Last Day Of 2022 - Walkaround

David Hutton
Palmetto Fly N Fish
December 31, 2022

Today, as this is written, it is December 31, the last day of 2022. I thought it would be a dandy day to go to the lake.

    Oddly, it didn't really register with me that it was the last day of 2022. Everyone ELSE is ready for parties, champagne, Auld Lang Syne,... and here I am, indifferent.

    The reason is simple - my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer in October.
We are working through that, and there is hope for the future. But, as you might imagine, that tends to absorb your focus.
2022 has been in my rear view mirror for a while now.

    But, I didn't go to the lake today to dwell on that. No, I went to get a positive head start on 2023!

Goals and Lures
    One of my 2023 goals is to fish a certain number of days per month, using certain lures and flies, targeting certain fish from my Big 5 List.
Is that THREE goals? Hmmm, maybe so. 
    Nonetheless, I took one of the lures I'll be concentrating on, to run it through its paces.
    What lure, you ask?
    Why, the venerable old Flatfish.

(I tested a new fly, too, but that will be for another day.)

    In this case, I recently got my hands on some un-painted Flatfish knock-offs, and it was necessary to see how they performed. Knock-offs can often be junk, so I had to know ahead of the season.
Here is how they look, "in the raw..."

Blank Flatfish knock-offs, with a once-broken, now refurbished original

Here is one of the knock-offs, ready to go...

I'm calling this color scheme, "Mud and Blue."
Hopefully, it looks like a crawfish….

 
    So how did this Flatfish copy work out? Well, in a word - perfectly.
    It functions as well as any original Flatfish in my collection, and fits right into the largemouth bass size. I'm not going into details about the Flatfish, today, because an in-depth article is coming soon. Suffice it to say that these should make fine spinning-casting lures, when that is needed. 

    For you anglers that may not know much about the Flatfish, or its reputation (one of the most sold lures in history,) ...I snagged a few vids of its wide, characteristic wobble, over a range of speeds...

Flatfish - slow retrieve



Flatfish - fast retrieve



Flatfish - moderate retrieve

Water Down Low
    Being a power generating reservoir, this lake has its water level drawn down during the winter. This makes room for the Spring rains to come, and it allows for needed maintenance to be done around the lake. It may be disheartening to see the low level, but it is a perfectly normal part of the lake ecology. 

Normally underwater





Floating dock without water



High and dry



End of the boat ramp

Here is a short video to give you some idea of the drawdowns' scope...

 

Mucho Mussels
    You'll see in the above foto's that the lake bed is covered with what looks broken glass, or shells. And that is exactly right - They are mussel shells. 

The lake is home to an infinite number of freshwater clams and mussels, from about a dozen or more different species.

You don't really grasp how many are there, until the water is down....

Mussel shell
(wrinkly fingers - cold, wet, rainy day)

The Trash Baboons
    It is my usual habit to collect whatever trash I can pick up while at these lake sites, boat ramps, etc.  Plastic bags for this purpose are part of normal kit, and a garbage walk around is standard procedure.
But today it was slim pickings; I actually believe someone beat me to it.
    Normally, I can fill several bags with refuse left behind by the The Trash Baboons, but not this day. Maybe there's hope for the future. LOL 
 

Trash, but not total trash...
fishing tackle, and some re-purposing possibilities 



Legitimately trashy trash



The tackle, as found

Humongous stainless circle hook w/ 60 lb +  line.
Cleaned up, it could be used again, but I'm no fan of stainless hooks in fresh water.
Into my "randoms box" with it.

Resurrected tackle 
Split shot reformed, hook resharpened,  jig re-worked.

Fish and Birds
    My area lake is also home to a big striped bass fishery - good old Morone saxatilis, the much sought after, "striper," ... or, more locally, "rockfish."
The striped bass is the state fish of South Carolina, and this fishery is a huge draw for anglers, and profit-makers, alike.
Striper are also on my Big 5 List, so...

    The ramp I visited today is one of my faves; it is clean, well maintained, and a little off the beaten path. I've used it more than any other of the 20 or so launch sites around the lake.

Red arrow - ramp
Green - channel(s)
Yellow circle - the "bay" 

    The site in question is situated at the mouth of a long, upper arm of the lake, with a 25-50' deep creek channel running the length.

For most of the year, the striper are down in the main lake, in the wide open water - miles and miles of it. But during winter, these fish come up-lake to shallower waters, and the wide "bay" fronting the ramp is one of the areas they frequent.
Take a look at the image above to see what I mean. 

    As far as I can tell, the striper "set up camp" here for the season, holding along the edges of the channel. From that vantage point, they may rise up to the surface to do fishy things - maybe feed on schools of forage fish as they pass through, for example. Or perhaps, they just do it out of habit..., I dunno.
    This means it is pretty normal to see them around this area, rising to the surface, then disappearing as they go back to sanctuary depth. 
    Here's a visual to help get the idea across ....

ref. (1)

    On occasion, these fish may also come up from their deep base and scrounge around the adjacent structure and flats - this is shown on the image as point, "X".
    You can't predict just when they might do this, and they don't stay for long.
But if you're there when they make one of these shallow migrations, it is super exciting. Large fish splashing and rolling all around you  - and the year's best chance to catch them from the shore!
    With the water down so far, I hoped I might be able to cast far enough for that to happen - but they stayed out in deeper water. Dang it!

    But, here comes the kicker.... the resident seagulls and other aquatic birds know those fish are there, too. These birds literally hang around, either in floating 'bird rafts' or aimlessly circling the area on the wing. They, too, are "on station," waiting for the striper to rise shallow so they might scavenge a free meal off of them. 
    In fact, this is probably the best way to know where the striper are positioned.
    Should the fish rise to the surface to feed, the birds all reel in, diving and swooping, hoping to grab some morsel. It's chaos, and you can see it from a long way off. Most 'striper guys' live for this, in fact. They race all over the lake in their powerful boats, homing in on any sign of these crashing, diving birds,.. and hoping THEY can get in on one of these feeding events.
    But very few of them ever recognize that the mere PRESENCE of the birds, loafing around the vicinity, signals something very important:

The fish are down below, right there, and the birds are there waiting. They are literally telling you where the fish are holed up. You don't have to chase all over looking for a feeding frenzy!

    For a more in-depth discussion of this subject, see my recent blog post, here:

A Different View of Striper

    In the meantime, watch this video to get a feel for what I'm talking about....

Adios Old Year... come on New!

Writers should always strive for a job well done... even mediocre ones like me. So if you found value in this article, please like, comment, and share it. 

Would you like to add the catching pattern(s) seen here to your own fly or tackle box? Do you have questions, gripes, or suggestions?
If so, email me at...dahutist@gmail.com

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Thanks so much for reading, and...

Tight Lines,

Dave Hutton

© All rights reserved, David Hutton/Palmetto Fly N Fish 2022, 2023 

references:

1. "Spoonplugging," Elwood "Buck" Perry, 1974  All Rights Reserved