As Post Frontal as Post Frontal Gets 10/10/16

On the Water: 8 AM - 2 PM
Air Temperature: 46 - 58
Surface Temperature: 60 - 63
Water Clarity: Clear on South end of the lake, slightly stained on north end.
Skies: Sunny
Wind: 10-20mph N, gusts up to 30mph

I headed out to my favorite lake, only to find that a large tree had fallen across the access road to the boat launch.  After wasting about 20 minutes trying to find an alternate path to the water, I was unsuccessful and decided to try somewhere else.  There's a small pond that's close by, I had never fished there before, and decided that I would give it a shot.

After rerigging a few rods, I was ready to paddle out.  I started fishing some lily pad edges, that dropped off quickly towards 20' of water.  I started out swimming a green pumpkin PanHead jig, with a motor oil pepper Monkey Grub trailer (both made by Lunker City) and quickly hooked up with a small bass.  A few casts later, a pickerel broke me off.  That was my last PanHead jig in green pumpkin, so I switched to Z-Man Chatterbait in the same color combination, and picked up right where I left off.  It didn't take long to establish a pattern. The fish were holding on isolated patches of grass along the edge of the pads.  I was using a slow-medium retrieve, and twitching my rod and pausing for a split second and then repeat.  The fish were hitting on that slight pause.

Once the sun started to get high, the action slowed down.  I started flipping a jig at some isolated cover.  With the wind blowing so hard, I couldn't stay still long enough to be able to detect a strike.  This was where the day went downhill.  I made a cast off the deep weed edge with a 3/4oz jig, and I felt something on the other end, so I set the hook.  Bad idea... I was immediately hung up on something.  I paddled to the opposite side of the snag to try to dislodge it.  Once I got to the far side, one of the many 30 mph gusts of wind pushed me the wrong direction, as my rod doubled over, I frantically tried to push the release button on my reel, but it was too late.  My rod snapped right in half.  On the bright side, I got my jig back.

There were a few brief periods where the wind would die down to almost nothing, so I used the opportunity to throw a wacky rig around the lily pad edges, and was rewarded with a few more fish.

Although I didn't get any big fish, most were between 1 and 2 lbs, I was still happy with the result.  Having never fished here before, I didn't know what to expect, but I quickly established a pattern, and was able to set some hooks.  Given the conditions for today, I think I would have been satisfied just catching anything.

Total for the day: 13 Bass, 2 Pickerel
Pan Head Jig: 1 Bass
Chatterbait: 10 Bass 1 Pickerel
Wacky Rig: 2 Bass 1 Pickerel

This color combination is perfect when trying to imitate bluegill.  The tail of the grub glows a neon/chartreuse color when the sun hits it, and it closely resembles the tail of a sunfish.  

Report 8/13/16

On the water: 7:40 AM- 12:00 PM
Air Temperature: 79-90
Water Temperature: 82-85
Water Clarity: Mostly clear in the shallows with a bit of a greenish tinge over the deeper water
Skies: Partly Cloudy
Wind: 0-7 MPH SSW
Barometric Pressure: 29.92-29.94

I had a small window to fish in the morning, so I decided to capitalize on the opportunity and head to my favorite lake. The last couple of times that I visited this particular body of water, I struggled to find any consistency. The large schools of alewife that the bass usually chase offshore, had seemingly disappeared, and the bass seemed to be scattered throughout the lake. My goal for today was to develop a pattern early, and run with it for as long as I could, until I needed to make adjustments.

