I Had a Game Plan and Stuck to It

I had a game plan when I headed to West Neck this morning, and I stuck to it all day long. My plan was simple: I wasn't going to fish anything but different colors of Bandit Footloose and Bandit 100. The bass pictured here weighed 2-12 and was my best of 15 that I boated. The next four best weighed 1-3, 1-4, and two at 1-9, for a five-fish total of 8-5. The majority of my fish came on the Footloose. However, the two 1-9s came on the 100.

Besides the 15 bass, I caught four white perch, one small striper, and a bowfin.

The best colors today were brown crawdad with orange belly and firetiger.

Although I never did see what it was, I had a number of fish hit the Bandit 100 right alongside the boat, just as I was lifting the lure out of the water. I nearly jumped out of my skin everytime it happened, 'cause I wasn't prepared. A couple of the fish actually got hooked for just a couple seconds, but they managed to free themselves before I could get them in the boat.

The water temperature when I launched this morning was in the upper 70s. When I quit at 2:45, it had climbed to 84.

I saw Tom Acree and Skip Schaible on the water today, and Skip was kind enough to email me these photos at right of some of the fish he caught--down in Albright's Creek, I think. That, at least, is where he indicated he was headed when we chatted briefly in West Neck Creek right after he had launched. His day included a total of eight bass and the one bream you see in the middle of the top row. Looking at that photo just goes to show you that there seems to be no limit to the size of lure a small fish will chase when it's hungry or annoyed--or maybe a little of both.

Skip's productive lures today were topwaters, crankbaits (as you see in the photo with the bream), and Senkos.

Everything pales in comparison to the 8 lb. 2 oz. (according to his digital scales) beauty Tom Acree is holding in this photo. The fish measured 21 inches in length and 19 inches in girth. He caught it today (Monday, 8/13/12) at 3 p.m.--just moments after watching me go by him, headed for the ramp. According to Tom, "It was my last cast of the day." Other than that, he's only saying that he caught it "in the creek" (meaning West Neck Creek), on a northeast wind. All I can say, Tom, is: "Congratulations on a job well done." (Note: If you ever want to get a close estimate on the weight of a trophy fish, measure the length and girth, then go to this web link: http://www.bassresource.com/bassfishing/fishcalculator.html.)

Epilog: Charlie Bruggemann also was on the water today. He paddled his way back to Spitzli Creek again, where he caught 21 bass. All were dinks, except for two that broke the 1-pound mark. His successful baits were a topwater frog (until 10 o'clock) and a Senko. Be watching for the full report on his blog at http://vbfishguide.blogspot.com/.