Hook, Line & Sinker...

It's always a good day when everybody catches fish, and that was the case today for Charlie Bruggemann, Chris Fretard, and yours truly. Numberswise, it was no contest--Charlie, as usual, handily took top honors. He finished the day with 17 bass and 3 pickerel. His top 4 bass weighed in at 1-4, 1-6, 1-8, and 2-6. His best pickerel was a 2-10.

Chris ended up with 4 bass. He said two of 'em went about 15 inches, one about 13 inches, and the other 10 inches. All four fish were caught in 1.5 to 2.5 feet of water, off submerged stumps, and they all were caught on worms. Chris was pleased by the fact that two of the bass were fooled by one of his hand-poured concoctions. "I probably got a dozen bites on the store-bought and hand-poured worms combined," said Chris, "but only hooked the four. The majority of them were 'good' bites (a solid thump, and then they would swim with it), but they weren't "eating" it. Maybe they were tail-grabbers (very small bass or perch)," he concluded.

My day started with a bang when this 3-3 grabbed my chatterbait only 30 or 45 minutes after I had gotten on the water. I was cranking it dead slow at the time, and when he took the bait, it just felt like I had hung the top of a submerged stump. It wasn't until I saw the line jump and then saw him stick his head above the water that I realized I actually had a fish. I kept throwing the same chatterbait off and on the rest of the day but never had another fish make a pass at it--that I'm aware of, at least.

The other 4 bass that I boated today all came off a khaki/brown back/scales-colored Bandit 100-series crankbait that I was throwing for the first time today. I chose that particular color because, as I looked around my tacklebox this morning, I remembered that I had caught a fair number of fish last year on the same color in a Bang-o-Lure. I didn't make but maybe a half-dozen casts with the Bandit before I hooked up with a fish.

These are the 3 other "keeper" bass that I caught today with the Bandit. From top to bottom, they weighed 1-4, 1-0 and 0-15. If you look closely at the fish in the bottom photo, you probably will see that spot in the center of his head, just behind his eyes. There was a rather fresh chunk of meat missing there, as well as another piece from his side that's against the floor of my boat.

The one other bass that I boated today was only about a 10-incher. I also caught a grindle that would have gone 2 or 2.5 lbs. Unlike Charlie, though, I don't weigh those things. I simply unhook 'em as soon as I can and get back to fishing. When I unhooked this one today, he immediately leaped and splashed me good about three or four times--what his problem was, I have no idea, but it sure was some strange behavior.

When I arrived at the marina this morning, I immediately turned and went down to have a look at the ramp, and I have to admit I was questioning whether I even should try to launch. The water level still was about the same 6 inches above the joint that Skip Schaible had reported to me yesterday.

After thinking about it a little bit, though, I decided to go ahead and rig my boat, then go down and find out. Don't guess I need to tell you, I  took my time and had decided I wasn't going to take any chances. I drove off the end of a ramp (not at West Neck, though) several years ago and ended up having to replace the axle on my trailer, so I've learned my lesson about launching boats in skinny water.

The water temperature this morning, as I was motoring away from the ramp, was showing 42.9 degrees. By the time I came in--about 2:45--it had risen to about 47 degrees, so the sunshine today made a difference, and I'm guessing it'll likely go even higher tomorrow, with the weather forecast I heard this evening. I'll let you know tomorrow evening, because I plan to hit the water again in the morning. The expected warmer water tomorrow, along with the added water that had come in today when I recovered the boat, hopefuly will combine for a bigger catch. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thought I'd throw in this photo to show you the two baits that put fish in the boat for me today. Incidentally, you don't notice it in this photo, but the crankbait has a solid orange line down its belly.

As is my usual custom, I will start tomorrow with what worked for me today. If these don't work, I plan to try a Bomber Square A in firetiger and a Mann's Baby 1-Minus in red craw. And if all those fail me, it'll be time to open the tacklebox and just start digging around. With these much shortened fishing hours, I don't spend very long with a lure if I don't get any strikes with it. My overall goal always is not to suffer a skunk, so I really get anxious about putting that first fish in the boat.

All that being said, let me close this out, so I can review it and get it posted, then get ready for tomorrow.