Hook, Line & Sinker...

I had an email from Jim Bauer last night, telling me about the day he had spent in West Neck Creek. The highlight of his day was this 2-1 and a small striper, both of which he caught on a swim senko. He also caught two dinks on a Bandit crankbait in firetiger. Rounding out his day were four crappie (three of which he gave to Dewey) and a bream, all of which he boated at the West Neck Bridge.

Jimmy reported seeing a fair amount of bait fish in the creek yesterday, but there only were occasional blowups from bass chasing them--and he couldn't generate any interest whatsoever in a topwater bait. The water temperature at launch time was 72, compared to 79 when he came in about 3:30. Duckweed again was everywhere from the ramp area, all the way out to the bridge, during the afternoon.

Like Charlie Bruggemann did the other day, Jimmy encountered a cottonmouth yesterday--"just popped up around some bait fish as I started to cast," he reported. The cottonmouth decided to turn and head for the far bank, which probably was a good idea, given the fact that Jimmy had his "dose of prevention" handy.

Before leaving the marina yesterday afternoon, Jimmy stopped in at the store to visit with Dewey. While there, Bob Glass showed up, and Jimmy was able to show both of them the nice 6-8 he had gotten during his latest trip to Lake Gaston. Both Dewey and Bob couldn't believe the fish weighed only 6-8, given the size of its mouth.

It appears everybody is catching fish. Here's the mixed bag Skip Schaible came up with today. He didn't hit the water until 10:01. All the fish you see in this panoramic photo then came into the boat between 10:30 and 1 o'clock, which is, as Skip noted, when it started clouding up. Skip told me that he had one other hookup today--it hit a crankbait and swam under the boat, ultimately gaining its freedom. According to Skip, "It felt a little bigger."

In the email these photos were attached to, Skip described an unusual event he witnessed today while on the water. He sent me a photo, but I couldn't get it of usable quality for the blog. In any event, he said he was fishing a cove when a small duck happened on the scene and began swimming around. All of a sudden, though, Skip started hearing some splashing. He first just figured the duck was diving or doing whatever it is that ducks do. When the racket kept up, he turned and had a look.

He first noticed that some bass had a school of shad herded up. But then he realized something was after the duck, too. "I have no idea what it was, but it kept trying to get him," he said. "I'd see this wake in the water, and then--POW!--something would grab for the little duck. Whatever it was made four or five passes before things settled down."

Skip noted that he has heard of bass trying to eat baby squirrels--and I've seen 'em chase snakes before, too--but he's never heard or seen anything like what he witnessed firsthand today. He tried big frogs, white mice, and gray mice to get the attention of whatever it was after the baby duck, but no such luck.

Here's wishing both of you fellas the best of luck in tomorrow's tourney.