Quote Originally Posted by know1 View Post
I'm glad to see other people say this. I'm not the expert you all are, but I've fished it quite a bit the last two winters, and both years I did much worse after mid-January. My best trips the last two years have been in December and right around the first of the year.

I don't really know how to use a jig, so I just throw the FNF all day. I will say that even though the bite seems better the first two hours of daylight (although I can hardly get my relatives out of bed to get there that early), I have caught my biggest fish later in the day.

That's just been my experience.
A little tip on how to get the relatives out of bed. LEAVE THEM. I took my Brother in Law down to Dale and he is a pretty good fisherman and would be a pro if all the tourneys launched at NOON. We were staying in John Davis's cabin just outside Holly Creek. I got up first and showered, woke him up and cooked breakfast (yes I do this with every fishing partner I take for I am a pretty good cook and would make a good fishing wife), I woke him up again and again. I finished my breakfast, started getting on my 18 layers of clothes and told him that if he was not in my truck at a certain time, I was leaving him. I went outside, unhooked the boat from the charger, put the snacks, waters, rods, and tackle in the boat. Got in the truck with about 2 minutes to spare from the time I told him. I waited the last 2 minutes and started pulling out and here he came a running. He jumps in and said "You were going to leave me". I told him that I did not drive all this way and spend all this money and miss the best bite. We launched and had 9 fish in the boat in the first 3 hours, including 4 over 4lbs each that I landed and he caught his first 5 pounder. The next morning he heard me get up and get in the shower and he was sitting on the couch for his turn in the shower when I walked out of the bathroom. Never had a problem with him since. I have since fished with a few other people and they all know if I am launching out of Holly Creek and the sun is starting to come up, I AM LATE. I make cast with the fly when I can't even see my bobber. I will cast and slowly reel in the bobber just to keep tension on the rod and have caught 3 fish this way. Best bite on the fly is defineately from SUNUP to 11am.