Trying Some Different Tactics

In the interest of being able to scout out more possible spots to fish in this Sunday's tournament and to do it faster than we could otherwise, Wayne and I have spent both pre-fishing days this week in our own boats at different sites but staying in contact by our cellphones.

When first we talked today, Wayne had called me with a report that he already had boated some keeper bass but nothing of any size. My only fish at that point in time had been a channel catfish...probably about 2 lbs. worth...that I had caught on a spinnerbait. Just as my phone had rung with Wayne's call, though, I had felt something pick up my soft plastic, but knowing it was Wayne on the line, I just had laid the rod down to talk to him.

Imagine my surprise following our phone conversation, when I picked the rod back up to still feel that fish there and to see my line flying through the water. I quickly took up the slack and set the hook on a bass that weighed 2-3. Only three casts later, I nailed another bass that tipped the scales at 2-2. Rather than sit there having all the fun to myself, I tied off my boat to a fallen tree, called Wayne, and asked if he wanted to join me.

He arrived on the scene post-haste. Unfortunately, though, the action already had gone dormant, and we couldn't find another fish that would commit like the two I had boated. I felt some more fish showing some interest but none in which I could bury a hook.

We collectively ended the day with a total of nine bass but nothing bigger than the two 2-lbers.

Gotta confess a moment of anxiety that I had while waiting for Wayne to join me today. I had just boated my second bass and wanted to take a picture of it, as I had the first one. However, my camera was nowhere to be found. For a few minutes, while waiting for Wayne to show up, I truly had to consider the possibility that I accidentally had tossed my camera overboard after catching my first decent fish in weeks.

Just as I was about to give up and write off the camera as a total loss, I went through my boat one more time and discovered that I absent-mindedly had tucked my camera in the wrong bag after taking a picture of my first fish. By that time, however, I already had released the second fish, but that's OK, 'cause they basically looked like matching bookends.