I know it was insane to go fishing on a holiday weekend but my crew was anxious to get on the water. We started at Vanns Tavern prepping our rods for Downline fishing with Blueback Herring. We had a couple dozen in the bait tank ready to be deployed. We decided to head into Two Mile creek staying in at least 40′ of water. We only saw one other boat around 7:30. It looked like a guide trip. They too were searching. While explaining a few key points about how to keep the boat in the center of the creek by following the pointer on the GPS, I handed to trolling motor remote to Willie so that he could keep us straight while searching for fish on the sonar. Willie was new to a Sonar screen so he was asking questions about some of the marks on the screen. After a brief explanation I noticed that the GPS screen was showing that we were in twenty feet of water which is where we didn’t want to be. As we were moving back to our target depth of at least 40′ we came up on spaghetti. There were fish abounding everywhere but only from 12′ to 18′ deep.

We immediately put the trolling motor on Anchor and deployed four Downlines. Within seconds our rod tips were dipping down and it was FISH ON.

Willie & Michael not being used to live bait fishing were lifting the rods out of the holders without at least cranking the reel a couple of times to get the slack out. As a result we did not boat many fish but they did finally catch more by remembering to crank those reels. We stayed anchored at that location catching, boating and losing several large spotted bass and some huge catfish. A fun time to be remembered. Knowing your target, bait tank care, how to use your tools including line counter reels, how to net a fish, and reading your sonar are some of the things you have to consider to have a successful and fun time fishing. Well around 10am they found out why you shouldn’t fish on a holiday weekend because the pontoon boats, jet skis, cigarette boats and other boats were coming at us from all directions and not slowing down. Downline fishing at that point was over. Still a great time with some great guys. Already planning our next trip. Good job fellas.