Lots of Wind, Little Water...

And in some cases, the fish were small, too. What you see here is my Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow (top), with a bluegill that jumped on the bait's rear No. 2 treble. It doesn't take but a quick glance to see which one is bigger. Over the years, I've learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to fishing the North Landing, and I'm usually not disappointed. This particular catch, like nearly all of 'em that Rob and I got today, came in West Neck. We also spent some time in Pocaty this morning, but the only thing we had to show for it was a couple of dinks.

One thing is for certain about today: The local weather forecasters finally got something right. They called for 10-15 NE winds, with gusts to 25, and it definitely reached those levels early this morning. If I had to guess, I'd say we probably even saw some 30- or 35-knot winds today. Trying to work our way above the bridge on the trolling motor was so difficult, we finally gave up and used the gas motor to reach a starting point, then worked our way back down with the wind.

When we stopped about 1 o'clock today, our total was 11 bass (eight of them keepers), with seven of the fish belonging to Rob. This was our biggest of the day, having fallen for a topwater early this morning. Even he wasn't big enough to break out the scales for. Rob also caught one bass on a plastic worm, but we seduced all the others with shallow-running crankbaits.

Please note that the calm water you see around the boat in this picture was the exception, not the rule. There was no relief for the trolling motor today. When I needed a break, Rob quickly took over, and we kept "zooming" along the shoreline. The thankfully few occasions we had to go after hung lures today proved to be a challenging proposition each and every time.

The water temperature for most of our day ran 73 or 74 degrees, and with the constant mix of clouds and sun, we threw topwater baits at several intervals, but they didn't prove to be particularly productive.

When I had cleaned up the boat and put it away today, I walked over to the culvert area (the wall to the left here is part of the culvert) at the back of the boat barn and found what you see in this photo. At the bottom right corner are a couple of dying small fish. And if you'll click on this photo to bring it up to full size, you better can see a whole wad of small fish of various species in the tiny pool of water. These little critters simply had waited too long to pass back through the culvert and follow the water out.

I gotta be honest here. I sincerely thought all fish always followed the receding water, so they didn't find themselves in this kind of situation. I truly hope these NE winds don't last through Thursday, as predicted, 'cause I don't see these fish surviving that long in only this much water.

On a final note, I want to share the contents of an email I received last evening from a migratory game-bird scientist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. I had written and asked about all the feathers Rob and I had seen in Albrights during the Sept. 7 tourney. I asked if the feathers might have come from molting Canadian geese.

As this contact explained, though, Canadian geese molt during June and July. He said there's a Canadian goose-hunting season open from Sept. 2 to Sept. 25, however, and his guess is that the feathers came from some geese somebody had shot, then plucked in the area where we saw the feathers.

That's about all I have to report for now, other than to caution anyone planning to launch a boat at West Neck in the next day or two. Remember, the ramp ends in front of those farthest posts on either side. If you have a bigger boat, you might be well-served to consider launching at Munden Point.