Went for a Little Boat Ride Yesterday

To be honest about it, I actually had all my usual gear and fished most of the five-and-a-half hours I was on the water.

My plan when I left the marina was to run south and fish around the Pungo Ferry Bridge. Occupants of a couple other boats, however, had the same idea, and before long, another one had joined us, which was a bit more company than I was willing to contend with. Besides, the water in the area was all stirred up, with a muddy tinge to it.

So about an hour after I had started, I was headed to Albright's, where I felt certain the water color would be fine, and I was proven right. Just one problem: I had neglected to send the fish a memo, telling 'em I was on my way, or so it seemed. It would be an understatement if I were to say I wasn't getting bit--by a white perch, even.

The only certainty I came away with at the end of the day was that there were some fish alive in the place. After all, I did manage to spook one with a cast, and I saw a couple others swirl in the water ahead of the boat. I also eventually ran across a friend, who told me he had managed to catch a couple of small bass, even though that wasn't what he really was after. He was trolling a couple lines with live bait behind his boat, hoping to catch a little tablefare--crappie, to be exact--but said nothing had touched 'em.

With water temperatures running 54 degrees when I threw in the towel around 2 o'clock, I have to admit I was a bit surprised to find that I couldn't draw any interest, other than from a small turtle that decided to tread water just under the surface in one spot and watch my sundry baits come through the water all around him. He acted like he was somewhat mesmerized by what was happening.

'Twould appear the folks down at Bob's had a far better bite going on down there, considering the results I saw online from their tournament yesterday. The day's lunker went better than 7 pounds, and the vast majority of tournament anglers caught fish.

If the predicted local weather for this coming week stays intact, I have to believe that things probably will pick up on all the waterways around here. I have every intention of seeing if I can improve on yesterday's showing. The way I see it--there's only one way to go from here. Gotta head back to the dermatologist mid-week and let him dig a little deeper on a cancerous spot he found during my latest annual check, but that certainly won't interfere with my plans to hit the water a time or two during this stretch of warm weather.

Given the fact another tournament season is scheduled to get underway March 18th, I need to work on getting into "fishin' shape." I'm still having too many aches and pains from just spending five-and-a-half hours on the water, much less eight. Reckon I also ought to try getting out of bed at 0-dark-30 a couple times before the 18th. Haven't had to do that since last October, either.