Cooler Temperatures Increase Lake Martin Catches

Temperatures are cooling down with the water temperature down to 80 degrees.  How will this affect Lake Martin Fishing?  It will only make it better.  These cool mornings have the fish and the fishermen moving.  The fish are biting and the only mistake you can make in September is to stay home! 

I had a couple of early morning fishing reports this week of bringing in large numbers of Catfish.  Bill Blankenship and friend fished the Wind Creek area and brought in 34 Catfish before noon.  They were using Canadian Night Crawlers. 

Tom Smyth was trot lining and caught 54 Catfish.  Now, that is no stretch for Tom.  He always brings in a lot of fish.  Tom gave me a hard time about giving away all his fishing secrets, but couldn’t resist telling me just one more.  He said that you will double your trot line catches if you use monofilament drops with circle hooks.  I love listening to Tom.  He fishes the old timer way – tried and true techniques that have worked for 50 years, and still do!  He has such a dry sense of humor.  He says he doesn’t gig ‘em, blow ‘em up, shoot ‘em, or stick ‘em . . . he loves the pull on the line!!!   Trot line fishing is a fun way to catch a large number of fish at once.  It’s fun to feel the pull of the fish on the line as you’re running it, and you don’t have any idea how big he is, or how many you have.  I’ll do an article on trot line fishing sometime in the near future.

I also had a good report of Bass being caught around the dam.  Again this is early morning fishing using live bait, specifically Spot Tails.  Another report came in of Bass being caught up Elkahatchee Creek. 

I had the great opportunity to meet with Jason Shockley last week.  Jason is an avid fisherman and has many tournament wins under his belt.  He has turned a hobby into one of the most amazing arts that I have seen lately and credits his lures with most of his tournament wins!  He hand-paints lures, both refinishing old lures and painting new ones.  He has the amazing ability to come up with the colors that are so close to real that it is hard to imagine without seeing them.  His wife Jennifer is his greatest cheerleader and supports him totally in his endeavors.  There is a great story about Jason in the September 2007 issue of Lake Martin Living.  Check it out and look for some of his custom lures in local bait shops or contact Jason at shoc5752@bellsouth.net.  

You can contact me by email at dduck821@windstream.net with your latest best fishing story or any hints you would like to pass along.  Dont forget about the Fall Fever Striper Contest.  Stop by Kowaliga Live Bait and Tackle for your registration forms or visit www.kowaligalivebaitandtackle.com for more info.  I would also love to get photos of your biggest catches.  Together we’ll fish Lake Martin bringing in those big catches and telling even bigger stories! 

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