The 1's Had It Today

1 bite, 1 bass, at 1 o'clock, weight 1-11--that was my tally for today. As you might imagine, it didn't take much effort to remember those numbers without even the hint of a note to myself.

With the water temp at a tick under 46 degrees when I launched at 9:45 this morning, coupled with muddy water everywhere I looked, I honestly had a fair amount of doubt I would dodge a skunk today. Those conditions, along with a fairly stiff and cold wind, left me second-guessing why I hadn't just rolled over, shut off the alarm, and grabbed a few more z-z-z-z this morning.

My first stop was the point where I've been collecting some fish for a spell now. If any members of the gang were there, they were thumbing their nose at me. The wind was blowing straight on the point, instead of away as it had been the previous two times when I boated fish there, so I can't say I was surprised at the results. After working the area for two hours with a series of different crankbaits without even a smell, I fired up the outboard and came back down the creek to another point my friend, Charlie, often finds fish on. That proved to be a bust, too.

By this time, the clouds were thickening and getting darker, which made me start thinking about throwing in the towel. In another 15 or so minutes, however, the clouds didn't look so bad, and I even was seeing a few blue patches, so I decided to grab another cup of coffee and keep on chunking.

I was moving along a stretch of shoreline close to the channel that leads to the ramp when I suddenly felt a strike and set the hook but then felt nothing, so just kept on winding until I saw the line moving sideways. It was only then I realized I actually had hooked the fish in the first place. By this time, he had sucked my crankbait halfway to his belly button, which left me the unpleasant task of doing some crude surgery. He swam off when I released him over the side, even though it took all of 10 minutes to get him unhooked.

I fished another hour and 45 minutes without feeling another fish, so battened down and headed for the ramp. As I turned into the channel, I saw four fellas in a small craft thrashing the water with everything they had in the boat, also trying to reach the ramp, but all to no avail. I stopped and asked if I could help 'em, and they quickly obliged by passing me a rope. After guiding the four to the ramp, I waited for them to recover their boat, then drove mine on the trailer, and called it a day.

The water at day's end was the same 46 degrees that had greeted me this morning, and the wind still was blowing, too. I wasted no time getting everything cleaned up and put away, so I could head home and get warmed up.