As I paddled out into the lake, with the tepid, glass smooth water, and the sun still tucked behind the trees, I wanted to make the best of the conditions and throw some topwater. My last visit here, I managed to find a frog bite around the lily pads that sit atop the points that extend out towards deeper water. I had a black Booyah! Pad crasher  tied on and began methodically walking it through the pads.  On my 5th cast I was rewarded with a long and skinny largemouth that absolutely inhaled the frog. A few casts later, I got another, this time a little bigger.  Then another, and another, and... Well you get the idea. Aside from getting a little jumpy on the hook set on a few occasions, and the few fish that came unbuttoned in the thick vegetation, I managed to execute fairly well. However, once the sun got a little higher, the bass seemed a little disinterested in chasing the frog, and more focused on the dragonflies that were buzzing around the pads. I moved a little further up the lake to an area that still had a bit of shade cover, I had a few swirls and a couple blow ups but I couldn't hook up. I picked up the flippin' stick equipped with 20lb Test Seaguar Abrazx, and a Texas Rigged Berkley Powerbait Rib Snake, and started pitching into the pads.  I managed one decent bass pretty quickly. But the dragon flies soon made there presence known here as well, and I decided to change tactics.

As I was drifting, I noticed several fish suspended off the up current sides of the points I had been fishing, in 10-12 FOW. I was running short on time so I wanted to cover as much water as possible.  I picked up my Abu Garcia Veritas cranking rod and went to work.  With the water temperature climbing rapidly, and the notoriously lethargic behavior of suspended fish, I quickly determined that these fish were not in the mood to chase anything down.

I moved offshore to scan two humps that always seem to hold fish. I marked a single fish in 17 FOW and picked up my drop shot rod, rigged with an Alewife colored Lunker city Ribster. I quickly picked off the single fish, and scanned the area again to see if there were more in the area, but I didn't see any activity. I moved to another isolated hump a little further down, but there didn't appear to be anything there either. I was just about out of time, so I began my journey back towards the launch stopping at a couple of key areas on the way, tossing the Ribster past the points the fish were holding on and letting the wind drift me backwards as I dragged the drop shot. I quickly started hooking up, and I ran with the pattern all the way back to the launch.

As I was waiting for the launch to clear up, I threw a frog into the pads and managed one more fish. I was cutting it close time wise, so I packed up and headed out. If I had another couple of hours, I could have smashed them today, I still had a good day for the limited amount of time that I had, and I was pleased with the final result.  Although I didn't get many big fish, (only caught two that were around 3lbs, the rest were right around 2) I feel like I took a big step forward today.  Instead of trying to force patterns that are unproductive, I took a more disciplined approach, and did what the fish wanted me to do, rather than what I wanted to do.

Total for the day: 15 Bass
Pad Crasher: 9
Rib Snake: 1
Ribster: 5

Hawgust Returns 8/1/16

On the Water 5:45 PM - 9:00 PM
Air Temperature: 73-70
Average Water Temperature: 81.5
Water Clarity: Clear
Skies: Overcast
Wind: 3-6 Mph SE
Barometric Pressure: 30.06 - 30.11

I had a small window of time after dinner, so Josh and I set out to a small lake that has produced for us in the past, you can see an older report here.  Once we got out, we started out fishing the edges of lily pads where it drops off pretty quickly.  On my third cast, I was rewarded with a 2 pounder on a wacky rig.  My main mission, however, was to pull a fish out of the "Labyrinth Laydown" that is always good for a 3 pounder, so I made my way down to the other side of the lake, picking up a quick dink on the way.  Because this laydown is so complex, I usually fish it with a large texas rigged worm, and get picked up on my first pitch into the cover.  However after 5 or 6 casts, I couldn't get a bump.  I grabbed my jig, and tossed in a couple more times, slowly dragging it over the seemingly endless branches, and just as it started to fall back down, I hooked up with a decent fish, weighing in at 3lbs 4oz.

I couldn't help but get some down scan shots of the notorious tree.  Notice the difference between the down scan (left) and the sonar.

After fishing the rocky bank for a little while longer, my phone rings, it was Josh wanting to know if I had a scale.  I know what that means, so I paddled as fast as I could towards him.  When we met up, I couldn't believe the giant that he was holding.

This girl ended up weighing a whopping 7lbs 6oz, good for his new personal best.  He was winding a spinnerbait through some broken up grass.

We didn't have much action after this, a couple dinks on a spinner bait, and I lost a good fish on a jig.  It was nice getting out with Josh, and even better being there for his new PB.  Congrats dude, that was a toad!

