It was windy the last weekend in April a few years ago. If you were on an area lake, like 19 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club, you know what an understatement that is! The wind had Clark’s Hill white capping as far as the eye could see, and waves breaking on the riprap at Price’s Bridge threw spray up on the road.
Wind can make lakes dangerous, and there was a wind advisory for lakes in Georgia last weekend. Four times in my life I thought the waves might sink a boat I was driving, and two of them were at Clark’s Hill. One of the other one was at Eufaula in a Top Six tournament and the other was at Lake Lanier in a club tournament.
When I was a teenager my family had a 18 foot outdrive with a 120 hp motor. I ran all over Clark’s Hill in that boat, skiing, fishing and just having fun. We often ran from Raysville Boat Club down to the dam to meet friends and enjoy the lake.
When you come out of Germany Creek where Raysville Boat Club is located, you can look east and see Price’s Bridge about 13 miles away. That is a lot of water for the wind to blow across, and wind out of the west doesn’t have much to slow it down other than a few islands.
That weekend four of us had gone to the dam to a picnic and the wind got up. We headed back up the lake and the waves were awful. We would go down into the trough of one and not be able to see the banks the waves were so high. I was younger and dumber and didn’t really get scared, but looking back, if the motor had died I am sure the waves would have turned the boat over.
Years later Linda and I had run down to a cove we liked to fish in April, and stayed there most of the day. We knew the wind had gotten up, but did not realize how much until we came out across from Mistletoe and hit the waves coming down the lake. They were so big all I could do was keep the boat at a high idle and break through them.
We were in our brand new 17.5 foot Procraft bass boat with a 150 hp motor. I got really scared when I looked back and the waves we crashed through would come back together and almost cover the engine. I was afraid it would drown out and we would capsize. We finally got near a bank where it was more protected and made it back safely.
The waves were different this past weekend. They were shorter and more choppy, but even so while trying to fish in the wind and hold the boat, every few minutes a series of big waves would come along and make the front of my 20 foot Skeeter bass boat dip water. It was not real dangerous but it was hard to fish.
Gary Hattaway battled the wind and had a great catch Saturday. He brought in a 7.13 pound bass and had five weighing 17.69 pounds. He added two more keepers Sunday and got first place with 7 bass weighing 23.27 pounds, and his seven pounder was big fish for the tournament.
I got a limit each day and had 10 bass weighing 22.36 pounds for second. I did not catch a bass weighing over 3 pounds, I just could not find a kicker bass. I had a feeling I could catch a big fish off the riprap if I could fish it with the wind blowing into it, and I did. I landed an 11 pound channel cat on a crankbait. It gave me a great fight but I could not weigh it in.
Billy Roberts battled his brother George both days and managed to beat him, barely. Billy had 8 keepers weighing 14.52 pounds for third and George had 9 weighing 14.36 for fourth. Wayne Gibbs had 8 weighing 13.69 for fifth place.
The wind was so bad, and it was so cold Sunday morning that eight of the 19 fishermen didn’t show up for the second day’s fishing. There were 7 five fish limits on Saturday but only two on Sunday. We weighed in 89 bass during the two days.
I caught bass on Carolina rigged Baby Brush Hogs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and Trick worms. Most of my fish hit on wind blown points and humps and my best bait there was the Carolina rig. With the full moon I thought bass would be bedding, but the cold and wind turned them off, I guess.
Water temperatures on Saturday ranged from 60 to 68 degrees but areas that were 68 degrees Saturday afternoon had dropped to 62 by Sunday morning. I could not believe I needed to wear a snowmobile suit on April 25 here in Georgia, but I kept it on all day and it felt good!