Jacobson Park, Lexington

Today I spent about three hours at Jacobson Park in Lexington, Kentucky, a usual haunt of ours. I hit our usual spot under a tree that will normally yield anywhere from three to ten fish in a session, our best being eighteen across three anglers.

Today was a wash though as I failed to pull anything. I'm not even sure that the "bites" I was experiencing were legitimate bites as there was a small turtle circling the area and he kept taking a fancy to my float.

I have read that the feeding patterns of fish change the day after a front comes through the area and we had a small front push through yesterday evening. Maybe that accounts for how slow today was. Didn't stop the blue heron from picking up a small bluegill just about ten feet from where I was stationed though!

I tried the float fishing method mainly with cut nightcrawlers on a two foot line under a 7" Thill balsawood float with a large shot weight. Basically, this is my favourite rig and works many more times than it doesn't, today being only the second trip in which I returned home empty handed.

While the day was slow I thought I'd try some different spinning methods out, not expecting to catch with any of these. First up was a black and red buzzbait which I thought was supposed to churn up the surface water but that didn't occur. Maybe the weight is wrong for that to happen, I'll have to check on that.

Next up was my red, yellow and green Road Runner. I like this rig as it never seems to get hung up on the bottom of the lake. That said I haven't caught anything with it in the two weeks I've owned it.

Last but not least I tried out a 5" golden floater surface plug. This was the first time I had tried this out and really liked the way it mimics a dying fish. I feel I got the hang of this one pretty quick but I'm now interested to see if there are smaller versions available.

If it looks to be a slow day I am more than willing to spend time trying things out. There was plenty action further toward the centre of the lake, including a very nice and very golden carp that leapt about 25 feet in front of me and just slightly to my left. The day will come when I will be chasing and catching this type and size of fish but, for today, nothing! Ah, well ... back to the drawing board.