PC Not for Me... Not Now... Not Ever

When I read "Too much change in the Navy" in this morning's Virginian-Pilot letters to the editor, that's all it took to light me off on the subject of political correctness. The writer was talking about how the Navy has decided to fix its ratings and titles to reflect a genderless force, e.g., airbeings, seabeings and firebeings, instead of the airmen, seamen and firemen.

In this writer's words, we'll next "have to change famous naval history quotes to things like 'blank the torpedoes, full speed ahead!' or 'You may fire when you are ready, Gridleyperson.'"

Did you ever hear of such a load of B.S.? And I'm not the only one who thinks of political correctness in such a light, either. I was reading a piece by the editor of a sporting journal this morning, who began his article by talking about how he loathed the trendy bastardization of our language with words like "spokesperson." While editor of a large daily newspaper, as he was at the time, he once instructed his desk editors, "Spokesman is perfectly acceptable. Webster's definition plainly states that a spokesman is a person who speaks for another. We will avoid the use of spokesperson as long as we possibly can."

When he grew tired of fighting "city hall" on this matter, he took up outdoor writing... and got "as far away as I could from spokesperson." Now, though, he's battling a new politically correct, gender-neutral abomination that's infiltrating the sportsman's vocabulary. "If you hadn't noticed," he said, "'fisher' has become the cutting-edge standard now and has replaced that once-comfortable and timeless old word 'fisherman.'"

"Why is this change necessary?" he wants to know, when Webster defines "man" as a human being and "fisherman" as a person who fishes. However, Webster also now defines "fisher" as a person who fishes. And, there are definitions for "outdoorswoman" and "sportswoman" but not for "fisherwoman," all of which only points out how convoluted things are getting.

One of America's most famous females who fly fishes is Joan Wulff, wife of the late-Lee Wulff. She eschews "fisher" and likes to be called a fly fisherman, thank you very much.

How about professional angler Delayne Collins (right), who takes pride in being called "the Bikini Bassmaster" and "the Kate Upton of bass fishing"? Although part of a male-dominated sport, this native Floridian doesn't shy away from standing political correctness on its head and showing off the feminine side of angling.

"But don't be fooled by the traditional girly look," said one writer. "Collins may have the face and physique of a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue cover girl, but she could well aspire to grace the cover of Sport Fishing Magazine."

The writer went on to note that Collins, a Fort Lauderdale resident, is no novice. "She's been hooked on fishing since she barely was old enough to handle a pole," he said. "At the tender age of three, she already was learning the difference between crankbaits and jigs.

"And she's in the 'big boys' league in the fishing world. Collins already has landed a personal best nine-and-a-half-pound bass," the writer concluded.

As the sports-journal editor I referenced earlier noted, "Competitive bass anglers wouldn't be caught dead calling themselves bass fishers, would they? What about youngsters who dunk worms off bridges? Are they fishers?"

Incidentally, everything that appears in that sports journal still uses the word "fisherman," instead of "fisher." The editor admits, however, that he "can feel the steam roller rumbling off in the distance. Inevitably, 'fisher' will prevail. 'Fisherman,' one of my favorite words, will go the way of so many other perfectly useful words that are now just a memory."

As for me, however, specifically as it relates to this blog, I make no such admissions about political correctness... now or ever. I only promise to always try and keep my language clean.

Any Kind of Topwater Day Is a Good Day

At least, that's the way I feel. It's always nice to catch a bass, regardless of what kind of bait you're using, but when you catch one on a topwater lure, that's extra special. And that's exactly what happened today while splitting my time between West Neck and Albright's.

My watch showed exactly 9:20 a.m. as I brought this first and best bass of the day into the boat. The 1-lb. 6-oz. fish hit a popper I just had worked across a submerged log in shallow water. And from that point forward, I kept using the popper intermittently with a Bomber squarebill.

The Bomber yielded a fish while I was working it across the mouth of a cove, and I caught one more bass and lost another on the popper before my day ended about 2:15. I had some early signs the topwater bite might be on--there were several swirls along the first stretch of shoreline I decided to try.

