Phoenix Boys Fishing in winter??

[DerekG]

What kind of lakes do you guy's fish this time of year?
or Do you just sit at home and polish them birds..

Is there alot of power plant lakes around your area with good opportunities to fish?

I am lucky to live in an area where there is fantastic fishing to be had year round.
Winter is great because the power plant lakes turn on, and its some of the best fishing of the year..

Lake welsh- great for numbers usually 25- 50 fish a trip not alot of dinks average fish are 2- 4lbs some bigger mixed in best is 7lb out of welsh
( caught my first sight fish 2 weeks ago there )

Lake Monticello- Bigger fish less numbers avg 20 fish a day- Rare not to have one over 5-6lbs here

Squaw Creek- Usually 30- 40 fish a day all around 3- 4lbs they fight hard here!
this lake was just opened back up from being closed to public since 9-11
its owned by a power company and is a nuclear plant lake ( closed for security )
and even now its only open fri,sat, sun max 100 boats per day

Heres some cell phone pics of recent trips

[marty92xrd]

Thats some nice ones!!!!!!! I fish mainly the small rivers around here during the winter. We have several lakes within an hour or so drive of me but none are warm water lakes.

[JoeBro44]

STOP IT!!!!!!!! Damned southerners!!! Our water is hard. There should be a ban on fish-pic posting until at least April

[DerekG]

Sorry fellas. Im going to fork sat and squaw creek sunday, ill try to post some bigger ones soon

[EdDavisKY]

No warm water lakes around here either. But there is Dale Hollow for some small mouth action where the slot limit is 16-21 " One of my trips in Dec. had dam near 20# w/ 5 fish and NOT one was over 19"
This is one of them on the cooler lid of a 721

and another sample of football size smallies not over 19"

And yet another one that was not 21"

[bassing africa]

Marty, have a great alternative for you come and open a Phoenix dealership here in South Africa, we don't have winters, coldest water temp 45F with daytime temps still 53F, and the fishing was still great, I feel for all of you that can't fish year round, been without a boat for 2-3 months now and it's killing me, those Phoenix's must get here already can't wait anymore.

[DerekG]

I would be more than happy to freeze my tail off to catch some smallies like that.. Ed ill have to make a trip up that way soon

[EdDavisKY]

Right for the next week they are calling for snow 1-2" today with highs in the low 30's All the roads to ramps are STEEP and so are the ramps.
Last yr while launching partner dam near put a big brown spot in his pants when he started backing up and hit ice from boats launching, and I had not shown him how to put my dodge in 4 wheel drive (front wheels where not affected), luckily when the rear tires hit the water it stopped.
Also water temps are down in the low 40's; which means most of the action is with a buggy whip (float n fly)
If nothing else I always love that lake this time of year (only 45 min. from home) due to always seeing Bald Eagles, and the Loons help you locate the bait fish which is where the SM are as they start to die off.
Plan you trip accordingly, wind is not such a big factor as there are places you can fish out of it...........but up to 15 MPH and next to a bluff wall with the wind blowing on it and hang on

[marty92xrd]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by bassing africa &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Marty, have a great alternative for you come and open a Phoenix dealership here in South Africa, we don't have winters, coldest water temp 45F with daytime temps still 53F, and the fishing was still great, I feel for all of you that can't fish year round, been without a boat for 2-3 months now and it's killing me, those Phoenix's must get here already can't wait anymore.</td></tr></table>

I fish year round here bro!!! Our water doesnt get hard like the guys up north. Our water temp will get to the upper 30's-low 40's. Matter of a fact, I am going to chase some smallmouth and walleye on the river tomorrow.

I would like to come to SA and visit sometime!!

[Chuck D]

Been fishing tournaments all Winter long here on Lake Norman. We don't see hard water at all here (some backwater maybe but that's it). This is a power plant lake as well so you can go jerk bait fish in 42 degree water or catch pre spawners in 71 degree water near the hot holes.

We don't grow em like you boys down in TX do though. You guys have THE BEST fisheries management in the country by far and it shows every time we see photos from TX. I need to get down there and do some fishing in 2011 for sure, those fish are healthy looking and eating right!

[DerekG]

Last year winter was way worse, we actually had some lakes ice up and that is usually not the case here..
Any of you guys decide to take a winter time trip to Texas ill put ya on some good fishin..
I couldnt stand not bein able to fish, for a couple months

[DerekG]

Here's a few more from yesterdays trip as promised! Bigger fish were hard to come by as there were 3 tournaments on this little lake making for some crowded conditions..
we were able to boat around 25- 30 fish and jumped off around 5, we had several up to 17" with none over 18" which is a keeper on this lake..