It Was Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Raindrops kept falling on my head, off and on, for about an hour or hour and a half after I launched this morning. It wasn't heavy, but it was steady enough I was forced to pull out the top to my rainsuit and put it on.

As usual, I started the morning throwing an assortment of topwater baits, with very limited results. I had several boil under the baits or swipe at them and miss. However, I heard that Bobby Moore was throwing a Pop R right through the heat of the day and catching fish with it. The Pop R is one that I threw for a while this morning, too, but to no avail. I saw several instances of fish attacking bait pods, and I threw to several of those, too, but again with no results.

While Bobby apparently was doing well with a Pop R, I talked to an old-timer (and, yes, I'm saying that with tongue in cheek) in one of the West Neck coves, and he was bagging bass with a Tiny Torpedo. He said he already had boated 4 when I talked to him.

Here's what I ended up with after six and a half hours of fishing:

(Left) 1 bowfin, (Right) 3 bass

(Left) 2 gar, (Right) 1 striper

(Left) 2 white perch, (Right) 1 yellow perch

None of my 3 bass weighed a pound. I boated 1 of them on a Bang-O-Lure; the other 2 came on a 3/8-oz. Bomber, as did all the other fish. As has been the case for weeks now, I had to be cranking the Bomber dead slow, with occasional pauses in the retrieve.

I learned from talking to Dewey this afternoon that Bob Glass boated a nice striper (mine was tiny) today. It already had found a home in Dewey's freezer, and he indicated it would be eaten before week's end.

I also talked to Jimmy Bauer today. Here's what he caught:

(Left) 2 bass, (Right) 10 crappie

His bass, like mine, were small. All the crappie came at the West Neck Bridge on a flyrod, and one of them was a dandy. The crappie were getting a ride home this afternoon in Jimmy's livewell because they're going to become table fare.

I guess you could say the day wasn't a bust for anyone, but it also wasn't necessarily something you would want to write home about.