The water temperature when I started this morning was 54, and it had moved up to 68 by the time I quit. Several vehicles were in the parking lot at West Neck when I came in this afternoon, but the only person I talked to before leaving was my friend, Skip. He, too, went out today and had tried to repeat his success of last Saturday down in Blackwater, but the fish weren't cooperating today. Skip said he didn't put a single fish in the boat.

Neither one of us has any plans to go out again this week until the tournament this coming Saturday. Given the dramatic change in weather the forecasters are calling for then, I have to believe whatever bite we had today likely will have changed. That thought, however, won't dissuade me from trying to catch a few on topwater.

On Top of Their Game at Lake Gaston

My long-time friend and boat mechanic, Wayne Hayes (right), and his new Region 7 tournament partner, Al Napier (left), put on a clinic en route to capturing first place at this past Saturday's contest on Lake Gaston.

Their final tally for a six-fish limit was 22.45 pounds, which included Al's 5.76-pound big fish. In talking to Wayne afterward, I learned that they eclipsed the rest of the field with their deep-water expertise. According to Wayne, they spent a good part of the day with the boat resting in 25 feet of water, while he and Al plied the bottom with their jigs.

'Twould seem this duo, who both also fish the Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney Series, may very well prove to be a force to be reckoned with for some time to come. I say that because of their collective knowledge base and the fact they, as Wayne allowed in our phone conversation, both prefer the same style of fishing.

Second place at Gaston went to (from left) Jared Allbritten and Chris Napier, a couple more anglers who are no strangers to the Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney Series. They weighed in a sack of fish that tipped the scales at 19.09 pounds.

My heartiest congratulations go to all four of these anglers on a job extremely well done. Tight Lines!

Photos courtesy Region 7 website, http://www.varegion7.com/.

A Weekend with Mixed Results

Hadn't heard from Ron for a few days, but as I just learned, it wasn't due to his sitting home. He's been out wetting a line every chance he gets.

In this latest report, he says his son, Alex, broke a long-running skunk Friday at Lake Smith, where he boated five, including one that weighed 2 lbs. 5 ozs.

They backed that catch up Saturday morning with about 10 more. Once again, though, there weren't any big ones, and a lot of short strikes. About noon, the bite turned off completely. A little later in the day, they went to to Albright's, which yielded only one wee crappie.

On Sunday, Ron went to Lake Smith by himself and boated five bass--the biggest a 1-14 (see photo above)--as well as a crappie and one white perch.

He also lost a fish, which, according to Ron, probably is running around with part of its anatomy missing. He bases that suspicion on what you see in the photo at left. He said he thinks the victim probably was a chain pickerel.

Sunday's trip was big on jerkbaits--"twitch, twitch, bam!" said Ron.

And then, as if proving that variety truly is the spice of life, Ron went to Milldam about 4:30 this afternoon and locked up with yet another species--none other than this 8-lb. 5-oz. "fatty" carp.

He was heading back under the Blackwater Road Bridge when "rubber lips" sent his drag screaming and took him for a pole-bending sleigh ride he'll remember for a long time to come. "It was amazing!" is how Ron described the event, which, at one point, nearly claimed his rod. His beetlespin was lodged squarely in the big carp's lower lip.

"Nice catch," remarked fellow-kayaker, Charlie, who likewise has boated his fair share of carp over the years. Charlie went on to note that he never had thought of a beetlespin as a carp bait.

2016 Season Opener in the Record Books

Seventeen anglers in 10 boats helped usher in the new tourney series today at West Neck Marina. Winners were as follows:

1st Place, the team of (from left) Lenny Hall and Gary Coderre, five bass, 11.06 lbs. total weight, and a 3.90-lb. big fish, which was good enough to capture the day's lunker award. Gary caught that fish.

2nd Place, Jim Wilder, five bass, 10.31 lbs. total weight, 3.50-lb. big fish.

3rd Place, the team of (from left) Mark London and John Goodman, 9.85 lbs. total weight, no big fish.

Winning the mystery-weight award was the team of (from left) Mitch Portervint and Skip Schaible. They had 7.39 lbs. total weight (with a 1.74-lb. big fish), which was closest to the 6.90 weight that was drawn.



