Imagination Bassin Company Information

Weather always can play a part in any fishing trip and the following has been our lot for the last few days:

SYNOPSIS...STRONG HIGH PRESSURE ACROSS THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND ADJACENT ATLANTIC WILL PRODUCE STRONG AND GUSTY NORTHEAST WINDS OVERNIGHT. SEAS UP TO 12 FEET OFFSHORE WILL MAKE BOATING DANGEROUS...
GENERATE HIGH SURF AND PRODUCE ADDITIONAL BEACH EROSION THROUGH
TUESDAY. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE BY WEDNESDAY AS THE HIGH PRESSURE WEAKENS.

Winds have been 25 and gusting to almost gale force, however except for yesterday, they have had little effect on the fishing. Yesterday Mike Jones returned with three of his friends to rack up another quality day at the Marsh. On the 7th, Mike and his friend had an outstanding day with almost the same weather conditions. Their trip was a day spent at the pump house area and it produced well.

We left the ramp at daylight, stopping at the pump house area first. We left from there and headed for the spillway, but with people already set up we opted to head back to the pump house. With no current being produced we did manage a few fish but the bite was slow. We moved to the intersection of the eastern N/S ditch but that proved no better. I started a drift southward with two drift socks out as Scott continued working the intersection. With a hefty looking rain storm heading our way we all headed for the spillway, with the Marsh/Farm not producing much so far.

The spillway was where we stayed for the balance of the day but it sure wasn't doing all that much. At 2:30 it loosened up a bit, but we were out of there at 3:00. Mike did catch a nice fish however, which helped to ease the slow day of only 30 fish between the two boats.

There are times when the Marsh fishes quite small and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in the early AM when we went to the spillway there were gentlemen there that offered their position to Scott. I don't know their names, but thanks for the offer guys.

Today, with Jimmy Coppage and his son-in-law Jason, Scott headed to the spillway with 8-dozen shiners. From the first shiner till the last it was bass after bass and the live well was empty by 10:30. Out came the rattletraps, C-rigs, jerk baits and Senkos and the biting continued. It was too hectic to keep track but a guesstimate of over 70 fish would be conservative.

The wind did howl, but the Marsh was a different lady from yesterday and a great time was had by all to include the gentlemen across from us who had the same sort of day going for them.

See you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance. Call or e-mail if you have questions about the area.

Yesterday 11/14/2004 I had out Sam Neeli, and his two friends Jim and Bill. Sam and his wife Martha own and operate Twin River Outfitters on the New River in WV. Sam wanted to make sure his good friends caught some bass so we loaded the boat with 4 dozen shiners, and lots of food that Martha prepared for us.

We headed to the spillway and beached the boat on the point. As the sun came up the bass started biting with Bill taking an early lead on Jim. Sam and I watched as Bill and Jim battled to see who could land more bass on the shiners. Bill maintained his early lead until Jim landed a couple of bass in a row. When we were down to 2 shiners left Bill had the lead by one bass. Jim wasn't quitting however and came through and with a bass that ate his last shiner to tie the game. Bill did have one shiner in the water and was waiting for his last shot when I noticed a Cormorant swimming away with his shiner in its mouth. So the guys ended in a tie at 11 bass each when the shiners ran out. They did an excellent job with the shiners landing 22 bass.

We left the spillway and headed to the E/W ditch and began searching. I found a school of bass busting shad between the pump house and the intersection of the eastern N/S ditch. The group caught bass on rattle traps, and Senko’s. It was a beautiful day and with very little breeze it was nice to be able fish without being anchored or constantly on the trolling motor. The group called it a day at 1:15pm so we headed to the ramp.

