Had Company on the Water Today

It all started with a sky full of these birds that kept swooping in unison from one side of West Neck Creek to the other and back. In some cases, their trajectory was so low I was betting my lure either was going to hook a couple of 'em or knock 'em into the water.

You can well imagine the one central uneasy thought I had as they moved over the top of me throughout the day. All I could do was to keep my fingers crossed... and my head down, just in case they suddenly decided to start taking target practice on me and/or the boat. If they had, I'd probably still be cleaning up the mess.

The birds, though, weren't my only company. Long-time friend Jim Bauer was prowling the creek with me, seeing what he could stir up with one of his favorite crankbaits.

This 5-14 beauty was the highlight of his day. Sorry but I'm sworn to secrecy about the spot where he caught it. All I can say is that I had checked out this same spot earlier this morning--with the very same bait, no less, but "Bubba" either wasn't home at that hour, or he evidently didn't like my presentation. Either way, my loss proved to be Jim's bonanza, and I'm happy for him. He told me this evening he also caught one dink today.

My day wasn't a total loss, as evidenced by this 2-11, which jumped on my crankbait right beside the boat. I had stopped moving the lure for a few seconds as I navigated the boat around one of the big trees in West Neck. This fish was my best but not my only one of the day. I also boated a 1-3 and a 1-4 before all was said and done.

Like yesterday, I wiped out the potential for a skunk early on--in 10 minutes today, compared to only 5 minutes yesterday. Perhaps my luck is improving.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The water temp when I launched this morning read 54 degrees, and it still was that temp when I quit today, too.

With rain in the forecast for tomorrow and some honey-do's in the offing for Friday, I have to take a wait-and-see attitude about when I'll get back out again. Just hope the bite doesn't go away in the meantime.