Barely Dodged a Skunk Today

If it hadn't been for the small pickerel that hit my crankbait about a half-hour after I started this morning, I would have absolutely nothing to talk about, 'cause the only bass I hooked up with made one leap and spit my chatterbait back at me to earn his freedom.

Meanwhile, Skip came up empty-handed again today.

The considerably lighter wind was a welcome change from yesterday. At least, we were able to recover our boats a lot more easily.

The water temp went from 45 when I launched this morning to the mid-50s when I quit about 2:30, which was even higher than yesterday. The air temperature felt like it warmed up until about mid-morning, then started falling a little. I had removed a couple layers already by 10 o'clock but started putting them back on shortly thereafter, and Skip mentioned that he, too, had felt the same thing. By the time I started cleaning up the boat this afternoon, it had warmed up enough again that I went all the way down to my shirt sleeves.

From the looks of the weather forecast for the next few days, Skip and I are thinking we'll probably be landlubbers until sometime next week. That's OK, 'cause I have a couple other things I need to get done.

I had an email from Ron Ameika this evening, telling me that he had fished the northern portion of West Neck after work today. He launched at the Indian River Road Bridge about 4:10 p.m.. "The water was crystal clear, and the conditions were ripe," he said. He saw some minor surface action, which he suspected were panfish feeding. A friend of his was marking fish on his electronics and scored one dink bass.

Ron said he headed north toward Dozier Bridge and Princess Anne Road--a trip that had him swatting away some early-season mosquitoes. Alternating between an XTS floating minnow and a small white beetlespin, he finally caught the wee sunfish in the accompanying photo on the XTS minnow.