Hi Guys,
Some of you may have provided input in my last thread like this, asking...where the heck should we fish. Since my last opening of this thread, we originally fished guntersville, and now santee cooper twice. The most success we have had was on our first trip to Santee, however the fishing really has left something to be desired with really inconsistent action and long long stretches of very tough fishing. A heck of a lot of that had to do with weather. Both times in Santee, we ended up with a very stormy pattern moving in nicely to coincide with our camping trip which meant a daily routine involved getting run off of the lake by lightning.
I understand we are fishing the spring so stormy weather in the south is expected, but when you aint catching, and the storms are consistent and to top it off you have to sleep in tents, it makes for a soggy tough trip.
We all still really really enjoy the camping and the fishing, how could we not, we hadnt seen soft water in over 6 months, so just casting and fishing was a total blessing, however things have changed somewhat since my original request for input. I now own my own bassboat, which means the possibilities open up an absolutel ton in comparison to when we needed a lake with boat rentals available on it. What I am asking from BBC is some help and your opinion!
Our preference for timing for the absolute best bite would be from the begining of April to the end of May. Guntersville we were told was a better bite in late may, while santee we were told is more of an early April Bite.
The following is a list of our requirements
#1 priority the lake must fall within the highlighted area, the further north, the better, but dont tell me to fish erie, we want to go south and warm up a bit, the winters are long enough to go camping and freeze some more!
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#2 priority, the lake must have a tent campground to stay at with electricity (to charge the TM etc), preferably a state park or other quality campground where tenting is allowed. (guntersville state park and Santee were excellent)
#4 Hospitable - We absolutely loved Alabama and South Carolina and everything about it, the people were incredibly friendly, helpful and welcoming. Running into other fishermen on the lake in South Carolina, when we got to chatting and people found out we were from Toronto and were having some tough fishing, they all opened up to us to try put us on some fish. We even got stuck in half hour conversations with multiple friendly people out on the water.
#5 and this is a change from last time. Forget 10lbers and lunkers, we want some numbers! 2-3lb bass with an actual chance to catch regularly. I drove 36 hours my last trip to santee only to get personally skunked on bass for 4 days straight! the other guys in my boat caught a couple each but a 1 fish a day average is just too tough. (yes we definitely struggled because those lakes are huge and we are new, but in comparison to fishing in Ontario, 3 experienced anglers with all of the gear and knowledge we have combined should at least be able to muster up more than 1 small fish a day over the course of 4 days. Especially when locals have told you exactly where to fish. We threw every bait under the sun, at grass, pads, stumps, trees, creek channels you name it and nada!
Right now Chickaumaga looks like a potential good spot, but I worry that it would be much like Santee where the weather can throw havoc to the lake, and without really really knowing the spots you will totally end up skunked.
Let me know what you guys think! Let the debate begin!