Do you love big bluegill?

Lake Sahoma, 5/27/2013

Well, I decided on a daybreak raid on Sahoma. I was planning on going up the mouth of Rock Creek, as the south bank is nice and rocky, and the Channel Cats are in there spawning. I was planning on trolling a minnowbait over and back, and fishing stinkbait under a float up against the rocks.

Took me a little bit to get geared up. Gotta remember to rig the poles BEFORE I load the boat the night before. Once I got going, I dropped a silver/black back minnowbait into the water, let it run out a bit, then closed the bail and kept paddling.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img41/7682/20130527sahoma.jpg[/IMG]

Once I got there, I realized it wasn't going to be easy. Low overhanging trees defended the banks. I was able to drop some bait into most places, and only got hung in a tree once. You had to be within a foot of the bank to get bit. At least, the two Channels that I caught were that close. Never had a nibble further from the bank.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img850/2263/20130527channelcat1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img827/7454/20130527channelcat2.jpg[/IMG]

On the way back, I got a small LMB trolling my minnowbait about a hundred yards out from the mouth of Rock Creek.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img812/6497/20130527lmb1.jpg[/IMG]

I tried to stay in the wind shadow of the south bank on the way back, as it was starting to really pick up. Almost made it to the last protected bank on the south side when I picked up another small LMB trolling.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img850/5472/20130527lmb2.jpg[/IMG]

I decided to see if any Channel Cats were spawning in the chunk rock of the dam. Didn't get a nibble there, even though I could set up a nice drift almost parallel to the dam face. Then I realized that I was almost directly upwind of where I launched from, so I turned with the wind, and let the wind push me along. Made good time to. The only paddling I had to do was to maintain steerage.

Water temp in the main lake was 74 degrees. Once I got into the creek it was 77 degrees. Had about 18” of visibility.

I’m almost wondering if the reason I didn’t get anything on the paddle to the creek was the color choice of my minnowbait. I was using a silver with black back. At that early hour (0700), I’m wondering if a Firetiger would have been a better bet?

I saw several topwater hits from what I believe were small sunnies again the banks. If I had brought a fly rod, I probably could have had a blast with the sunnies hiding in the weeds.