Cold snap put crimp in action

High winds and cold temperatures lowered the boom on most fishing opportunities earlier this week, but weather and fishing conditions ought to return to near normal after today.

This is the time of year when most game fish can be caught in fairly shallow water, but surface temperatures have slumped to the mid-50s. They'll need to hit the mid-60s for things to really turn on.

Be that as it may, the Brier Creek Bassmasters' Wyman Tapley and Bill McKie, of the Belvedere Bassbusters, dominated last weekend's Local Top Six Bass Championships on Thurmond Lake.

Tapley won the event with 10 fish weighing 32.94 pounds, while McKie was second with 10 weighing 30.42 pounds. Most largemouths are being caught adjacent to flooded shoreline weeds on spinnerbaits and Carolina-rigged soft plastic baits.

The full moon shone brightly Wednesday night and with it comes a surge of spawning shellcrackers, also known as redear sunfish.

Crappies, too, ought to be nearing shore again after colder conditions forced them into deeper water.

- Can anyone tell me why yellow perch are sometimes called Eisenhowers, or Eisenhower perch? That was the question last week. Here are a couple of answers.

"The story has it that while Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, he was served fried yellow perch. He was so impressed, he declared them the best-tasting fish he'd ever eaten. He could not understand why they were not in every lake and river, so he instructed the U.S. Department of the Interior to see that they were stocked in lakes and rivers throughout the country." -- Jim Baxter.

"The first yellow perch caught locally, I think, was brought into town in 1948 by Mr. Wallace Brewster. It was caught in Brier Creek. I had a book about fresh water fish, so I quickly identified it as a yellow perch. They appeared in great numbers during the administration of President Eisenhower and everyone assumed the government had stocked them, thus the nickname 'Eisenhower perch.'" -- Grier Tanner, Sylvania, Ga. "P.S.: Mr. Brewster said it was a rainbow trout!"

THURMOND LAKE

Capt. David Willard, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed full-time professional fishing guide specializing in hybrids and stripers and trophy largemouth bass. Boat phone: (706) 214-0236. (803) 637-6379 (crockett rocket@bellsouth.net) -- My parties hung tough and fished right on through the bad weather, catching really nice stripers, hybrids and largemouth. The lake looked more like the north Atlantic than it did a lake on Monday and Tuesday. Some of the local people who had good luck included Chuck McGahee, whose fishing partner, Tony Faircloth, a Grovetown firefighter, caught a limit of nice stripers. George Dudich and his 12-year-old, George III, recently moved from Ohio and settled in Evans. It was their first time on the lake and they had a great time catching some nice fish. Angie Tisdale and Uncle John from Mobile, Ala., put together a fish fry, catching some slab hybrids and nice stripers. We're catching a mixture of fish pulling live herring behind planer boards and on downlines in 20-30 feet of water.

Ralph Barbee Jr., professional guide, (706) 860-7373 -- My show features an archived feature from the past: The Georgia DNR's fish hatchery at Richmond Hill, Ga., making "baby" hybrids and stripers and catching some big stripers in the Savannah River.

Dale Gibbs, professional guide specializing in largemouth bass (706) 288-7510 -- The lake is on the rise, largemouth bass are biting and the winds just won't let up. I found the bass are up shallow for the most part, taking advantage of the weeds that grew during the low water period. Some fish started to spawn a couple of weeks ago and the bulk of them will spawn over the next three or four weeks as water temperatures rise and the moon phase gets just right. The bites I'm getting are coming in less than 8 feet of water, most on the edge of the weedlines. Try casting a r-ounce Buckeye spinnerbait of your choice into and out of the weeds. If that doesn't work, go to the plastic lizards or worms on Carolina rigs and fish from the weedlines out.

Capt. Mark Crawford, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in hybrid and striped bass, www.teamsaveonemore.com. (706) 373-8347 -- I fished this week on the lower end of the lake, fishing live herring on downlines. Michael Hollingsworth, of Anchorage, Alaska; Edward Littrell, of Augusta; Jajuan Richardson, of Smithfield, N.C., and John Tempel, of Blue Springs, Mo., fished with me and caught a limit of nice hybrids and stripers weighing 3-10 pounds apiece. Daniel Eubanks, Jonathan Newman, Jimmy Riches and Todd Oblak, all from Augusta, caught a nice cooler full of hybrids and stripers.

Capt. William Sasser, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in crappies, hybrids and striped bass. (706) 589-5468 -- Charlie Brinson, his son, Mitchell, 16, and father, Charles Brinson, all of Martinez; Russell Cribbs, of Pembroke, Ga., and Hunter Harwell, of Brunswick, Ga., fished with me on Thursday. We caught some 22 fish downlining and using cut bait. Another group of people who fished with me on Wednesday were Stephen Augenstein, of Delray Beach, Fla.; Robert Bradburn, of Hephzibah; Tropical Bob Hockman, of Evans, and Albert Moody of Augusta. We caught 21 hybrids and stripers.

Capt. Tommy Dudley, U.S. Coast Guard-licensed professional guide specializing in stripers and hybrids. (706) 833-4807 -- I've had a few good days on the lake. Ninety-nine percent of my fish are being caught on downlines. The water is still pretty cool, starting at 55 degrees. Mickey Michelis, Sardis, Ga., grandsons Jake Lockwood, 11, and Luke Lockwood, 14, of Jacksonville, Fla., had a great day catching their limits, keeping 27. Biggest was 7 pounds. We fished 16-20 feet down in 50-60 feet of water around Hamilton Branch State Park. Ed and Tommy Hamilton, of Melbourne, Fla., spent two days with me, caught and released smaller fish and took two limits back to Florida. We caught most on downlines in 25-35 feet of water.

Albert Moody, Clarks Hill Herring Hut, Clarks Hill, S.C. (864) 333-2000 -- Dawson Carver, 8, of Appling, Ga., caught his first striper, a 10-pound, 8-ounce fish, on cut bait. Alex Vando, 8, of Augusta, caught a big striper.

SAVANNAH RIVER

New Savannah Bluff Lock & Dam

Lock and Dam Bait and Tackle (Bob Baurle and Russ Peyton), (706) 793-8053 -- Lora Sheffield and Thomas Biantley caught seven nice channel catfish on green worms as well as some nice crappies. Evan, 5, and Cole, 3, Vakoe limited out on shad off the dam. Ollie Suarez and E.J. Teasley caught 20 catfish, six bream, four white perch all on liver and red worms. Phillip Crawford caught a 12.5-pound hybrid on cut shad off the dam. David T. Castle caught two tagged stripers weighing 20 pounds and 17 pounds and released both. The fish hit a bucktail and cut herring. Carlos Delgado limited out on bream and warmouth three successive days. The fish bit crickets. Anoesha Roscoe caught a bucket load of herring on Sabiki rigs. Kagy Jones and Dan Nunn limited out on largemouth bass 3-5 pounds in the Mayor's Fishing Hole.

MERRY LAND BRICKYARD PONDS

Harrison Sears (706) 722-8263 (www.brickyard ponds.com) -- J.J. Dixon is leading this month's big contest with a 6.89-pound bass caught on a plastic worm in the Ditch during the bass tournament last Friday. That was the big fish that anchored the 17-pound catch of J.J and partner J.C. Dicks, who won the tourney. Marty Pearson and Paul Grubbs with 12.05 pounds were second. Forty-one fishermen were in the field. Donnell Holmand caught a 3.39-pound bass in the King Pond. Robert Hughes and Jerry Jarrell caught five bass in the Garden Pond, the largest 5.55 pounds. Allen Buggs caught a 5.68-pound bass in the Membership Pond on plastic worms.