Pulled up to the lake at approximately 1530 hours. Air temp 68 degrees, water temp 76 degrees, overcast skies with light rain mixed, and variable winds up to 15 mph. Mission: To catch a limit of five fish over the state length limit in six hours.
1605 - Motored to a wind-blown point and began picking it apart with a chatterbait. Wind started picking up. "Overcast with wind..." I thought to myself. "These fish should be trying to eat my trolling-motor prop."
1628 - Moved off the point to try and find some structure nearby. Picked up my drop shot and stared at my electronics. "It might be harder to find structure than to find a fish in this lake," I said out loud.
1650 - Pitched a smallie beaver up next to a laydown. Something pecked at it. "Must have been a bluegill," I thought.
1715 - Picked up a Norman dd22 and started fan casting the mouth of a cove. Lure got stuck but wiggled free.
1745 - Heard a loud splash coming from the shore and followed a "ribbit, ribbit" sound. "Don't have to tell me twice to pick up my frog rod," I said to my non-existent co-angler.
1805 - Worked a large section of shoreline weeds, brush and grass with the frog. On what I told myself would be my last cast, I dragged Kermit off the edge of some weeds before something flushed the toilet underneath him. Boated my first bass of the day...a 2.7-pounder...with a jointed Rapala crankbait lip ring in his mouth as a bonus.
1825 - By this time, had worked the bank to death with the frog and ended up by the dam. Decided to go turn up the trolling motor and work the grassy rip rap with an Xcalibur lipless crankbait. A small bass bumped the lure but missed both treble hooks.
1835 - Tossed the lipless crankbait up onto the dam and caught a rock. After wiggling it free, it plopped into the water, and a bass immediately inhaled it, leaving me with my second bass of the day...a 14-incher.
1845 - Crankbait got stuck in the grass and had to rip it free...into the mouth of my third bass of the day...a 13-incher. "Hmm, I could be onto something here," I thought.
1930 - Wasn't long before two, then three, and four more bass, all between 12 and 14 inches, fell victim to the lipless crankbait. "This is fun, but I'm not catching any 21-inch keepers," I said to the invisible co-angler.
1945 - Busted open my $5 Subway footlong hotdog and started getting crumbs all over my boat while watching the electronics. Pulled over some isolated structure at the mouth of a cove and threw a marker. After a few casts, a small bass picked up the bait on the Carolina Rig but dropped it.
2005 - Knowing I didn't have much time left, began motoring back to the ramp, ripping the lipless out of grass along the shore because I was distracted by the sound and display of fireworks everywhere. Figuring the bass probably were watching, too, sat down and cracked open a cold beverage and enjoyed the show until interrupted by the spotlight and sound of a parks and wildlife officer telling me that the lake was closed.
Unfortunately, didn't catch any fish close to the length limit but had a great time with the reaction strikes and ended up with a little bass thumb and stinky fingers after all.
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