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the Discussion |
"You
ever tie up under a bridge and fish? Have any
luck? What are some of your best - and worst -
memories?"
Ronnie |
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| Past
Articles |
One
Year Ago - 7/24/00 - I Hooked the
Big One!
Two Years Ago -
07/26/99 - Jacks Are Wild
Three Years Ago - 07/20/98
- Snakes I Have Known - Part 2
Four Years Ago - 07/28/97 -
Late July Fishing Patterns
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Last weekend while fishing a night tournament we watched boats pull up to
bridges at West Point Lake and start tying up late in the afternoon. They
used ropes hanging there left by fishermen on previous nights or threw their own
over beams above them.
Once the boat was tied up, another rope was used to hang a lantern over the
water beside the boat. Some boats used 12 volt lights clipped to batteries
that float in the water, others has hangers mounted on their boats to hold
lanterns and lights over the water. All were doing the same thing,
producing light to attract shad which would attract hybrids, crappie, white bass
and largemouth.
Raysville Bridge is near my boat club and I spent many happy nights under it
fishing for anything that would bite. Fishing under a bridge is just about
the most relaxing way to fish I know of. You can put out some rods, open a
drink, kick back and relax. It is also nice to bring along some food and
snack while waiting on a bite.
One of my first trips to Raysville Bridge was not much fun. We had been
camping for several days when I was about 12 years old and I had not gotten much
sleep. We heard fish were biting under the bridge but we did not have a
boat, so we decided to fish from the bank. Dad, mom, my younger brother
Billy and I toted all our supplies the hundred yards or so from where you could
park out to the bridge and walked around under it to fish.
That was a long walk for a young kid toting tackle and bait, and I was
already sleepy. Fishing on the bank meant I got hung up almost every cast
and was constantly breaking off my hook and lead, and having to re-tie.
Being tired and grouchy did not help. I do not remember catching a single fish!
Another night my luck was much better. I was by myself and all around
me I could see fish in the lights of my lantern and those of other boats tied
nearby. The hybrids were eating tiny shad - I could see their mouths move
as they sucked them in, but they totally ignored live minows. When I saw
little silver glints in the water near the surface I scooped up some of the
shad. They were about 1/4 inch long!
I managed to get on on a small bream hook and dropped it in the water, and a
three pound hybrid grabbed it immediately. It put up a good fight on the light
outfit and all the folks around me asked how I caught it since they were not
getting bites. I said I used a minnow.
After that I tried but could not catch any more shad. I searched my
boat for tiny jigs but even the smallest was huge compared to the tiny
shad. By that time all the other boats started leaving and I was alone,
which concentrated all the little shad and big hybrids under my light.
I got a brain storm and took some of the silver foil from my cigarette pack
and wrapped it around the shaft of the bream hook. That worked, the little
silver looked like a shad in the light and I started catching hybrids. I
caught a bunch of them before I got too sleepy to stay any longer.
Fishing Under A Bridge > Part 2
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