon? A good depthfinder is a must. My old Lowrance flasher worked but to really find fish you need a high quality unit that will show you fish even when they are holding tight to cover. And you need to find the little changes in structure and cover that attracts them.

I like a six foot baitcasting rod and reel spooled with 12 to 17 pound fluorocarbon line. The rod needs to have a fairly light tip so you can feel every move the spoon makes but plenty of backbone so you can set the hook and get the fish away from cover.

Lake Lanier offers almost perfect jigging conditions and I have heard jigging spoons in Georgia got its start there back in the 1960s. Spotted bass are also seem to take spoons even better than largemouth and Lanier is full of spots. But be prepared to go deep in Lanier – spots there often hold in water 50 to 60 feet deep in the winter.

Find standing timber in deep water and ride over it until you spot fish. When you find fish drop a marker near them – it is very easy to get off the fish if you don’t. Drop your spoon down and jig it up and down in front of them. You can usually see your spoon with a quality depth finder to know exactly where it is. If your spoon stops before it hits bottom, set the hook. Bass will usually hit on the fall.

Other good clear water lakes like Lanier are Russell, Hartwell, Allatoona and many north Georgia lakes. They have similar cover and fish as Lanier.

Clark’s Hill is where I got my start and it is a good place to jig, but it is usually more stained. In stained water I often use a Little George for more vibration and flash. And the fish are shallower. Check hard clay and sand humps and points in 12 to 30 feet of water there and on Oconee, West Point and Jackson for similar fishing.

Don’t let the weather keep you inside this time of year. Get a spoon and get on the lake.

Can Alabama Shows Congressional Staffers Just How Good the Red Snapper Fishery Is?

Alabama Shows Congressional Staffers Just How Good the Red Snapper Fishery Can Be

By David Rainer
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
from The Fishing Wire

Alabama Marine Resources Director Chris Blankenship has a point to make, but the audience he needs to reach is not on the Alabama Gulf Coast.

Alabama’s saltwater anglers are well aware of the red snapper story, so Blankenship reached out to what is known as the Washington (D.C.) bubble, where outside information has a hard time gaining attention.

Blankenship came up with a plan for a “show and tell” event that would expose staffers from the offices of U.S. Congressmen and Senators from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana and Texas to exactly what a red snapper fishing trip off the Alabama Gulf Coast is like.

Red snapper caught in Alabama

Red snapper caught in Alabama

Last week, he pulled that off with great success, utilizing the Gulf Headboat Collaborative Program to accomplish the mission.

“We wanted to show the congressional staffers exactly the condition of our fishery here,” Blankenship said. “I’ve been to Washington four times over the last year-and-a-half to talk about red snapper and the need for changes in federal legislation to give the states more flexibility and to transfer some of that management to the states.

“We can talk about it, but they hear from a lot of people. We wanted them to have the opportunity to come down here personally and see how great our fishery is and what that fishery means to our community. This puts people’s faces and names with a very important issue.”

The reason Blankenship was able to arrange the trip out of Orange Beach on Capt. Randy Boggs’ Reel Surprise outside of the regular red snapper season is because of a pilot program that has been in effect for the last two years, the aforementioned Gulf Headboat Collaborative (GHC).

The GHC is an exempted fishing permit program for 17 headboats from across the five Gulf states. It essentially takes the amount of fish these headboats have historically caught and holds them out of the recreational quota. These federally permitted boats are allowed to catch those allotted red snapper any time during the year. When the allotment is depleted, no more red snapper can be retained. Each vessel in the program is equipped with a VMS (vessel monitoring system) that tracks its movement via satellite.

Catching Alabama Red Snapper

Catching Alabama Red Snapper

“It doesn’t allow them to catch any more fish than in the past,” Blankenship said. “It just allows them have a business plan and make their quota last throughout the year. The program has worked very well. They have to send Marine Resources an email before they leave dock and send us an email one hour before they reach the dock in the afternoon so we can have an officer inspect their catch.

“We wanted to go out with Capt. Randy Boggs and catch a few red snapper to bring back and cook to really show the people how important this fishery is not only to the charter boats but to the restaurants and other businesses that depend on having access to this great fishery.”

The GHC pilot program was in effect for 2014 and 2015. Despite its success, the program may not be renewed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council in time for 2016.

“There is a proposed amendment that would essentially extend that program, but the Gulf Council process is very slow,” Blankenship said. “It looks like in 2016 the headboats will be back in the fishery with all the other charter boats. That program will have a hiatus of at least one year while they work out the extension through the Gulf Council.

“This pilot program is showing that it works on headboats, so the charter boats in Alabama are interested in a similar type program to use a portion of the quota assigned to the charter boats in Alabama.”

Last week, Capt. Boggs set a course to one of his artificial reefs about 30 miles from the mouth of Perdido Pass to provide an example of how good the red snapper fishing is off the Alabama coast.

After a leisurely ride in 2-foot seas, Boggs pulled back the throttles and gave the order to “drop ’em down.”

“Don’t let it go to the bottom,” he said. ‘That’s where the little fish live. There are fish showing up starting at 35 feet. Give it a count of about five or six and see what happens.”