There are lots of bass on the ditches, but these bass move up and down the ditches. There are days it requires lots of work to find them. When you find the bass throw your anchor out and begin catching. There have been countless times when we have been able to anchor on a school and catch well over a hundred bass without moving. We work them with Carolina rigged Senko’s and rattle traps. Crank baits and spinner baits will also work well at times. The key to catching the bass on the ditches has always been the shell beds and gravel. There are three main ditches that run N/S and one that run’s E/W. There is a swale that runs E/W on the North end of the Farm. The ditches run the entire length of the lake and the bass can be anywhere on them. If you don’t find the bass at intersection, work either north or south and don’t give up. Rattle traps make an excellent search bait and if you hit a bass work the area well as there are bound to more bass.

Today I spent the day with Bill Okeefe and his grandson Ryan Edwards. Both Ryan and Bill have been out with me before, but today would prove to be there best trip yet.

Ryan is only 9 years old, but he is an excellent fisherman and his willingness to learn makes it an absolute pleasure to have him on my boat. We started the day in the spillway loaded with 10 dozen shiners. We were the second boat to the spillway so I beached the boat on the point. Ryan did all the catching today and Bill and I watched the young man have a blast fighting bass after bass.

We fished the shiners free lined and the majority of the bass were caught between the shoreline and the fence, and off the point. Ryan did an excellent job hooking the bass and bringing them to the boat. Ryan ran through the shiners by 11:30am landing a total of 60 bass. We figured taking into account the shiners that died Ryan probably had a shot at 96 fish today so catching 60 bass is an excellent job with shiners.

Ryan worked different artificial baits throughout the day landing 7 bass for a total of 67 bass by 1:00pm. We had a great time today and with young fisherman like Ryan out there the future off bass fishing is in great hands.

10/10/2004 David Slobodkin of Oak Park, IL joined me for day one of a two day trip. This was Dave’s third trip out with me and proved to be his best yet. The weather man was calling for 20-25mph wind out of the NE, and unfortunately they where right. Due to the weather we decided that 6-dozen shiners would give Dave the best chance at a successful day of fishing. We left the ramp at 6:00am and headed to the spillway. I positioned the boat on the point and we began with the shiners both free lined and Carolina rigged. We found out right away that the bass preferred the shiners free lined both in the current and on the point. It did not take Dave long to get the hang of fishing with shiners and he began catching bass right away. After a couple of hours I moved the boat inside and began casting across the current and to the left of the point. Dave kept on catching bass except now fishing the shiners Carolina rigged proved more productive. At 10:30am I moved the boat to the west shoreline and we ran out of shiners at 11:00am. Dave landed 30 bass with the biggest weighing in at 6lbs. We switched to Carolina rigged Senkos and kept on catching bass until we called it a day at 2:45pm. A total of 75 bass where caught with the biggest weighing 6lbs.

10/11/2004 I meet Dave at 5:15am and we picked up 6 dozen shiners and headed to the ramp. We launched the boat at 6:00am and headed to the spillway. I beached the boat on the west shore where we had finished the day before. The action started immediately and the shiner bite stayed steady until we finished the shiners at 12:00pm. Dave caught 37 bass including a 7.5lbs bass and a 7.25lbs bass.

The majority of the bass were caught with free lined shiners and only a few on Carolina rigged shiners. The artificial bite was good early and slowed down as the day went on. At 12:00pm we switched to Carolina Rigged Senkos and caught another 13 bass by the time we left at 2:45pm. The color of the Senko did not matter and we used a 3/8oz weight for our Carolina rigs. We saw lots of bass caught on crank baits, swim baits, and rattletraps.

Scott

I spent Friday 10/29/2004 fishing with Andrew Ohlbaum from Islandia, NY. We left the ramp at 6:30am and headed to the pump house and anchored the boat. Andrew is a very experienced angler, but had not done much Carolina rigging and after a little bit of instruction he had it down pat. The fish started biting as soon as the sun came up and continued throughout the day. We did experience short periods where the fish would stop biting, but by being patient and not moving we were ready for them when they started back up. All the fish were caught on Carolina rigged Senko’s in dark colors and 3/8 ounce weights with an 18” leader. We spent the day in one spot catching 65 bass between 1 and 5 pounds. All in all it was an excellent day on the lake and Andrew and I went home with a sore thumb and tired arms.