Here is how all the other contestants finished the day:

     * Steve Bailey, five bass, 9.46 lbs. total weight, 2.23-lb. big fish.
     * The team of Ronnie and Chandler McLaughlin, five bass, 8.76 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * The team of Nathan and Marjorie Gottsch, one bass, 3.66 lbs. total weight, no big fish.
     * Jim Bauer, two bass, 2.94 lbs. total weight, 1.83-lb. big fish.
     * The teams of Bob Glass and Randy Conkle and Rob Chatham and Ken Testorff didn't weigh any fish.

Overall, today's anglers weighed a total of 33 bass for a total weight of 63.43 lbs. The average weight was 1.92 lbs.

Congrats to all of the winners and thanks to everyone who came out to participate. For planning purposes, the next event is scheduled for Saturday, March 19, from safe light (about 7 a.m.) to 3 p.m. I hope you can join us.

I had forewarned my partner, Rob, to expect a slow bite, if any, until noon today or thereabouts. I based that prediction on the results I had been obtaining solo in recent weeks. Unfortunately, noon came, then 1 o'clock and 1:30, with absolutely nothing to show for our joint efforts but one short bass and several nice white perch. We also both had some missed strikes.

In talking to one other team after weigh-in, I learned that one member basically caught fish all day long on a soft plastic. When his partner eventually changed to the same bait, though, it had absolutely no effect on his fishing luck--he still couldn't catch 'em.

In my opinion, we likely are only days away from the "catching" business for nearly everyone picking up dramatically. I'm awaiting that event with baited breath.

A Maiden Voyage on Lake Smith Proves Memorable

That's how Ron described today's trip--one that he only decided at the last minute to take. After being skunked yesterday, he had decided to take a day off, but given the nice weather he found upon leaving work, he headed to Lake Smith. Besides, said Ron, "I already had paid $40 for the annual Norfolk lake pass."

A boat pulled into the ramp with some nice crappie as Ron was launching his yak, so he asked a few questions and was given a tip: "The wind is your friend."

Ron followed the advice and fished the windward side of the lake. He slow-trolled a beetlespin and a road runner, while tossing a Shadow Rap to shore and structure. Managing three lines while battling the wind was a real challenge, but he came up with six white perch before making a cast with the shadow rap that will live in his memory for a long time to come.

In his words, "I hooked the biggest bass I've ever had on a line, complete with an adrenaline rush from the drag screaming and the pole bending. Without a doubt, it was bigger than my Oceana 5-pounder of last year." Unfortunately, though, the giant fish left him heartbroken with one shake of his huge head.

Shortly afterward, Ron did catch a personal best 13.75-inch, 1-8 crappie, as well as another one that measured 12.5 inches and weighing 1-2 (the two fish in the accompanying photos), which gave him "dinner on the stringer."

"All in all," concluded Ron, "it was a great first trip to Lake Smith, and I look forward to going back." He recognizes, however, that crowds likely will become an issue.

Yo, Dummy! That Might Be a Fish

That's what I was saying to myself about noon today. I just had made a cast with a jerkbait, and after doing the jerk-jerk-pause thing, I thought I felt something but wasn't sure. So, I did a couple more jerk-jerk-pauses, each time feeling like there was some kind of jerk back going on. It wasn't until I felt like I should reel in and make another cast, though, that I suddenly saw the line jump sideways and finally realized I really was hooked up with a fish.

Turns out what I had been feeling was this 1-6 bass. And when he got close enough to see the boat, he decided it was time to put on a little show for me. With two of those three hooks on my jerkbait firmly imbedded in his face, however, victory ultimately was mine. On the next two consecutive casts, I again felt something but wasn't able to get another hookup.

It was about 2 o'clock when another bass jumped on my jerkbait as soon as it splashed down, and I boated my second and final fish of the day. He weighed in at 1-5. A few minutes later, I was wrapping up and battening down for the return trip to West Neck.

The water temp today went from a reading of 50 degrees when I launched about 7:30 this morning to slightly better than 63 when I headed back to the marina this afternoon.

