Nasty Water But a Few Fish, Too

It had been too long, so this ol' man had decided today was going to be his day for getting back on the river. It was 10 o'clock by the time he finally got there, but on the water he did go--uh huh, uh huh.

It actually had been far too long since the last trip, and as usual, when that's the case, I found myself forgetting a bunch of things and having to retrace my steps until I finally got everything in the boat and shoved away from the dock this morning. I just kept telling myself to take it easy and not let all these little annoyances take me off my game.

And as you can see here, it seemed to work, as evidenced by this 1-10 bass that I caught a few minutes past 2 o'clock today. This fish was my best of the day, but I did catch a 1-6 bass about 40 minutes after I launched this morning, and I also missed a strike in between these two fish.

The water color was off, as you would expect after the weather we've had lately, and, too, there was a bunch of stuff in the water. I kept dragging up things all day with my Bomber Square A, and it was the kind of stuff you had to stop and remove by hand. It wouldn't come off no matter how hard you slapped the water with the lure.

While I'm thinking about it, probably had better let everyone know that another channel marker is down in the creek. I'm not real sure of the number but, as I recall, it's in the vicinity where No. 7 should be. It's on the right side, headed out of the creek, and I urge you to be careful, because all you could see today (with the water level a little less than normal) was about 4 inches or so of the old post. If you're not really familiar with West Neck Creek and its markers, I would urge you to be careful when you're running in that vicinity, or you might incur an early-season casualty.

Some other folks joined me today, but I only conversed with a couple of them before the day was over. I talked to Charlie at the ramp when I came in, and he had boated 4 bass--the biggest a 1-3. However, he also told me he had foul-hooked about a 7-lb. carp today that evidently had taken him for quite a ride. Skip also was out today, but he ended the day with nothing to show for his efforts.

When it came time for me to put my bigger Skeeter on the trailer today, I made it a point not to repeat my episode of the first such evolution--jumping the nose stop. However, I went a little too far in the other direction, and ended up having to winch the boat up to the stop. Perhaps my third trip with this boat will be the charm that I'm looking for. One thing is certain: I'm doing my best to err on the side of caution.

Today likely will be my only trip to the water this week before our first scheduled tourney of the new season this coming Saturday, 'cause a few other things are begging for my attention. My hope is that, if it really has to rain, as the forecasters are all saying, it's only intermittent at worst. I truly hate sitting through an all-day rain.