Air Temperature: 77 - 68
Water Temperature: 84 - 79 (Areas that were 80-81 were most productive)
Water Clarity: Clear / 6 Ft of visibility
Skies: Clear with occasional clouds
Wind: 3-6 Mph SSW
Barometric Pressure: 30.16 - 30.19"
After several sub-par outings, I decided I would go back to some familiar water and rebuild some confidence. This was a much needed trip as I was starting to become beaten down, mentally. The last few times I visited this lake, the pattern was much in the same. Today was no exception.
I made my way to a section of isolated lily pads, and took a few casts with a Cobra Bait Dead Bolt in the bluegill color. This color is perfect for clear water and bluebird skies. I think the fish agreed with me on my color choice, as it wasn't long before I got my first fish. I worked my way around the clump of lily pads. There is also a section of pads coming off the shoreline that form a "point" if you will, and I was able to pull a few fish off this area as well. I lost two fish in this section, and one I would guess was well over 3lbs, it dove deep and took me into some milfoil, and I came up empty. The second one I lost was not as substantial, I would guess about 1-1.5lbs, this one took my line into a single lily pad, and when the line hit it, that small amount of slack was enough to jar him loose.
I moved on to another section with some irregular lily pads, and the pattern produced a few more fish, including a 2 pounder. There was a point right there so I figured I'd at least throw something at it, so I tossed out a Texas rigged 7" Culprit Fat Max worm, watermelon colored, and landed two identical pound and a half fish.
It was starting to get dark, so I paddled back to my first area for a few more casts. First cast, I threw the worm, and was surprised to pull up a small channel cat. I also managed a couple more bass on the deadbolt. I was also broken off on a hookset and that's when I decided to call it quits.
I ended up with 12 bass and one channel cat. Nothing was particularly big, a lot of 1 - 1.5 pound fish, with a few dinks mixed in, but I didn't really care. I'm sure I could have concentrated my efforts on the deeper weed line, but I really wanted to just play to my strengths today. The sole purpose of this trip was to rebuild confidence, and I did that. I was beginning to question my ability to locate and catch fish. When your confidence is low, your attitude tends to go right down with it, resulting in poor fishing.
Please excuse the lack of pictures, but I think you've seen me catch enough average sized fish, I took a couple, but wasn't really feeling the picture thing today. I did get one video with the deadbolt however.
Basically what I was doing, was casting as close to the edge of the lily pads as possible, and letting it sink for a few seconds, reel in the slack, twitch and repeat.
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