For the Week Ending Sunday, May 20, 2018

Monday, May 14 (from Skip)...Got out about 10:30. Fished 'till 2:30. My string of nothing but small fish continues. I'm going to keep plugging away for some bigger ones, though. Can't say enough good things about my umbrella--it really keeps me nice and cool on a day like this.

Monday, May 14 (from Ron)...Fished the upper Back Bay from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m. Catfish were a pain in the bum--caught five channels on everything I was throwing. The XTS, beetlespin and Prank seemed to be on the catfish-dinner menu. When not being bothered by the cats, the super small white perch were grabbing everything. A few crappie and two dink bass--to 14 inches--fell into the mix near dark, but they were very tight to shore. Gar were everywhere! Overall, was a very nice evening.

Tuesday, May 15 (from Ron)...Took out a friend, who recently had bought a kayak. He has been out several times with no luck, so I took him to upper North Landing, lent him some go-to lures, and he caught his first bass in the yak, a dink, and lost another one. You might say he is "hooked" now. Meanwhile, I fished the same area from 5:30 to 8 p.m. My first fish was a nice 1-15 bass on a Strike King micro spinnerbait (black skirt). After suffering a lull, I had a solid hit with a micro spinner (chartreuse/white skirt), and when I reeled it in, the skirt was gone. Switched to a Senko and had a very light tap. Waited a few seconds, and when I started to reel, realized the line had shifted towards me. Set the hook and caught a nice 4-4 bass. This fish was oddly "stunted," with big head and small body but came in at 21 inches. Went on to catch one more 14-incher at sunset on the Prank and lost two more. 'Twas a good trip, despite the bugs being very thick at recovery. Time for calamine lotion!!!

Tuesday, May 15 (from Jim B.)...It was just after 8:30 this morning when I eased out of the boat house, only to find another bass boat already fishing the Lake Gaston cove where I'm staying. Don't know if  that angler found any fish, but I found one on my last cast of the day, right off the boat house. At 1-7, it turned out to be my big fish of the day. I first headed for the mouth of Pea Hill, where I found that the familiar old dock on the point had been replaced by a big boat house, with a new home going up, too. Started with the WP and had fish follow and swipe at it but no hookups. Lost one on the way to the boat. Fished that cove and had a big fish chase and swat at it. Not sure but think the mate was there, too. Ultimately discovered a big pod of fry at the corner of the boat house and tossed a bunch of baits in that direction, but the fish only would only follow the bait, so I finally gave up. I fished four hours before I finally caught two dinks. Had to go to the old reliable French fry! By the time I got to the pump station, I decided to try the WP at the rip rap in the shade, where I had probably the biggest fish of the day smack it. I thought I got a good hook set, but in short order, it was gone! I did catch a 1.5 there. Considering that he had all of the bait and front treble in his mouth, I was dang careful with my hands! Fished the rest of the day, catching a 1-2 and, of course, the 1-7 on the French fry before calling it quits right after 4:30. The weather forecast makes it look like the rest of the week will be a washout, with nothing but showers and thunderstorms. As a result, I'll try to get out but stay within sight of an empty boat house where I can duck in to avoid the raindrops. Pulling the boat and packing up for the trip home could be a soggy mess. Sure felt good to finally catch a fish this year.

Wednesday, May 16 (from Skip)...For a while now, Skip's fishing seemingly has been caught up in the name of an old Jimmy Durante tune: Inka Dinka Doo. However, he busted out of that dink mold in a big way today, with a nice creel of nine bass, the biggest of which went just shy of 3 lbs. on Skip's handheld scales. As he remarked, "My best day in a tong time. Caught everything on soft plastics--nothing on topwater," he added.

Wednesday, May 16 (from Ron)...Fished Lovitt's Creek off Back Bay from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Storms never developed, and the bite was pretty good. Caught three bass (1-0, 1-10, and a 1-14), but I lost about six, as well as a monster bowfin that threw the hook just as I was trying to net him. Real heartbreaker that I couldn't land him. All fell to XTS, even though I tried a variety of lures. All the bass were caught very tight to shore--if I wasn't catching the shoreline, I wasn't getting a bite.

Thursday, May 17 (from Ken)...Had a strong hunch I could catch some fish on a topwater bait today, so got up early and, despite another day's nasty forecast, got ready to go. I launched at 8:15 and went straight to my first planned hole, and the fish didn't disappoint...well, not exactly, anyway. In a little bit of no time, I had hookups with five bass--all keepers--but every one of them came unbuttoned en route to the boat. Finally figured out the rod I was using likely was the problem, so changed to a softer-tipped rod before I hit my second planned hole, and my problem went away. From that point to 12:45, when the skies unloaded, I managed to put four bass in the boat, including a dink, 1-4, 1-9, and a 6-4, my biggest bass in a very long time. I just had dragged the lure past a lone stickup, without any response, so I sped up the retrieve to make another cast. At that point, I saw a huge V form behind the bait. My only choice was to keep the same retrieve speed all the way to the boat, whereupon I had to stop, and the 6-4 immediately crushed the lure, then darted under the boat with it. Once I had worked him back into the open, he took a couple turns around the boat, slipping drag the whole time, before I could swing him aboard. Both hooks of my $25 Japanese lure were buried squarely in his jaw. This bait accounted for all my strikes today.

Thursday, May 17 (from Ron)...Returned to Back Bay, even though there were some storm cells around. Fished from 6 to 8 p.m. Had better luck this evening, with most strikes resulting in hookups, including a dink, 1-11, 2-0 and a 2-10 bass, as well as a 3-lb. channel cat. Experimented with some plastics and topwater, but all fish fell to the XTS minnow. Not as many misses as last night, and the wind was a bit tough. Once again, everything was very tight to shore.

Friday, May 18 (from Ron)...Fished upper West Neck. Launched Indian River Road and searched for the bite. With the very high water, it was tough. Caught two dink bass and a 1-15 on XTS. Tried everything else: plastics, spinnerbaits, Senko, and topwater, all to no avail. I did find 'em in the creeks, but they were few and far between.

Saturday, May 19 (from Ron)...The forecast wasn't too bad. When I got ready to launch at Munden Point Park (0730), it was OK. Crossed North Landing and entered Milldam. After fishing for 2.5 hours, I had had five gar on without a single hookset. The increasing wind, very high water, and super murky conditions forced me to quit. As I exited Milldam, caught a 6-inch white perch on a trolled Whopper to avoid the skunk. The trip back across North Landing was dreadful, as the wind had gusted up to a white-knuckle choppy mess. Not the best trip!

Sunday, May 20 (from Ron)...With the gauge at 3.66 and still rising, coupled with the wind, I thought long and hard about where to launch this morning. Headed to Lovitt's off Muddy Creek Road, and the creek had overtaken the roads and fields. Was able to plod along, trying not to run over carp in the road (pretty sure I ran one over). Made it to launch, and from 7:30 to 9, couldn't find a bite. Headed into a feeder creek and still had no luck. Even though I couldn't get a hit on topwater the past few days, tied on a Pop R, and the bite picked up. Caught a 30-inch gar, two 13-inch crappie, and two 12-inch bass. Had the crappie on a stringer for fish tacos, then realized I had no cooler or even a plastic bag for vehicle transport, so they went back for another day. Wind was a bear, but the water was surprisingly clear, with about 3-foot visibility. Knew I wasn't completely crazy, as I saw three other kayaks and a johnboat launch same spot. After recovery, departed via Muddy Creek to Gum Bridge. That route was in better shape.