It Wasn't a Bad Omen After All

When I went to West Neck yesterday to dump a little gas in my boat, there wasn't a single bank fisherman, no vehicles in the parking lot, and no one minding the store. I immediately figured that didn't bode well for my planned fishing trip today. My thought was that the bass perhaps had shut down completely, and everybody was just waiting for better days to return, rather than waste their time and gas just sitting out there baking their brains in the blazing sun.

When I launched at 7 o'clock this morning, nothing had changed from what I found yesterday, and I seriously was wondering if my original thought yesterday might be coming true. Nevertheless, I rigged my boat, dropped it in the water, and headed to the mouth of West Neck, with plans to work my way back toward the marina.

I built my plans for today around some things I had heard people talking about following this past Saturday's tournament, as well as some comments I had read online. Let's just say my plan was to start with a topwater bait and stay with it until the fish let me know they didn't want it anymore.

That plan paid off, as evidenced by this 1-10 that was one of five bass which I put in the boat today with my topwater bait. I also had a 1-1, a 1-4, and two dinks on the same bait. All the fish were caught between 7 and 11 o'clock, and that was it for the day, except for a nasty ol' grindle that snapped up my spinnerbait this afternoon while I was slow-rolling it.

Unlike my tourney partner, Rob, though, I got my spinnerbait back in decent shape, and I didn't even have to use the Boca grips. When he rolled up alongside the boat, I noticed he barely was hooked, so I kept tension on the line, and as he made his first leap, the lure came flying back over my shoulder.

Besides the topwater bait and the spinnerbait, I also fished a crankbait, Rapala Subwalk, and a soft plastic today, all to no avail. Couldn't buy a strike with any of them.

Likely won't get back on the water again this week, 'cause I have some things to do. Will shoot for a day next week, though, ahead of our next tourney on Saturday, Aug. 8th.

By the way, reckon I should explain that I wasn't the "lone ranger" after all today. Saw my buddies Joe and Tom pass me and turn south this morning. Also ran across a bream fisherman and a pleasure boat full of passengers before all was said and done.