Stren Series #4
Lake Gaston
Water Temp: 70 mornings - 80 afternoons
Summer/Fall


You know you're down south when there are soy beans and tobacco as far as the eye can see!


Click to enlarge...



Click to enlarge...

I ended up finding my way just fine. It’s actually one of the simplest drives I've had all year. The drive took about 8 hours with only one stop for gas.


Click to enlarge...

I pulled into the cabin at 2:30, stepped out and my foot ripped through the front of my sandals. I knew the time was coming, but I had hoped that I could make it to the end of the year. Thankfully I had brought my sneakers with me; unfortunately i had only brought 1 pair of socks, not figuring on wearing them. I spent the next 4 hours organizing my boat and changing reels and rods. The weather was absolutely beautiful, which was good since I had just realized that I left both of my rain suits at home. Even so, I was excited to be here. 2 years ago when we fished here I placed 13th and had a blast catching some giant fish. My first day of practice was nothing like 2 years ago. In 10 hours of fishing I caught only 2 shorts. Later that night I talked to some of the guys I was staying with and they had caught anywhere from 4 to 6 keepers each. When you can't even get bit, it's almost impossible to establish a pattern. I was a little down, but I knew the next day couldn't be any worse. Thankfully, the second day of practice went a little better. I started out throwing my favorite buzzbait of all time and caught 2 keepers in the first hour. That bite got tough and I decided I wanted to go and spend the rest of the day fishing off-shore. After about 5 hours of nothing I decided not to pursue it any further. I went back to a creek that I had caught some good ones off docks 2 years ago. I fished the docks without success. I kept noticing grass on my depth finder as I was trolling between docks. It was deeper, ending in about 10' of water. I really didn't even want to try fishing it, but I decided I should give it a try. On my first cast I caught one almost 3lbs and it had 4 following it. I casted about 50' further down the grass line and caught another good one. I picked up my trolling motor and went around the corner to another bank like it and caught 10 shorts and 2 more keepers. By this time it was getting dark and I decided to head in. When I got back to the cabin that night I found out that I had had the best day of anyone in the house. I was starting to feel a little better.