There's Only One Way to Go From Here

That was my thought when this wee bass became the first fish I put in the boat today. It's truly not a figment of your imagination if you're saying, "The lure is bigger than the fish."

I was in a state of disbelief to see this tiny bass dangling from the hooks of a 9/16-oz. wakebait. When he hit, it felt like the bait's hooks had fouled the line. As a result, I kept popping the line all the way to the boat, trying to get the lure to run true. It wasn't until I lifted the lure out of the water that I realized what really had happened.

At this point, I didn't have any warm and fuzzies about how the rest of my day likely would go. That feeling didn't get much better when, an hour or so later, I boated another bass weighing only 12 ozs., again on the same wakebait. Nevertheless, I looked at it as an improvement and kept pounding the shoreline.

A good while passed until I finally caught this respectable bass, which weighed in at 1-8. By this time, I had shifted to a white chatterbait, and, after wearing out all four sides of a big stump with it, I was almost ready to move on when I decided to make a cast about 15 feet to the right of the stump. This fish smacked the chatterbait as soon as it hit the water.

I had no more action until about 1:45, when I managed to boat one last bass that would have measured about 8 or 9 inches. In another 15 minutes, I had decided to call it a day and was heading to the ramp.

On a day when the action appeared to be slow for everyone, I couldn't really complain, especially when I learned that my friend, Charlie, had only put 3 in the boat. He also told me that three or four more anglers had shared the fact they, too, had caught the same number.

The water temp when I started this morning was a tad less than 58. It had warmed to about 65 by the time I quit. As for water quality, it ranged from downright muddy in places to excellent in others--mostly in the coves.

There were several folks who had come out to play by the time I finished today. When I launched this morning, though, there were only three other trailers in the parking lot. Guess some had waited for the sun to warm things up a bit.