What Friends Are Catching and Where

Received emails today from a couple of friends who provided some results of their latest trips to the water. Here's what they had to say.

Ron Ameika shared that he had spent a good day this past Saturday in Oakum, hiding from the wind. He caught a total of nine bass. His best five included a 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-5, which were caught in that order. Said Ron, "The 1-4 threw the hook." The same trip yielded six chain pickerel and a 2-12 bowfin.

On Father's Day, Ron and his son, Alex, made a trip to Stumpy Lake. And just four minutes after launching, Alex put the even 3-pound bass pictured here in the kayak. He added a 2-6 a little later. Meanwhile, dad managed a 1-7 bass and a 2-12 bullhead cat.

Ron went on to note that he's having the exact opposite experience from me with topwater baits. The fish he's catching are coming on plastics and the ol' XTS.

And from Doc Murdock came word that he used a topwater bait this morning to entice this 1-4 bass into hitting.

He started at the West Neck Bridge, where he threw everything but the kitchen sink and came up empty-handed. It wasn't until Doc moved south to the power lines that he caught the 13-inch, 1-4 bass in this photo. He then moved farther south, to red marker 4A, but didn't get another bite.

Doc reported the conditions as clear water, with winds from the south at 15, and water temp 75 to 77 degrees. "The water was up but not too high," he said.

That 77 degrees is down from what I showed yesterday afternoon when I returned to West Neck. Of course, that difference could be due to the fact Doc fished from 6 to 10 a..m. this morning. The water temp when I quit yesterday at 2:30 p.m. read 83 degrees.