Following the success of last Wednesday, a day subsequent to the full moon, I felt a renewed eagerness to revisit the , full moon late bite hypothesis. Remarkably, the moon was nearly full again last night. Over the past two days, strong winds have swept through the area. Notably, yesterday saw wind gusts reaching 50 mph over the lake. However, today’s forecast took an unusual turn, predicting minimal wind throughout the day, accompanied by cooler temperatures and cloud cover.
Originally intending to fish with Dan today, circumstances prevented his participation. Consequently, I made the decision to set out earlier and test whether the sluggish morning bite from three days ago was merely coincidental. I launched my boat at 9:00 AM, finding a bustling scene with around 40 boats already on the water this Saturday preceding Labor Day. As I approached the trash racks, my attention was drawn to four boats positioned in front, and one boat moored within. These vessels were primarily bait and jig fishermen. Interestingly, I didn’t see any fly fishermen throughout the day.
Deploying the livescope , I conducted a swift survey around the trash racks in the morning. Mirroring my experience from Wednesday, I observed schools of fish congregating at a depths of 60 feet or more – beyond flyfishing range. Notably, the bait anglers weren’t catching many fish either. Opting to fish along the dam at Guardrail, my efforts yielded only a couple of modest catches despite my determined efforts. Subsequently, I ventured to Mouse Ears in Portuguese Cove, where I encountered additional schools of small fish. The morning’s fishing remained exceedingly slow-paced. Nonetheless, a sense of anticipation for an improved afternoon bite persisted.
Around 3:00 PM, upon returning to the Trash racks, I noted the absence of all boats that had been present earlier in the day. Only a couple of trolling boats remained positioned ahead of the racks. Similar to before, I navigated around the racks, yet this time only found fish congregated around a single tower on the southern side, rather than the northern tower. Notably, the pumps were inactive, the weather was cooler, and the overcast sky might have contributed to the altered conditions. From 3:00 to 5:00 PM, my fishing endeavors experienced a dramatic transformation. I achieved consistent success, catching fish with nearly every cast. Employing a technique involving a 50-second countdown before commencing my retrieve, I managed feed more than 15 fish from depths of around 40 feet. Among these catches, I retained a few larger ones for dinner. Surprisingly, upon conducting autopsies, it was revealed that these fish had empty stomachs. Puzzlingly, I found myself uncertain about the whereabouts of bait during this particular time of the year.
