Howdy folks, spent the weekend fishing @ Gardner Lake. Thought I'd share some details:
Arrived @ 10:00pm Friday night and fished from a friend's dock. Nothing biting except crappie and green sunfish. Nothing bit the green sunfish prior to their suffocation. Eventually, started to get tiny channels biting around 3am on a chunk of frozen skipjack. Used DK's Punchbait under slipfloat at about 10' of depth (in 25' of water) and had some eaters hitting that for a few hours, and eventually a 6 lb channel. At 6am, my 7' (my lightest) rig with DK on it bucked wildly. It was bungeed to the pontoon boat's railing with 3 cords and *still* came loose. I got to the rod just in time (within about 3 seconds) to see the rod shoot out of the holder. The rod AND fish were history. Double whammy. So, if any y'all catch a big kitty out of Gardner w/a 7' Shakespeare spinning combo attached to it, you'll know to whom the rod belongs.
Around dawn, the whites/hybrids were hitting the shad pretty hard out in deep water. Got a couple of those on spinnerbaits, zara spooks, and white 3" grubs under 1/4 oz jigs. At about 8am, I pulled in an 8 lb channel also off DK's punchbait. Also landed a couple of massive (30+ lb?) turtles on turkey liver and DK. Once the sun got overhead, nothing else was caught all day (though I fished well into the afternoon). And you're correct if you've been paying attention -- nowhere did I say that I went to bed; I took a nap around 5pm on Saturday. Talk about a short weekend.
One last thing -- if you happen to know the person who was underway in their pontoon at approximately 11:30pm without running lights, please promptly kick them in the gonads (if applicable). That kind of stupidity should not be tolerated, and by the sounds of people's horns it was definitely being noticed. Stealth and boating do NOT mix.
Arrived @ 10:00pm Friday night and fished from a friend's dock. Nothing biting except crappie and green sunfish. Nothing bit the green sunfish prior to their suffocation. Eventually, started to get tiny channels biting around 3am on a chunk of frozen skipjack. Used DK's Punchbait under slipfloat at about 10' of depth (in 25' of water) and had some eaters hitting that for a few hours, and eventually a 6 lb channel. At 6am, my 7' (my lightest) rig with DK on it bucked wildly. It was bungeed to the pontoon boat's railing with 3 cords and *still* came loose. I got to the rod just in time (within about 3 seconds) to see the rod shoot out of the holder. The rod AND fish were history. Double whammy. So, if any y'all catch a big kitty out of Gardner w/a 7' Shakespeare spinning combo attached to it, you'll know to whom the rod belongs.
Around dawn, the whites/hybrids were hitting the shad pretty hard out in deep water. Got a couple of those on spinnerbaits, zara spooks, and white 3" grubs under 1/4 oz jigs. At about 8am, I pulled in an 8 lb channel also off DK's punchbait. Also landed a couple of massive (30+ lb?) turtles on turkey liver and DK. Once the sun got overhead, nothing else was caught all day (though I fished well into the afternoon). And you're correct if you've been paying attention -- nowhere did I say that I went to bed; I took a nap around 5pm on Saturday. Talk about a short weekend.
One last thing -- if you happen to know the person who was underway in their pontoon at approximately 11:30pm without running lights, please promptly kick them in the gonads (if applicable). That kind of stupidity should not be tolerated, and by the sounds of people's horns it was definitely being noticed. Stealth and boating do NOT mix.