All in all, it was a nice day, but not what I had hoped for when I left the house this morning. I had wanted to try and put together some kind of early bite, but that just did not happen. I went through a series of topwaters, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and a small soft plastic, all to no avail.

The first person I saw when I stepped off the boat this afternoon to back my trailer in the water was Skip, who told me he caught this fish about 10:30 this morning. When I asked him how much the bass weighed, Skip had one of his quips ready for me. "I didn't weigh it," he said. "Pound and 1/2 maybe... or 11 pounds. I get confused."

I learned that Skip also had talked to Lenny this afternoon and that he had one fish to show for his efforts. Meanwhile, Bob and Randy reportedly had found a couple bass.

So, no one came away empty-handed today--at least not among those I know about. However, it doesn't appear that any of us exactly set the world on fire, either. Sure hope our tourney results for this coming Saturday proves to be a tad more lucrative. It's a pretty safe bet that all the participants will be swinging for the fence.

Can't Get Enough of Milldam

And for that reason, Ron launched his yak from Blackwater Road Bridge at 4:20 this afternoon. It was an hour later before he caught his first fish: a 17-inch pickerel, which hit the XTS minnow. Then, in quick succession, came two 11.5-inch crappie. One hit the XTS while Ron was slow trolling it; the other fell for a beetlespin slow-trolled about 3 feet down.

Said Ron, "There was a very short window of surface activity about 5:30, including a few small V lines and an occasional surface swirl. And there was some minnow activity close to shore being spooked by my lure hitting the water." Ron went on to note that "any surface activity seems to be the key indicator for the crappie bite," adding, "I'm learning, slowly but surely."

Everything seemed to shut down about 5:45, so Ron wrapped it up and called it quits. "At least, I'm not bleeding," he said, referring to his recent up-close and personal encounter with a pickerel's teeth. "And, the warmer weather was a nice change of pace. Nice sunset and not too many mosquitoes, either."

Ron concluded his email with a note that he plans to try daily this week to see if he can catch enough to fill a skillet.

I also had an email today from Charlie, who included a new photo of the work in progress at what used to be the Pungo Ferry Capt. George's. As you will see here, the workers have a layer of blacktop down now in the parking lot.

Learn to Think Outside the Tacklebox

Let's say you're fishing down a 300-yard section of shoreline with laydowns, scattered stumps, and logs. For the past few fishing trips, you've been catching fish on a spinnerbait, but your first pass down the bank today yields only one small bass.

The wheels in your brain immediately start turning. You wonder, "Did the fish leave? Did you catch most of them?"

All these scenarios and more will run through your mind, while never once considering the possibility you might trigger the fish into biting by just changing lures or presentation with the one you're currently throwing.

Instead of tossing a spinnerbait, why not switch to a shallow crankbait? If a front has pushed through recently, you may need to slow down to something like a Texas- or Carolina-rigged worm. These aren't drastic changes--just simple adjustments. Often times, the fishermen move around more than the fish do. Change your tactics before you change your locations.

Fish get conditioned to seeing the same lures time after time. One of the quickest baits they get used to seeing and becoming leery of is a buzzbait. When the fish start slapping at a buzzbait or missing it on the strike is a good indication it's time to switch to a topwater prop bait. You will be making the same presentation but with enough of a change to make the bite pick back up.

Along the same lines, I remember one windy spring morning a few years back when I had been watching lots of surface action along a particular stretch of wind-blown shoreline, but the fish would have nothing to do with the Buzzjet Jrs. I had been throwing--they wouldn't even swat at that topwater bait. I went through a whole series of color changes, with the same net results.

It wasn't until I just had made another cast and was letting the lure rest while I thought about the situation, that I discovered the problem. It was my presentation. After letting the Buzzjet Jr. sit there at rest for several seconds, I, with no forethought, took a quick turn on the reel handle, and a bass suddenly jumped all over the bait. For the next 45 minutes or so, it was nonstop action, as long as I would let the bait rest, then make a quick turn on the reel handle, and if necessary, repeat the process. To say they were "hammering" the bait would be an understatement.

