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5 Men, 2 Days, 16 Fish & 1 tough weekend!
Well, when most people in our neck of the woods (which would be South West Pennsylvania) want to go for the illusive 10lb Largemouth Bass, they head to the lake at the Stonewall Jackson Dam. Stonewall Jackson Dam, “SWJ” for those who know it, is a man-made dam built and managed by The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Completed in 1990, the Stonewall Jackson Dam is located in the mountains of Roanoke,West Virginia, three miles south Weston, West Virginia and 73 miles upstream from the West Fork River’s mouth.
The lake boasts 82 miles of shoreline loaded with sunken timber, and over 2,600 acres of prime fishing water during the summer pool. But the most important feature of SWJ is the presence of those fat bucket-mouths that inhabit its depths. Don't be fooled, scoring a real life trophy will take some doing, and trust me, it's a rough go.
Our late spring trip with five men, three boats, and thousands of dollars of tackle, only yielded 16 bass over two days. None were bigger than 3lbs! Now granted, we were there during a storm front, in fact, the lake was hammered with heavy rain for both days of our trip. So in comparison to some of the other bass anglers enjoying a weekend away from the wife, we did fairly well.
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Now, I don't want to upset all of my Wolverine friends out in Michigan, and yes both Lake Michigan & Lake St. Clair have booming smallmouth fisheries, its just that Lake Erie regularly produces abundant schools of quality fish, as opposed to one quality fish per school.