"When the Water Is High, Go to the Back of Albright's"



Caught 5-17-2012, weighed 2lbs. 1oz.

By Ken Testorff

I've been following that advice about where to fish when North Landing River is high for years, and at least 95 percent of the time, the advice pays off in a respectable catch. Today was no exception. I had a good feeling about how the day might turn out from the moment I shut down the outboard (about 0700) and hopped on the trolling motor. The water in Albright's Creek was that super black color, without even a trace of the annoying mud we've been dealing with up and down the river system for several days. I nearly always boat some fish in those conditions.

I didn't have to go far before boating my first and biggest bass of the day--weighing a nice 2-lbs. 15-ozs. The fish had given away his location, albeit in a fairly subtle way. I was tossing my topwater at the point going into a shallow cove when I saw just one tall piece of grass moving. On the fifth cast, the "bad boy" couldn't stand that Bang-o-Lure bobbing in his face any longer. The strike resembled that of a small fish, but once I set the hook, the battle was on. He made a complete circle of the boat, getting airborne twice, then tried to wrap in my trolling motor. All I can say is "thank God" for 40-lb. braid. It's the only thing I fish any more.

I stayed with the Bang-o-Lure until about 8:30, which is when the wind kicked up. In that time I boated two more bass, one weighing 1-8 and the other just a dink, as well as a white perch. With the cloud cover still solidly overhead, I stayed with a topwater bait. My choice was a walk-the-dog lure, which always seems to work well for me in windy conditions.

In the next six hours, I boated five more bass and another white perch. Two of those five bass were dinks, but the others weighed in at 1-0, 1-13 and 2-1 (see photo above). My biggest five of the day had a combined weight of 9-4, which nearly duplicated my total weight for our tourney last Saturday.

I missed several topwater strikes throughout the day, mostly as a result of being too quick on the trigger. I also had a couple fish come unbuttoned, but in both those cases, I was happy it happened. In the first instance, I had tossed the lure across a submerged log but had to delay my retrieve because of a bird's nest. Once I had that problem under control and had taken up the slack, I felt pressure and set the hook. Immediately, I saw this 6- or 7-lb. grindle roll up and over the log. Seconds later, though, my line went limp, and I breathed a sigh of relief. About four casts later, another grindle--a much smaller version--snatched my lure but like his bigger and uglier cousin came loose almost as quickly as he had hit.

By 2:30, I had had enough of the wind. After tying everything down, I began the less-than-pleasant trip back through windswept water to West Neck. The ramp gratefully was clear of other boats, so I wasted no time in recovering mine, getting it cleaned up, and heading home.