An Old Standard Saves My Day

As if I needed reinforcement in the belief that each day on the water usually is different in some respect, that was the lesson in store for me today. The one similarity between yesterday and today was that my first fish of the day came on a Bang-O-Lure. This one from today weighed in at 1-3, compared to 1-2 yesterday.

At 9 o'clock, I put down the topwater and started using the three rods I had rigged with soft plastics: two worms and a swim fluke. Like yesterday, I immediately started getting fish grabbing the tails. As a result of some Internet research last night, I pulled out a tube of Megastrike and rubbed some on all my plastics, which supposedly would reduce those annoying bites. However, all it accomplished was to make the fish hang onto the plastic longer. On one occasion, I even released the spool on my baitcaster and let a fish pull off a length of line equal to about two boat lengths. And yet, when I finally reengaged the spool and set the hook, all I got was a leaping bass that turned loose of the tail in mid-air. At this point, I'm all ears if anyone has a solution to this problem they don't mind sharing with me.

And, then, about 11 o'clock, all the soft plastics action came to a screeching halt. I opened one of my boxes and took out a 1/4-oz. tandem white Booyah  spinnerbait, and that's all I needed to change my luck. Between 11 and about 2:30, I boated five more bass (three of 'em a pound or a little better and the other two dinks), two white perch, and a pickerel. This is probably the first fish of any kind I've caught on a spinnerbait in at least four years. Reckon maybe I'll have to keep one of these old standards tied on for a few trips now until they let me down again, which is why I put them away to start with.

Incidentally, as I came from the back of Albright's and out the cut-through this afternoon, I noticed the Coast Guard or someone has put an orange buoy on the main river to replace the one that was missing yesterday.

I pulled into the dock this afternoon right behind my good friend, Jim Bauer, who had spent the day in West Neck. This nice 4-5 was his best fish of the day. He also boated four more, including a 2-3, 1-10, 1-2, and a dink.

All of his fish were caught on soft plastics, which also was true of most fish he caught during both recent trips to Lake Gaston.

Although, for a variety of reasons, Jim's 2015 season has been super slow in getting started, it looks like he's starting to find his stride, if today's catch is any indication. This is a nice fish by anyone's standards, and when combined with his three other keepers today, gives him a combined total weight of 9-4, which also isn't shabby.