Big Alabama Red Snapper

Big Alabama Red Snapper

What happened was a fantastic, frenetic example of snapper fishing in Alabama’s artificial reef zone.

In less than 10 minutes, big red snapper after big red snapper hit the deck. When Boggs gave the order to “keep ’em up,” there were 24 impressive red snapper caught by the congressional staffers in the fish box.

The crew changed tackle to try to target the smaller vermilion snapper at the next two stops, but all the anglers caught and released were different-sized red snapper.

Trolling on the way back in, a small king mackerel was added to the catch.

“We went to one reef and red snapper just came to the top; there were so many red snapper there,” Blankenship said. “The action was fast and furious with big snapper. The next two places we went had plenty of small red snapper that were 12, 13, 14 inches mixed in with larger fish. It just shows that we really do have a good, mature fishery with good recruitment with a lot of small snapper coming up behind these big ones.

“We really want to be able to manage the fishery for the benefit of the anglers and the resources, and we feel like we can do that better locally than Gulf-wide.”

Blankenship said the congressional staffers were “extremely impressed” by the red snapper fishery off Alabama.

“Even though we talk about how we have plenty of red snapper, it made a real impression for them to go out after the charter season and after the recreational season and see how many red snapper are still on our reefs off the Alabama coast. It gave them an appreciation that the states can do more accurate assessments and better manage that fishery to give our people more access to the fish.

“And they wanted to see the restaurants, marinas and dock stores. They really wanted to see how many businesses rely on tourism and rely on a healthy fishery here in the state of Alabama and rely on continued access to red snapper, the fish that the Alabama Gulf Coast is most known for. The staffers asked some great, probing questions, not only about the recreational fishery but the charter and commercial fishery and how we could manage the different sectors fairly.”

The fishing trip turned out exactly as Blankenship had envisioned.

“It probably could not have turned out any better,” he said. “We were able to catch some very large snapper very quickly on one of our reefs, and then go to some other reefs and catch small snapper mixed in with big ones. Several big snapper came up to the top right off the stern of the boat on one of the well-known public reefs, which just shows you how many snapper are available on those reefs.

“We feel like our fishery is so good because of our reef-building program and partnerships with other agencies. There couldn’t have been a better opportunity to showcase our fishery and to discuss the real issues that need to be solved in Washington to fix the current federal management.”

To top off a great day of fishing, the cleaned red snapper were taken to the Flora-Bama Yacht Club for a sumptuous dinner meal prepared by Chef Chris Sherrill, Sous Chef Haikel Harris and the restaurant staff.

“Chris is a talented chef and was really able to showcase the fish and hospitality of the state of Alabama,” Blankenship said.

“This type of trip shows that we’re not sitting idly by and waiting for something to happen on red snapper,” he said. “We’re working every avenue we can to give our fishermen more access and to give us the ability to sustainably manage the red snapper fishery the way that it needs to be managed.”

Got To Do Something About Guns

We’ve got to do “Something” about guns. We’ve got to take on the NRA and do “Something.”

I am terribly sorry Mr. Parker lost his daughter when a mad fool shot her while she was doing a broadcast in Virginia last week. And his reaction, emotionally lashing out, trying to find something to blame, is understandable. But blaming me is not rational.

The victim’s blood had not even stopped dripping before the gun control buzzards were circling their bodies. The usual thoughtless politicians were immediately calling for some kind of law – to do “Something,” regardless of what it might be. And the Brady Bunch gun control advocates were busy sending out emails asking for donations. I got one a few hours after the shooting made the news.

Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia had the best comment I saw. While ranting about how laws must be passed to restrict law-abiding gun owners, in order to do “Something,” a reporter asked him what he knew about the details of the shooting. And his response was perfect. Reminded me of Sergeant Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes.

“I don’t know anything” he said. And he was right. He was determined to use this tragedy to further his political agenda on gun control although he had no idea what he was talking about. That is not unusual.

The current evil they want to do “Something” about is what they call common sense background checks. Never mind the murderer in Virginia had gone through a background check, and had put a deposit on the pistol he used two months before he shot the reporter. So much for waiting periods, too.

People die every day from car accidents caused by someone illegally driving and texting. If the reporter had been killed in such an accident, would her father be demanding we do “Something” about cell phones? Maybe a background check and waiting period before buying one? How about the common sense action of not allowing individuals to sell their cell phones to someone else? Those are the kind of illogical things they apply to guns.

Keeping the insane from getting guns is reasonable. But how? Do as some are trying and take guns away from those drawing social security because they can’t take care of their own finances? Or take guns away from any veteran who has admitted war bothered him?

While Amy Parker’s father blamed the gun, not the fool shooting his daughter, and wanted to do “Something” about guns, the husband of Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce who was also shot, said he didn’t blame the gun. He knew the murderer that shot his wife would have, as he said, done it with a machete, bomb, knife, he would have found something.

Maybe “Something” could be done if the gun grabbers didn’t always go to extremes to try to take all guns.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. In the case of extended background checks, several studies have shown that the background checks do not reduce crime. So why extend them? That is definitely insanity.