11-15-2001, 02:51 AM
DATE:11-15-01<br>LAKE LEVEL:558.8<br>NORMAL FULL POOL: 564.0<br>SURFACE TEMP: 61.3 in am -63.9 pm<br>WATER CLARITY: Great<br> <br>CRAPPIE: They are pulling water here so rapidly that crappie fishing is about nil. What crappie that are being taken are being taken on old river channel edges using dead poles and bottom bumpers with minnows.Slow, Slow, Slow.<br> <br>BASS: Bass fishing has picked up. Good stringers of fish coming out of the Chatooga on Rat'l Traps,Fat Free Shad, & Shad Rap's.Shad colors. The fish are being caught off of drops,sand bars and rocks.<br> <br>WHITE BASS: No report<br> <br>BREAM: Zero on Weiss. Great on Guntersville!<br> <br>CATFISH: Biting well<br> <br>STRIPE: The birds are starting to show up now but not in large numbers but they will be shortly. They make stripe fishing pretty easy. Best bait is a "little fishy", Rat'l Trap, & Live Shad.<br> <br>I took a friend of mine bream fishing on Lake Guntersville on Saturday the 10th. The gentleman's name is Mel. I deer hunt frequently with this man. He is nice enough to let me hunt and I take him fishing when I can. I generally outfish Mel pretty bad.And if he asks me a dumb question during the day I make fun of him (all in good nature). I ordered some wax worms off the internet and had about 25 crickets left from my trip with Mrs.. Cheryl. I n my mind, I thought Mel would do better on the wax worms because they are a little bit harder to get off the hook. We sat down on the fish about 9:30 and I started using crickets and Mel started using wax worms (I THOUGHT). I put 39 in the live well and ran out of crickets, Mel had not put a fish in the boat. Since we are tight lining these things about 30 feet down, I thought maybe he just couldn't feel the bite. So, then I went to wax worms and started catching fish immediately.I had noticed that Mel had his pocket knife out and there was a lot of balsa wood chips around his chair, but it really didn't flag up any bells or whistles. After about 6 or 7 fish on the wax worms, with big brown eyes Mel looks at me and asks "what are you doing to catch these fish?" My comment was some wise crack like "I put it in the water" And by the way most of the fish were pretty wet where they were and all of them I caught in the mouth. I didn't get a laugh from Mel. Now I was starting to think that the knife was there to cut my throat with. He says to me "let me see your hook". I showed it to him. He asks me "What is that on it" and I said "It's a wax worm" He says "What wax worms, I am fishing with the wood" Come to find out Mel was poking holes in the wood shavings and putting them on his hook.The wax worms were white and very small and a little hard to see.I got him straightened out and got him on wax worms rather than wood and he started catching fish immediately. We laughed about it, on the way home we talked about it and laughed some more.Mel told me that he was thinking "When that jerk runs out of crickets by God he will be in the same boat that I am in". And when I started catching fish on what he thought was wood shavings it got the best of him.Mel said that he had been fishing 65 years and he had never fished with wood chips before, he wondered what in the world I was coming up with.But, when I started catching them on what he thought was wood chips it just blew his mind.If he lives to be 100 I am never going to let him live this one down!By the way, we had a double limit (100) in about 3 & 1/2 hours even with the wood chips!<br>As always if we can help you in any way with lodging, car trouble,baits,advice, whatever, do not hesitate to give me a holler.I will be out of ton the 16th -19th (going deer hunting). <br>I bet you a nickel as soon as I cross into the state of Indiana all deer will head south.I am a pretty good fisherman but I am the most unlucky deerhunter in the world.If you want to see good deer, maybe even great deer, invite me on a deer hunt and put me as far away from you as possible and you will see all the deer you want!<br>Plant your corn early, do not pee in the wind, and DO NOT BUY A COMPAQ COMPUTER!!<br> <br>Thanks, Steve 256-927-6617 www.weisslakeguideservice.com <br><br>