Strip pit fishing is something I had read about in a fishing magazine over a decade ago. So when my Buddy Doug Cheatham invited me to go I was pretty excited, fishing new stuff is always fun, and since retiring and moving from NorCal to Missouri almost everything is new stuff. Strip pit are what’s left after a mining operation, in this case we were fishing Goldeneye Lake, One of several strip pit lakes inside the Pyramid Recreation Area. The area was originally a coal mine, with the coal running in a long vein just under the top soil, the mining operation left a pit, in this case about 40 ft deep and 150 yards wide, by a mile long. After the coal ran out, the company cleaned up the area and it filled with rain water and was stocked by the state in the 1960s. Making for a beautiful and unique fishing location. There’s an abundance of wildlife using the strip pits. We seen deer and tons of cottontail rabbits and birds galore.
As for the fishing it did not disappoint, after just a couple of casts Doug caught a nice largemouth, followed by another a short time later, he pointed me towards a couple of brush piles and it was my turn to land a few. We targeted brush piles in the 8-12 ft range and enjoyed good fishing most of the day.
We basically spent the day fishing down one side and back up the other throwing mostly Shakey Heads rigged with Crock-O-Gator Worms. Fishing brush piles will get you hung up, but we were able to to get our baits out every time using a device called the Auto-Trieve, an automatic retrieval system for lure knockers. Look for a product review on RBBASS Outdoors soon.
All in all it was thoroughly enjoyable day fishing a new body of water with a good friend and something I hope to do again…
Www.Crockogatorbaitcompany.com
Www.Luresaver.net
Jeff Jewell
RBBASS Angler