For Period Ending Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021

Thursday, Nov. 18 (from Ron)...Fished upper West Neck this afternoon to avoid the wind. However, the bite was miserable. Did manage a dink bass and a small crappie to avoid the skunk. Tried little crankbaits and spinner baits to no avail. Only the micro spinner elicited any bites. Had a couple really small taps, which I figured were yellow perch...like it was the other day. The saltwater bite was on fire Wednesday morning, and I got into some mid 20-inch stripers.

Sunday, Nov. 21 (from Ron)...Went out and tried a new, small, gold-colored crankbait (by Berkley). Had never used that color before. The bait is a floater that gets down to about 3 feet. Waters I am fishing average a depth of 4 feet. Slime darts and yellow perch loved the thing. Nothing of any size would have anything to do with it, but I had fun on a beautiful morning. The micro spinner and the ol' XTS Minnow worked on the bass. Caught a total of about 20 fish.

Saturday, Nov. 27 (from Wayne and Ken)...The air temp was around 40 degrees when we pulled away from the front of my place this morning, and the water temp when we launched at Bob's Fishin' Hole was 43 (topped out at 49), but those numbers didn't stop us from participating in the regular Saturday tournament there. We joined 22 other stalwarts who spent the next seven hours looking for some of those favorite green fish. The day started OK for us. We put eight bass in the boat in the first hour and a half, but only managed one more in the remaining hours...we couldn't even buy a strike, even though we were throwing everything but the proverbial "kitchen sink" at them. For that reason, we didn't hang around after weighing our catch this afternoon. We could see the handwriting on the wall. Not sure if it explains the reason why the fish suddenly took on such a serious case of lockjaw today, but came across the following information online, courtesy of Wired2Fish, after getting home this afternoon: "As the temps bottom out, you've really got to slow down. You'll notice patterns, too, this time of year. Often, your most productive times of the day will the the first 30 minutes, last 30 minutes, and the middle of the day, from say 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on sunny days. That's the time of day the fish will get the most sunshine to warm them up. So there's often a lull at times, especially mid-morning after the initial bite. Then, if there's a front moving through at anytime of the day, the norm holds true, and the fish will typically be more active then. Keep those windows in mind, and try to make the most of them by putting yourself in the most productive places at the right times. Take one of these baits (a squarebill crankbait, spinnerbait, jerkbait, compact jig, or flat-sided crankbait), and take your time, and you'll be setting yourself up for a good day on the water...one with far fewer boats than you'll see the rest of the year." The time we spent fishing today was very comfortable, but anytime we ran to a new spot, it was a "numbing" experience. We both couldn't say enough for the 100-mph rainsuit pants we were wearing today, among lots of other things.