I also read about a guy and his friend who had a Christmas Eve tradition of going fishing. A couple of years in a row, they fished a shallow lake during a warming trend. The first year, they noticed the bass kept spooking as soon as their baits hit the water. After nearly an hour of watching this happen, the one guy decided to tie on, of all things, a popper.

One huge explosion then followed another as the duo spent the rest of Christmas Eve afternoon catching between 20 and 30 fish. The next year was the same thing all over again.

A young fella once asked a seasoned angler what he considered the key was to becoming a good fisherman. The seasoned angler thought for a moment, then said, "Learn as much as you can, and be on the water as often as you can. Read and do your research on techniques, study weather patterns and fish behaviors, but whatever you do, never ever stop learning."

The seasoned angler paused, then added, "Also remember this one thing: Don't be afraid to take all these things that 'should work' and throw them out the window and start over again from scratch. Allow yourself to find what works. In short, learn to think outside the tacklebox."

Sometimes They Bite Back

Ron's fishin' fever had to be satisfied again yesterday after work with another trip to Milldam Creek. He launched about 4 p.m., when the mercury still was above 40 degrees but, to Ron's chagrin, soon fell. Because the water level had fallen, he had no problem navigating under the bridge this time.

His plan of attack for this trip was to dangle a crappie Road Runner over the side of his yak, down to about 4 feet, while casting to structure with the floating minnow. The Road Runner he was using had a chartreuse head, with a black grub, and a wee spinner. Unfortunately, no crappie wanted to cooperate, but those ever-frisky chain pickerel in the 17-to-21-inch range (one of which he's holding here) were all over the Road Runner. In no time, he had caught three.

Because of the Road Runner's small size, Ron didn't want to use the pliers to remove it from the pickerels' mouths. But while holding one of those toothy critters by the edge of his lip, he suffered a nick to one of his fingertips, and as luck would have it, the wound wouldn't stop bleeding.

"Wise ol' sailor that I am," said Ron, "I never go into combat without an IFAK (Individual First Aid Kit)." In this case, though, the kit (a standard Red Cross nylon zipped bag with all the basics) had been carried around in the bottom of Ron's black box for a year. And when he went to unzip it, the corroded zipper broke off and fell to the bottom of his kayak, next to the "multiplying red droplets," as he labeled them.

Ron continued trying to catch a crappie or two, while applying pressure to stop the bleeding, but he wasn't achieving either goal. Finally, at 6 p.m., he quit and returned to his vehicle, where he found a few old Band-Aids in the glovebox. He said he thinks it was about 38 degrees when he left for home.

"Today is a wash," said Ron in this morning's email. "Will watch my finger for signs of infection and get a new bag or box for my first-aid kit."

Many Are Hooked on It, But a Few Take It to the Extreme

The "it" I'm talking about here, of course, is bass fishing. If you're not sure whether you're hooked or not, consider these typical telltale signs:

     * You don't drive by a body of water without looking for ambush points, schools of bait, or diving birds.

     * While golfing, you look at the water hazards and think, "I wonder if any bass are in there?"

     * You meticulously organize, categorize, and reorganize the lures in your Plano cases the same way you organized baseball cards when you were just a kid.

     * You show photos of fish you've caught to everyone you know, even though you're pretty sure they could care less.

     * When you close your eyes at night in bed, you immediately start dreaming about fighting big fish.

     * Stores like Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, and Tackle Warehouse are your Toys R Us.

     * The one place you can spend all day without even thinking about eating is on the water.

     * When you have guests in town, your secret wish is that they will want you to teach them to fish... or that they'll leave soon so you can go.

     * Your DVR is full of fishing shows (and you still watch the reruns).

     * You're completely perplexed by boat owners who don't fish.

     * No matter what else you're doing, you'd really rather just be fishing.

Now let me tell you about a fella whom, I feel, takes our sport to the extreme. I came across his story while I was doing my own research on jerkbaits. He admits to "having a fascination with these baits" and says he has tried most of the suspending jerkbaits on the market. He says his "fascination" stems from wanting to know why one bait can be so red-hot one day but be so badly out fished the next.

He went on to explain that, in preparation for a tournament, he started throwing a suspending Rogue in clown color (see left) from the front of the boat, while his partner started with a Husky Jerk in the same color. With his partner catching all the fish, he decided to study his rhythm and try to mimic it as best as possible, but his partner continued catching all the fish.

