Water Temp: 72-76℉
The Day:
Not sure exactly what time we blasted off at. We didn't run very far. I started off throwing the Whopper Plopper. After about 15 minutes my boater Mick got himself a decent bass on a craw tube. I immediately put down the Plopper because there hadn't been a hint of activity on the surface and picked up the Legend Xtreme with a blue/black Chigger Craw on it. About 5 minutes later I had my first bass in the boat, a 13.3 incher. Mick then got another decent one and I got a 13.5". Mick then caught 17 incher and a couple more good one's in pretty short order. I got a dink next to a dock as we worked our way back over where we had fished. My blue/black Chigger Craw was trashed so I put on a breen one. There started to be some surface activity so I started throwing the Plopper again. Mick caught his limit fish about an hour and 20 minutes in. I put the Plopper back down pretty quickly. I think Mick culled once and I got my big fish of the day, a 15.25"on the Chigger Craw. I was throwing both the Chigger Craw and a craw tube as well. I had several fish pick them up and drop it immediately. Also plenty of bites from sunfish. The area seemed to go dead, so we headed North to his big fish area.
There were lots of sunfish swimming around, so tried the LiveTarget Sunfish Wake bait. I saw some boils on the surface so I also tried a bluegill Shower Blows 105 for a while. Mick started catching some bass but they didn't help him, maybe he culled once or twice.
Mick gave me a red shad craw tube. I threw it for about 10 minutes without a hit and went to a black/red fleck Chigger Craw. Mick caught another bass and asked me why I wasn't throwing the craw tube. He had a good point. I switched from a 3/8 to 3/16 weight with the craw tube. While I was fishing the Chigger Craw and the craw tube once again I was having fish pick it up and drop it. I tried letting it sit or giggling it in place, but they wouldn't come back for it.
It was now a little after 11AM and we headed South. I don't know which bay we were in but Bill Bailey and Alan Steinbauer were both fishing really close to where we pulled in. Mick had a small keeper on before I even had my line in the water. Alan's boat left pretty quickly and we headed that way. Mick caught another bass that didn't help him. We went right into the thick coontail and Mick was showing me how he fishes for them in the Fall. He pulled in a small keeper on his first or second drop. He then caught another one pretty quickly. I think I then missed a hit and Mick caught another one. I missed a couple more bites, but finally hooked up on won just over 13 inches. Mick sat down and ate a sandwich. I think I missed one more hit, before me left for the next spot.
The next spot was reed island. I had a fish just hammer the craw tube after it landed, but when I set the hook there was nothing there. Might have been a pike. We fished the area for about half an hour and didn't get anything, so off we headed to what must be eastern most southern bay and fished off of a point. I got my last fish of the day (13.75) there and missed a couple of hits as well.
We went in and tried some docks. Didn't get anything. With about 40 minutes left we headed back to our starting spot and didn't get anything.
Results: My 5 fish weighed 7lbs 6ozs, which put me in 18th Place out of 22 anglers. Mick's fished weighed 14/1 and put him in 7th Place. Keith Tuma won his second in a row with 18/11. Chuck Steinbauer had a 4/5 big bass.
My Thoughts: Mick probably caught 4 fish to my one. He had me around fish all day and even gave me the color that was working. By the time I figured out I needed to grind with craw tube it was too late. My mental focus was good all day. Disappointing to not get a limit, but I had a good time.
