All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go...

That's the way I feel about these newly painted baits I picked up Friday from my friend, Charlie. After all, when the water level is parked at the level we've seen in recent days, there aren't many places to wet the bottom of a boat.

I haven't talked to anyone who knows, but I feel fairly certain boats haven't even been able to get out at Munden Point Park. Oh, they've probably been able to launch, but I'd almost bet that none of them have been able to get out the mouth of that canal. I know a couple of guys who reportedly got caught just that way once last year when the water wasn't as low as it has been the past few days.

And keeping the newly painted lures in the other photo company is this assortment of repainted baits that arrived in the mail Friday from Tim Hughes Custom Baits in Reeds Spring, MO. Don't you know I'm chafing at the bit to give all these new "toys" the acid test.

Of course, I'm not counting on catching anything for a while--through no fault of these baits, though. My friend Charlie told me that he blanked yesterday in West Neck, and let's face it--that simply doesn't happen very often. The only movement he saw all day was some baitfish--in his words, they were thumping the bottom of his kayak off and on throughout the day.

Then there's the matter of the Stateline Bass Anglers tournament-season opener yesterday on the Chowan River. Sixteen anglers in 11 boats fished the event, but only one team weighed a fish. It tipped the scales at 2-5.

The water level may be coming back now, but the muddy water likely will remain a significant factor in the number of fish anyone catches for several days. That's OK with me, though, 'cause I live by the old saying: "That's why it's called fishing and not catching." Good luck to one and all as we try to  reestablish some sort of normalcy to our fishing habits.