"Fishing Has Been Hard of Late"

That's the word I received in an email today from my kayaker friend, Ron. It seems that over the period stretching from this past Saturday through last evening, he has caught more than 30 bass, but the largest measured only a paltry 17.5 inches and came from West Neck Creek.

Said Ron, "The vast majority have been in the 11-to-13-inch range...all cookie-cutter dinks. Chatterbaits with craw trailer, swimsenkos, U-vibe worms, and topwater pop FrogZs have all worked.

"High water and high temps are not helping," he concluded.

Then, later this evening (Tuesday, Aug. 9), another email from Ron hit my inbox, this time describing another trip to West Neck.

"Caught a few dinks on plastic worm, and about sunset," he said, "I switched to topwater. While casting to laydowns, I managed to find a decent bass for a change and break the dink streak. The 5-lb. 2-oz. bass proved to be a drag-puller, which really made my night!" he said.