For the Week Ending Sunday, April 9, 2017

Monday, April 3, 2017...Received an email from Ray, telling me he couldn't get on the water until 1 o'clock today, so didn't expect much, due to the late start. However, he fished north of the West Neck Bridge, where he caught one small bass and a half-dozen crappie and perch. The tickets to his success were Beetlespins, a swim bait, and the Float N Fly. "Also had one blowup on a buzz bait," said Ray. The water temperature today was 65 degrees, and the visibility was fair.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017..."The water was surprisingly clear, the wind was howling, and the bite was way off," said Ron in tonight's email. He went on to note that he fished upper West Neck Creek at Indian River Road last evening and caught one dink. This evening, he fished out of  West Neck Marina and caught the 1-9 pictured here. "Hopefully, the bite improves...," he concluded.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017...At day's end, Skip had three nice bass: a 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5. He caught all of them in Albright's--lost a few on the way to the boat, too. Per his request, I'm not publishing one of the photos because it would give away the bait he was catching all of them on. And with another tournament this coming Saturday, it's his desire to keep that "magic bait" just between him and me. The way I see it--that's the very least I can do.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017...While Skip was busy catching those three nice ones today, I was "all tied up" catching a white perch, three dinks, and a 1-9 bass. Caught everything on a popper--didn't have a single strike on anything else. The comment about being "all tied up" refers to the fact I spent a vast majority of my day digging lures out of trees, stumps and you-name-it. Ended up whacking so much line that I had to respool a couple of reels tonight. It was one of those days when I was about as coordinated as a baby trying to take his/her first steps. Hopefully, the tournament this Saturday won't be a repeat of what I had to deal with today.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017...It was off to Tecumseh for Ron this evening. The water was murky, with far too much surface debris. He had a whole bunch of strikes and misses before realizing they were gar. In the final analysis, though, he did manage a 1-9 bass, a crappie, and his first gar of the year.

Friday, April 7, 2017..."Battled wind and cold in an upper North Landing Creek this evening," said Ron. He ended up boating 11 bass but none worthy of the scale. "They all were dinks, 12-inch maximum." He also caught a few perch and a lone sunfish. "A real dink fest" is how he described it. The productive baits were the XTS Minnow and Beetlespins. He didn't find any bowfin or striper but still called it "a pretty decent trip." He went on to explain that "the wind was a bear, and the temperature drop demanded use of hat and gloves. The gauge was very high,  but the water was crystal clear. Weekend could be good," he noted in closing.

Sunday, April 9, 2017...Received an email from my tourney partner of yesterday, letting me know that Craig and Mitch headed out of West Neck this morning in Craig's boat. Between 7 and 11 o'clock, it seems they caught a total of three bass and lost one at the boat. Their biggest one of the morning (pictured here) went close to 3 lbs. Their productive lures included topwaters and a crankbait. This report only confirms what I said at the breakfast table this morning, "I'll betcha the fish are bitin'.

Sunday, April 9, 2017...Had a note from Ron saying he fished Oceana yesterday at mid-day and only managed one dink. This morning, he went to House Cove, where he caught two bass, each weighing 1-1. He also lost a slightly bigger one. Said Ron, "The water was high and murky, but no wind." He indicated he might try Tecumseh this evening.