I barely had cut the gas motor this morning when I started hearing that ever-so familiar splashing and thrashing of the shoreline by none other than a bunch of those ol' rubber lips. They're not in full-out mode just yet but probably will be in a matter of days.
When I arrived at West Neck about 7 a.m., the parking lot was full, which immediately made me think a tourney likely had gone out of there this morning, and I wasn't wrong. A bunch of the boys in blue from Norfolk were having a contest. With that traffic added to what I anticipated from the Stateline fellas going out of West Landing, it was pretty much a no-brainer for me to head south to Albright's. I don't mind a little company on the water but figured I'd have more than I wanted if I stayed in West Neck.
Besides, I wanted to get to a certain tree in the back of Albright's where, last week, I was forced to leave one of my favorite $16 topwater lures when the wind snatched it in mid-air. To my surprise, the bait still was buried in the tree, and with considerably more water around it today, plus the fact the spot was protected from today's wind, I eased over there and had retrieved it in a little bit of no time. Glad I did, too, 'cause the bait came in handy this afternoon.
Considering that the hook hadn't even penetrated his upper lip, it was a miracle of sorts that I even got to touch him. The hook fell into the bottom of the boat as soon as I grabbed him, and the same thing happened again moments later, when I boated another 1-5 on the spinnerbait.
Hours passed after I boated that second bass before I saw a fish move in a pocket I was fishing. On the third or fourth cast to the same spot in that pocket with my spinnerbait, I felt a little pressure, then saw my line moving off very slowly. Turned out all I got, though, was a swing and a miss, and I couldn't get him to chase my soft plastic.
About noon today, I started seeing some swirls along the grassy shoreline I was working, so I tied on the popper I had retrieved earlier. Just a few pops later, one swirled under the bait while I was letting it rest, and when I popped it one more time, a feisty 1-2 jumped all over it. A half-hour or so later, a 0-15 had his way with the bait, too. Both topwater strikes were aggressive, so I thought I might have some action that would last a while. However, I only had one more pass by what appeared to be a really small fish.
The water temp when I launched this morning was a tad over 57 degrees, and it had climbed to a bit more than 63 when I quit about 3 o'clock. The water color throughout Albright's was really pretty--probably the best I've seen it so far this year.
It was a fun day on the water, albeit on the cool side. With my trusty thermos of coffee at my side, though, along with my layered clothing, I remained comfortable throughout the day.
With any luck, I have hopes of getting in another practice day this next week for our scheduled tourney on Saturday. From the looks of the forecast I saw this evening, conditions likely will be similar to what I had today.
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