14 Straight Days Without a Skunk

That's the current streak of my friend, Ron, whom I unknowingly met up with yesterday during the Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney. Unfortunately, Ron got to see me at one of my worst moments of the day. I just had dropped my topwater bait beside a mid-stream stump in Milldam and gotten hooked up with a bass, only to have him throw the bait. I had a couple other moments just like that one yesterday, too.

That being said, though, Ron's fish-every-day streak is leading to some questions. "I wonder how long it will last, or I will last," he says. The last part of that comment, of course, is a reflection of the hot days we're having around here. As Ron noted in a second email from yesterday, "I was going to give a shout out when I saw you yesterday but think I was delirious from the heat. I was on my way back from a three-mile rountrip to Snake Creek under that blazing ball of fire in the sky."

Ron spent both Friday evening and Saturday morning in Milldam. On Friday evening, he was with his son, Alex, and a friend. Ron tallied three nice white perch (an 11-incher and two 12-inchers)--again on a Whopper Plopper, what else? Meanwhile, Alex caught two 1-lb.-plus bass, on a Whopper Plopper and a Senko, and the friend boated two bass on a Whopper Plopper, as well as four nice, 12-inch white perch.

Saturday morning's return trip to Milldam had netted two bass for the friend on the Whopper Plopper and a 1-2 and 1-3 bass for Alex before Ron had anything to show for his efforts. "I had tried everything, but after four hours, I had nothing--not even a nibble," he said. "Right before I got back to the bridge at Blackwater, though, while throwing a Senko, I caught a 1-0 to save the day and preserve my streak."

So how long will Ron's streak without a skunk last? No one really can say. My advice is simple: "Stick with your confidence baits." That's the only thing working for me under the current conditions.

UPDATE 1

Just received a note from Ron in which he detailed the results of a trip he and his son, Alex, took this morning to the eastern side of Back Bay, in the vicinity of Beggars Bridge.

"Found a few small bass," he said, "then portaged the kayaks over an old wooden bridge, in a skinny creek only to find a tree jam a few hundred yards upstream. Before the jam, Alex caught three bass. I had him out front in a sly effort to beat back the spider webs in front of me. The plan back-fired, though," as Ron allowed, "because he was finding the bass before I could get to them!"

At the end of four hours, Alex had scored four bass, his biggest a 1-11 (see upper left). Ron managed four as well, his biggest only a 1-3. Oh, there also was a "nice surprise," as Ron put it: a 5-7, 27-inch bowfin (see right). After trying Senkos, hollow-body frogs, and Silver Minnows to no avail, both fellas tied on the Whopper Plopper and started putting fish in the kayak.

In closing his note, Ron said that while North/South creek provided great morning shade, the sun kept climbing steadily higher, and "we had to head for some A/C!" Most importantly, however, said Ron, "The streak continues."

UPDATE 2

"Call me a glutton for punishment," said Ron in his latest email. As if  his morning trip wasn't enough, he went back out this evening. The mercury read 99, "but there were clouds!" he explained, in defending his decision to go fishing again from 1800 to 2030.

It was a quick trip to West Neck, north of the bridge. "I lost a nice one on a Senko and another pole-bender on the Whopper Plopper," he reported. A dink right at sunset, however, kept his streak of trips without a skunk fully intact. "I was sweating the whole time, though, and realized the trip really wasn't worth the effort."

In closing tonight's note, Ron said his latest trip was sort of a recon run for tomorrow, when he takes out a beginner for an introductory kayak trip. "Hope we catch something" were his final words.