This Man Is Good--What More Can I Say?

It doesn't matter where Charlie Bruggemann wets a line, he--plain and simple--knows how to catch fish. Why do you think I, here a few months ago, asked him if he'd like to partner up with me for this year's Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney Series? I'm no fool--I know a "winner" when I see one. Y'all can rest easy, though, because he turned me down. With all the projects he has going, along with his blog and such, he said he just doesn't have time to fish our tournaments.

All that explanation aside, with the rain that blew through this morning, Charlie decided to leave his kayak on the rack at home and just do a little bank fishing from the visitor contact station at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. "Turns out, though, the weather was beautiful, and I should have gone out (in the kayak)," he reflected afterward.

Given his totals from today, however, I don't know why he would have wanted to be loading/unloading and paddling that kayak around. After all, who wouldn't be happy to say they caught a 1-8, 2-2 and a 3-11 bass, as well as a small pickerel, even if it was all from shore? He caught the 1-8 and 2-2 on a jig-and-pig combo. Meanwhile, the 3-11 gobbled up a Johnson's Silver Minnow. He never felt any of the strikes--"the line just took off at right angles," he explained, "and I had to crank like crazy to get the slack in before I set the hook."

According to Charlie, it looks like "there is some preliminary action going on" in the beds. He also points out there is some other action going on, too. "The place was crawling with northern water snakes," he said. "I saw four in a 20-foot radius."

Don't know about y'all, but I'm like that old 1950s Brylcreem TV commercial--the one where it says "a little dab'll do ya." In this case, one snake is all it takes to send me looking for a new spot to fish. I don't see it as a matter of being wimpy; I see it as a matter of being smart.

Anyway, be looking for Charlie's blog post, including video, of today's fishin' trip. He said it should be up sometime tomorrow. Here's the link: http://vbfishguide.blogspot.com/. Enjoy.