A Couple More Personal Firsts

"To get in a few casts before the weather turns bad." That was why kayaker Ron hit the water this past Friday, and I'm here to tell you that he (and all the local weather forecasters, too) certainly were right about what was going to happen to the weather the following day.

All that aside, though, Ron started his day trying a wacky-rigged Senko. He was throwing it up under overhanging brush. "I had heard it works," he said.

His first bite got away. A few casts later, though, he had a good bump and line run, so he set the hook...and got what he wanted, but at a price. As luck would have it, his line got wrapped in a branch (I had a little of that yesterday, as well). Ron subsequently maneuvered his kayak into the overhanging brush, then with a twist, turn and pull on the line, freed the tangle. Still attached after this effort was a 12-inch bass (see above)--his first one ever on a senko.

Ron stuck with the senko a bit longer before changing to a chigger craw. Then we went to a chatterbait, but neither of these worked, so he switched to a chug'n spook toward sunset and had several short strikes.

Finally, however, he laid a perfect cast up into a shoreline nook, twitched the bait a few times, and, wham! he scored a season first 1-lb. 13-ouncer (see above) on a topwater lure.

I had another email note earlier today from Ron, saying he had spent the morning in Nanny's Creek, which he described as a "wind funnel." He said there was a half-knot current flowing out, and by 9 a.m., it had brought all the mud. He only had managed a single 1-lb. bass on a Zoom fluke and noted that gar were everywhere but wouldn't bite what he was offering.

At 4 p.m. today, following a quick lunch and nap, Ron and his son, Alex, launched their kayaks on Crystal Lake at Tecumseh (a borrow pit), where the water temp was 64, with an air temp of about 55 and manageable winds.

This afternoon's venture proved to be more profitable than Ron's morning trip to Nanny's Creek. He caught a 1-2 bass on a chigger craw, as well as this 2-3 bass (pictured above) on a shadow rap. He also lost a huge gar alongside the kayak while tossing the shadow rap.

Meanwhile, Alex was having even better luck with Yum christie craws. He boated four bass, ranging from 2-1 up to this really nice 3-14, with these baits. He also landed a 19-inch chain pickerel on a shadow rap.

As I've read in previous email notes from Ron, his son often "puts it on Dad" when they're out on the water together like they were this afternoon.

Said Ron in closing today's note, "Jackets, hats and gloves (as you see here) were a necessity" for their trip to Crystal Lake at Tecumseh.