Eventually, he and the partner swapped baits, and he started catching all the fish from the front of the boat. The next day, both he and his partner tied on Husky Jerks in clown color (see right) that had proven so successful the day before, but on this day, neither one was catching anything significant until the man on the front started fishing the same Rogue that had done nothing the day before.

These events really got the guy on the front of the boat wondering what would make such a difference. He wanted to watch their action in the water, but he didn't own a pool, and the nearest body of water wasn't clear enough, so he decided to do the next best thing.

He took a dozen of the lures to work with him and X-rayed them, in hopes he would find a major difference in the weighting/rattle systems of the suspending jerkbaits. He also wanted to get a look at the mechanisms that might cause a lure to "wiggle in place" while suspended, as one manufacturer was claiming his baits would do.

While the X-rays revealed a variety of weight-distribution systems, they didn't turn up any secrets. He certainly didn't find anything that would cause a lure to wiggle while suspended.

In short, the reality of his experiment was that there is no way to predict how a fish will react to a lure on any given day, which simply brings us back to this time-worn conclusion: "If fishing were easy, it would be called catching."

Trifecta at Milldam Creek

It was about 4 o'clock this afternoon when Ron Ameika launched his yak from the west side of the bridge that crosses Milldam Creek. He then "got real low and did the limbo," crossing under the bridge and heading eastward in Milldam.

"The water was murky, the wind was high, and the temp was dropping," said Ron. He was out for a recon with two poles and an XTS minnow. After trying a few skinny-water areas with no luck, he got fed up with the wind and decided to head back.

While trolling the XTS dead-center channel, his line suddenly went tight, and the pole bent hard. His prize was a 27-inch bowfin that weighed 5 lbs. 12 ozs.

After limboing his way back under the bridge, Ron threw the XTS minnow toward some cover in the swampy but clear backwaters. In no time, he had scored a 17-inch chain pickerel.

Ron was slow-trolling his way back to the bridge when he was rewarded with a 12.6-inch crappie that weighed 1 lbs. 12 ozs. "Yeah, tablefare!" he exclaimed. About the same time, his friend, who was bank fishing in the vicinity of the bridge, caught a 13.2-inch crappie on a live minnow.

All the surface action died down about 5:45, and, unfortunately, so did the bite. Ron was satisfied, though. "All in all, a successful, albeit cold and windy, initial recon of Milldam Creek" is how he summed up the events.

Barely Dodged a Skunk Today

If it hadn't been for the small pickerel that hit my crankbait about a half-hour after I started this morning, I would have absolutely nothing to talk about, 'cause the only bass I hooked up with made one leap and spit my chatterbait back at me to earn his freedom.

Meanwhile, Skip came up empty-handed again today.

The considerably lighter wind was a welcome change from yesterday. At least, we were able to recover our boats a lot more easily.

The water temp went from 45 when I launched this morning to the mid-50s when I quit about 2:30, which was even higher than yesterday. The air temperature felt like it warmed up until about mid-morning, then started falling a little. I had removed a couple layers already by 10 o'clock but started putting them back on shortly thereafter, and Skip mentioned that he, too, had felt the same thing. By the time I started cleaning up the boat this afternoon, it had warmed up enough again that I went all the way down to my shirt sleeves.

From the looks of the weather forecast for the next few days, Skip and I are thinking we'll probably be landlubbers until sometime next week. That's OK, 'cause I have a couple other things I need to get done.

I had an email from Ron Ameika this evening, telling me that he had fished the northern portion of West Neck after work today. He launched at the Indian River Road Bridge about 4:10 p.m.. "The water was crystal clear, and the conditions were ripe," he said. He saw some minor surface action, which he suspected were panfish feeding. A friend of his was marking fish on his electronics and scored one dink bass.

Ron said he headed north toward Dozier Bridge and Princess Anne Road--a trip that had him swatting away some early-season mosquitoes. Alternating between an XTS floating minnow and a small white beetlespin, he finally caught the wee sunfish in the accompanying photo on the XTS minnow.