For Week Ending Sunday, April 2, 2017

Monday, March 27, 2017...Ron ventured into Oakum Creek this evening to avoid the wind and fished from 5 to 7 p.m. He was met with very murky water that had a ton of green slimy blobs on the surface. Eventually, though, he found a clear spot with a lone stump, and a 2-7 bass slammed the Whopper Plopper as soon as it hit the water. It turned out to be his only fish of the evening. Ron tried several lure combinations along the shoreline, as well as on cypress and structure, but the bite was off. Having forgotten his Hawg Traw measuring device, he had to hold up the bass to the paddle tape measure, which showed the length to be about 16.5 inches. The water temperature this evening, per a friend's fish finder, was 69 degrees. As Ron subsequently noted, "I'm wondering if maybe it's that time of year to go early in the morning. Time will tell."

Tuesday, March 28, 2017...It was pretty much a rerun of last Saturday is how Ray described today's fishing trip. "Thought it would be a good day," he said, "but it wasn't." Ray ended up landing one dink bass on a swimbait and hooking but losing another one when his spinnerbait broke off as the result of a knot problem. He also had a blowup on a Pop R but missed the fish. "I was retrieving the Pop R (much like a wake bait) to make another cast," said Ray, "when the fish hit." His one regret on the day was that he couldn't even catch a crappie.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017..."These single-bass-to-avoid-the-skunk trips are killing me," said Ron in tonight's email. He fished the upper North Landing this evening and caught only a 1-15 bass. His biggest excitement, however, came when he felt a tap, tap, tap, followed by a serious hookup on his XTS Minnow. The pole was doubled over, with the drag screaming, when he saw the fish jump--most likely about a 15-lb.- plus carp! It was amazing to have that fight on for a few seconds before he threw it. "Very surprising, and I wish I could have landed him," said Ron, who went on to explain that he caught one last spring on a Beetlespin that was 8 lbs., and this one was easily twice that size. "'Twas a nice display of golden-colored big fish when he jumped," he lamented. The bugs drove him off the water about 6:30. "Will have to start loading out the bug spray and mosquito netting," he concludeed.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017...I wanted to do a little tune-up for Saturday's tournament, so grabbed my hat and tackle this morning and headed to West Neck. Already had boated a limit in the first hour, topped off by four from the exact same spot on consecutive casts. Can't remember the last time I had that kind of luck. Things dramatically slowed for a long stretch afterward, but I finally managed to boat a total of one white perch and seven bass, including a 1-1, 2-3, 2-6, and four dinks. All but one of the fish came on a long-forgotten spinnerbait that I recently remembered as always working in early spring. The one other lure that accounted for one of the bass was a shallow crankbait. All the fish came from West Neck.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017..."The bite has been difficult, to say the least" is how Ron started tonight's email. He fished Hell's Point Creek this evening and only managed two wee fish: a dink bass and a dink crappie. He caught both fish on Beetlespins. The Zoom Fluke, Whopper Plopper and XTS Minnow didn't elicit the first strike.

Thursday, March 30, 2017...Seems that Ron had bad timing today. He fished Milldam this evening and suffered the skunk. Earlier, though, friends reported they had done well on Zoom Flukes, with several bass up to 4 lbs. 4 ozs. They also lost several bowfin.

Friday, March 31, 2017...This evening's trip for Ron was to the upper North Landing. He said he just had started finding 'em when the sky darkened, and the lightning moved in. "I got out of there," he said, but not before managing a 1-7 and a 1-9. One of the fish fell to the XTS Minnow, the other to a white Zoom Fluke. "The weekend looks good," he concluded.

Sunday, April 2, 2017...After a miserable day yesterday, fighting the wind at Milldam and catching only one crappie and one dink, Ron ventured out to Old Pungo Ferry launch today. He first dipped into Albright's, where he had a double hookup with a 2-4 and a sunfish. The bass hit the XTS Minnow, and the sunfish went after a trolled Beetlespin. He then headed south to Straight Creek. "Didn't get a bite until the S-turn, just before the straight part," he said. "Then found a couple dink bass and a small chain pickerel before I realized Straight Creek was too shallow." While heading back north, Ron was trolling the XTS Minnow and Beetlespin when he hooked into about a 15-inch striper just before the bridge. He then decided to troll around a bit and managed to catch three more stripers. One hit the Beetlespin on his ultralight rig and gave a great fight. The others hit a trolled XTS Minnow. Those four stripers put a nice finishing touch on the evening.