I've had a few friends come stay with me for the Masters, so I took a few days off to fish.  Steve Mills and Lee Ayres, old high school buddies of mine, went Tuesday and fished for crappie.  We fished on a windy and cold day and caught no fish in the morning.  We changed locations and caught 50 fish in the afternoon.  They were all females loaded with eggs.  We caught them on minnows and orange and yellow jigs beneath corks.

They were in 4 foot on brush.  I'm sure the fish will be spawning in the next few days.  Lee Ayres and I decided to fish for striper and on Wednesday , we went with Tommy Dudley who guildes on the lake.  The sun came out and in extreme contrast to the day before,  Tommy knew where the fish were and we caught a limit by 1:00.  The fish were between two and eight pounds.  Below is a picture of our catch.

Remember,  with 1200 miles of shoreline, catching fish is a lot like finding that perfect waterfront property to buy, you gotta know where to go....

The big news is the crappie are on the banks and the water has come up five feet over the past two months.  I was lucky enough to go Wednesday morning for a half day.  I decided to fish for crappie using jigs.  I put a cork two feet above a small yellow and orange doll fly.  I found the crappie on two spots in three to five foot of water.  I didn't have very long, but did catch  twenty fish before I had to go.

Black bass fishing has really picked up as well.  This is a good time to worm fish.  I grew up fishing plastic worms and still love to catch black bass that way.  This time of year, you can't go wrong using a pumpkin seed plastic lizard with a chartreuse tail rigged Caroliana style.  Hybrid and stripers are slamming free lined herring.  The best area is near the dam.  However, I have learned over the years you can catch these fish almost anywhere this time of year.

For property at the lake, there simply hasn't been a better time to buy in years.  We have lowered prices in Dogwood Ridge down to $50,000 and have just listed three of hte best places on the entire lake.

 Remember,  with 1200 miles of shoreline, catching fish is a lot like finding that perfect waterfront property to buy, you gotta know where to go....