A
Anonymous
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i have been working an awful lot of evenings with all this spring break stuff going on in daytona, but young master Caleb and myself have been able to make a few fishing trips out on th local lake. lake Ashby is off highway 415 bout 6 miles south of Samsula and 7 miles north of Osteen. Caleb been having alot of fun fishing in lake ashby here lately and for anybody that wants to go out there, ill try and write up something to help out with catching fish.
winds have been prevalent as of late, mostly blowing towards the northeast. Caleb and myself have been staying out of the chop and th wind by following the shoreline west from the public boat ramp , staying tight against the tree line. a short 15 minute paddle in this direction brings you to a point with a nice creek that pushes a fair sized sandbar out into the water. this sandbar is one of the top 3 places for fishing on the entire lake. with the winds we been having , its position on the lake provides for a nice sheltered paddle on the way there if you follow the shoreline. and if you paddle as th crow flies back to the boat ramp on your way out - will give you an easy trip home with the wind at your back and the swells or chop pushing your boat.
Me and Caleb have talked to plenty fellas that have been pitching top waters, plastic worms and spinners at weed beds and structures. these guys have almost always been skunked, or catching only one or two of the 1/2 lb - 1 lb bank runners that been schooling. they have fancy bass boats with trolling motors, 10,000 horsepower outboards and big screen TVs with internet connections. they skit around on the lake hitting all the sweet looking spots and work every inch of em using their foot controlled GPS navigated trolling motors. me and Caleb paddle the boat we built , then kick back on our lil sand bar with some lawn chairs and aint been skunked yet.
i use a seine net to scoop up some bullheads (shad for you yankee fellas) and we fish em bout 5- 10 yards off the sandbar where it drops off. when we get a hit - dad sets the hook and master caleb brings em in. we hook the bullheads through the lips and fish em 2'-4' deep with bobbers while its day light, then as the sun dips down i hook them through the tail and take off the bobber to fish bottom for cats . we fish the last two hours before dark , then stay another hour or two after dark to try our luck with cats.
th most important gear besides our poles has been lawn chairs , a seine net and a gallon jug of pink lemonade ( calebs favorite ) as you can probably surmise on your own here - its some seriously relaxing fishing we been doing.
we have made three trips- first one caleb brings in a fiesty 2 lb bass , a bowfin and a couple little gar. second trip a 1lb bank runner and a 4 lb catfish that now resides in our freezer. third trip brings a couple of lil bank runners, a nice 3 lb bass and a beastly old gar that prolly went about 6 lbs. we fish catch and release for bass - but cats , bowfins and gar are another matter. catfish go to the freezer , gars and bowfins get gutted and thrown on the bank for coons. gotta try and help give those lil fingerling bass and panfish a better chance at adulthood by culling some of those dern mudfish :twisted:
the end of our trips vary according to our mood , sometimes we head back straight as the crow flies and are back at the truck in a flash with all that wind pushing us. one occasion though, we paddled the shoreline home bout 2 hours afte dark , shining th banks and looking at alligators. havent seen anything real big , but there is a passle of 4 or 5 footers that are fun to watch tween that sandbar and the boat ramp.
since the weather been more conduscive to sailing than paddling during the day , my next thought is to make a trip just for night fishing. maybe get there like 5 oclock and set out three or four trotlines, then sitting out there till midnight or so with stink baits on our poles. should bring in a few nice cats . this spring break nonsense going to be coming to an end pretty soon , ill let you know how the night fishing turns out as soon as i get a break from the bar ~ allen
winds have been prevalent as of late, mostly blowing towards the northeast. Caleb and myself have been staying out of the chop and th wind by following the shoreline west from the public boat ramp , staying tight against the tree line. a short 15 minute paddle in this direction brings you to a point with a nice creek that pushes a fair sized sandbar out into the water. this sandbar is one of the top 3 places for fishing on the entire lake. with the winds we been having , its position on the lake provides for a nice sheltered paddle on the way there if you follow the shoreline. and if you paddle as th crow flies back to the boat ramp on your way out - will give you an easy trip home with the wind at your back and the swells or chop pushing your boat.
Me and Caleb have talked to plenty fellas that have been pitching top waters, plastic worms and spinners at weed beds and structures. these guys have almost always been skunked, or catching only one or two of the 1/2 lb - 1 lb bank runners that been schooling. they have fancy bass boats with trolling motors, 10,000 horsepower outboards and big screen TVs with internet connections. they skit around on the lake hitting all the sweet looking spots and work every inch of em using their foot controlled GPS navigated trolling motors. me and Caleb paddle the boat we built , then kick back on our lil sand bar with some lawn chairs and aint been skunked yet.
i use a seine net to scoop up some bullheads (shad for you yankee fellas) and we fish em bout 5- 10 yards off the sandbar where it drops off. when we get a hit - dad sets the hook and master caleb brings em in. we hook the bullheads through the lips and fish em 2'-4' deep with bobbers while its day light, then as the sun dips down i hook them through the tail and take off the bobber to fish bottom for cats . we fish the last two hours before dark , then stay another hour or two after dark to try our luck with cats.
th most important gear besides our poles has been lawn chairs , a seine net and a gallon jug of pink lemonade ( calebs favorite ) as you can probably surmise on your own here - its some seriously relaxing fishing we been doing.
we have made three trips- first one caleb brings in a fiesty 2 lb bass , a bowfin and a couple little gar. second trip a 1lb bank runner and a 4 lb catfish that now resides in our freezer. third trip brings a couple of lil bank runners, a nice 3 lb bass and a beastly old gar that prolly went about 6 lbs. we fish catch and release for bass - but cats , bowfins and gar are another matter. catfish go to the freezer , gars and bowfins get gutted and thrown on the bank for coons. gotta try and help give those lil fingerling bass and panfish a better chance at adulthood by culling some of those dern mudfish :twisted:
the end of our trips vary according to our mood , sometimes we head back straight as the crow flies and are back at the truck in a flash with all that wind pushing us. one occasion though, we paddled the shoreline home bout 2 hours afte dark , shining th banks and looking at alligators. havent seen anything real big , but there is a passle of 4 or 5 footers that are fun to watch tween that sandbar and the boat ramp.
since the weather been more conduscive to sailing than paddling during the day , my next thought is to make a trip just for night fishing. maybe get there like 5 oclock and set out three or four trotlines, then sitting out there till midnight or so with stink baits on our poles. should bring in a few nice cats . this spring break nonsense going to be coming to an end pretty soon , ill let you know how the night fishing turns out as soon as i get a break from the bar ~ allen