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#1 Mar-18-19 6:49AM

Bryan
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Bealeton, VA
Registered: Mar-18-11
Posts: 1194

Spots and Specks 3/16-3/17

A few weeks ago I decided I needed to make a freshwater/saltwater combo trip to get my fishing fix. Saturday's goal was to catch my first spotted bass. On Sunday I just wanted to get on my first speckled trout of the year.

Saturday morning I headed to Diascund Reservoir. I heard that spotted bass were introduced into this lake some time in the last decade and apparently established a decent population. I've been wanting to catch a spot for years and this seemed like the place to do it.

I launched around 930-10am and basically just covered water since this was a new lake to me. The weather was cool and windy with bright blue skies and the water was tannic brown and 52-55 degrees. I mostly threw a jerkbait, chatterbait, and crankbaits.  There's lots of wood in the lake, but I generally stayed off the banks.

I got my first bite on a jerkbait after an hour and a half and it was what I was looking for. Not a huge one, but it was a spot!

https://i.postimg.cc/tTLhP7g1/IMG-20190316-112813.jpg

It was probably 3 hours until I had another bite, and that was spot #2! It was bigger than the first and hit a lipless crankbait on a flat.


https://i.postimg.cc/fLSvprWp/Photo-Editor-20190318-083111253.jpg

These fish definitely fight more like a smallmouth, I like their attitude! Anyway, I fished for a couple more hours, and only landed one more bass right before pulling out. It was another spot of maybe a pound that took the jerkbait. I didn't catch any largemouth or any other species.

Got a hotel for the night and re-rigged for some speck fishing the next day.

Sunday I took my time getting ready to let the air warm up and the tide to get where I wanted it. Ended up launching at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach around 11am. It was chilly and breezy so I tried to stay in sheltered areas.

It didn't take long, I hooked up on my second cast to a small speck on a swimbait. A few casts later I had another on a mirrolure. Looked like I was in for a ton of action, but...I fired up the trolling motor and went the wrong way. I didn't have another bite for 2 hours, it wasn't until I returned to my starting point that I got back on the fish.

For about an 90 minutes after that the action was fast, but they were mostly smaller specks from 10-14" and nothing over 19" or so. They were really aggressive, I was using a 5" swimbait and they were hitting it hard and trying to swallow it. The water temp crept all the way up to 58 by the afternoon so these fish are putting on the feedbag.

https://i.postimg.cc/fy4vNfJL/Photo-Editor-20190318-082923103.jpg

I'd estimate I caught 30+ fish total. Got a few on a mirrolure and a smaller swimbait too, but the hottest bait was a Zoom swimmin fluke on a 1/8oz head. I could have kept a limit but this was a C&R trip so everything went back. The bite eventually slowed, and the air got colder, so I fished until 5:00 then loaded up and headed home.

It was a really fun weekend, I love it when a plan comes together!


tight lines

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#2 Mar-18-19 6:54AM

Junger
Northern Snakehead
From: Potomac, MD
Registered: Aug-14-17
Posts: 720

Re: Spots and Specks 3/16-3/17

Beautiful fish...love those days when a plan gets executed and the fish cooperate!

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#3 Mar-18-19 7:03AM

drxfish
Patagonian Toothfish
From: Sterling
Registered: Jan-04-14
Posts: 2975

Re: Spots and Specks 3/16-3/17

As I like to say, mission o-complisho!  Great job getting what you were after!!


Always wishin' I was fishin'

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#4 Mar-18-19 7:30AM

Ernie
Administrator
From: Ashburn VA
Registered: Feb-03-06
Posts: 15564

Re: Spots and Specks 3/16-3/17

Excellent!!


Time to go fishin' again!

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