Saturday, 10/30: I waited at the ramp for Pete Strong and Kevin Ferguson. Apparently they thought we are in the guide business for kicks and grins as they failed to show or even call. Thanks Pete and Kevin.

I spent 11/2/04 fishing a half day with Ron Hunchak and his wife Nina. We left the ramp at 6:15 loaded with 6 dozen shiners and headed for the spillway. We were pleasantly surprised to find the water flowing so I beached the boat on the point and tossed the shiners out. It did not take long and the fish started biting. After a short while with the couple catching quite a few bass between two and three pounds I decided to make a short run and give the NE corner of the farm a quick try. We anchored the boat outside of the stumps and tossed the shiners out. We spent 30 minutes and caught 1 bass around 4 pounds. I headed back to the spillway and beached the boat on the west side of the spillway. Ron set the hook on the next fish and immediately we knew he had a good fish. After a nice fight Ron landed a beautiful 7.5 lb bass his biggest to date. Nina not to be out done began catching bass and this continued until we ran out of shiners at 10:30am. We headed back to the ramp with over 30 bass up to 7.5lbs. All the bass caught in the spillway came on free lined shiners.

11/4/2004: Day one of a two day trip with David Grisby from Tulsa, OK and his friend David Wasdhal. The weather for the day was perfect and with a cold front moving in the next day we had high hopes. We started out in the NE corner of the farm and picked a few fish up to 3lbs on rattle traps and weightless Senkos. Next we headed to the Stick Marsh to try rattle-traps but by this point the wind was blowing 15+mph out of the south which made it very difficult so we headed back to the Farm. I headed to the end of the west N/S ditch and we began working Senkos. We caught a few small bass but we still didn’t find the school I was looking for. Next we headed to pinball alley and started looking. We found some bass scattered but still no school. We headed back to the NE corner of the Farm to finish out the day with hopes of catching a big one but unfortunately it never happened. All total 15 bass up to 4.25lbs made there way to the boat definitely a tough day by Stick Marsh standards.

11/5/2004: Day two was going to be totally different then day one. A cold front was expected to move in today bringing rain and winds over 20mph. We decided that shiners would give them the best chance to catch lots of bass. We started out in the Spillway and with decent current we had high hopes. I set the shiners out and the first bass came to the boat. Unfortunately besides a Cat fish in the first hour that was all the activity we saw. I decided we would leave the spillway area and head to the pump.* With the strong north winds the lake was getting rough, but I was able to get the anchors to hold. I was hoping for some current but at this point there was none. We through out the shiners and the catching began immediately. After a short while they turned the pumps on and the current was screaming. The bass really turned on at this point, and by 12:00pm they had gone through 8 dozen shiners. All the bass where caught on free lined shiners and even with the current they did not want them Carolina rigged. We had a few short periods of time where the bass would stop biting, but by being patient we where there when they decide to eat again. After the shiners where gone we switched to Carolina rigged Senkos. It did not take long for the bass to start eating the Senkos and after about and hour we where catching bass on almost every cast. By the time we called it a day at 3:15pm over 100 bass made there way to the boat with half on shiners and half on Senkos.

11/7/2004 I spent the day with Mike Jones and Greg Eaige from Savannah, MO. With the cold front conditions we decided that shiners would give them the best chance at catching lots of bass. Early in the morning it was cool and the wind was blowing hard out of the N/W. I headed to the NW of the Stick Marsh to try outside Pandora’s Box. I anchored the boat and through out the shiners. About a half hour had past and we didn’t get a bite. I left the Marsh and headed to the Farm. The wind was still blowing hard so I headed to the Pump House. It is rare that they run the pump on a weekend so I did not expect to see current. I anchored the boat and set the shiners out. The bite started slow but after a short while they started to eat. The bite was steady all day with only a small slow down as the day went on. At 3:00pm the 8 dozen shiners were eaten, and well over 50 bass made there way to the boat. No big bass where caught today but plenty of fish between two and five pounds.

Scott