Report 7/24

A quick word of caution before I get started; if you decide to leave your battery for your fish finder in the trunk of your car, make sure that there is nothing metal that can come in contact with it.  I figured this out the hard way.

7/24/2016

On the Water: 11:15 AM - 5:00 PM

Air Temperature: 82-90
Water Temperature: 84-85
Water Clarity: Clear
Skies: Partly Cloudy
Wind: 5-10 MPH NW, S, SSW Gusts to 16
Barometric Pressure: 29.98 - 29.94

After installing my new Lowrance Elite-4 Chirp, I needed to take a trip to test it out.  Knowing that I was probably going to spend a lot of time playing with my new electronics, I went back to the alewife lake that produced for me last week.  I had assumed that the pattern would be much of the same, but I couldn't have been more wrong.  Upon launching my Future Beach Angler 160 into the lake, a couple things stuck out to me, the water temperature was a sweltering 84 degrees and rising, and the wind was blowing from the north west.  I knew with the warmer water, I was probably going to have to slow down, and adjust my casting angles accordingly to fish with the current rather than against it.

Once I had the Lowrance all set up, I made a move to the two humps that always seem to hold fish this time of year.  I zig zagged over the structure, and only marked a couple small schools of bait, but did not mark anything on my chart that even resembled a bass.  I threw a Zoom Super Fluke in the vicinity of the bait fish, however it did not appear there were any bass actively feeding near the surface.  As I let the wind push me along, I began noticing some surface activity on an adjacent point.  I quickly tossed my fluke in that direction, and hooked up with a small bass that was about a pound.  Not exactly what I was hoping for, but a bass is a bass.  Shortly after, there were some more swirls on the surface out in the middle of the lake, knowing I wouldn't be able to cast my fluke against the wind far enough to reach the fish, I grabbed my swimbait and launched it into the ripples.  It was picked up, but as I set the hook, the fish swam straight at me and jumped 3 feet in the air, and tossed my swimbait.  This was the theme for me today, as I wound up losing 7 total fish, all of which threw my bait in the exact same manner.

Around 1:00, the wind shifted and started blowing like heck out of the south, so I went back to the two humps, and hurled a Strike King 6XD as far as I could into the wind, and was a quickly rewarded with a nice fish that absolutely inhaled the crankbait.  However, I almost wish I didn't catch this fish, because it was the only one I was able to grind off of the deep structure all day, despite the 2 more hours I tried, with various techniques.  At this point, I knew that I had to change my approach.  One side of the lake was starting to get some shade cover, so I paddled my way over.  I began marking schools of bait out in open water, and was able to manage a few bass on the super fluke, however, the quality of the fish, was not what I was looking for.  With the water being so warm, I figured that the bigger fish had lost interest in chasing the big schools of bait, and were starting to stack up in the lay downs that project out towards deeper water.

I had a Strike King 3/4 oz football jig (I don't recommend using a football jig around wood cover, as it tends to hang up easier than your standard flipping jig, but this is what I had tied on, and it was working, however I did hang up several times)  tied on, with a Rage Tail Craw trailer, so I chucked it towards a lay down that extends out into about 20' of water.  As soon as it started to fall, a fish thumped it.  I was finally able to get on a pattern, as I worked every piece of wood I could find on the shady side of the lake.  I ended up getting 5 more fish, all between 2 and 3.5lbs on the jig, and lost 3 more before I had to leave.

So all in all, it was a strange day for a normally predictable lake.  I really had to work for every fish, but it just makes it that much more rewarding.

Total for the day: 13 Bass

1 on the 6XD

6 on the Super Fluke

6 on the Jig

Back on the Water 7/14 and 7/15

Fishing has taken a back seat to family, work, and catching up on some housework, following the conclusion of the 2014 season.  It's tough to get out having an almost 5 year old, and a now 1 year old, but I did manage to get out for my first two trips in the kayak this year. I must say, it felt great to be back out on the water. Seeing as it's been so long, I wanted to fish somewhere with a relatively predictable pattern, so I chose a local lake that has an abundance of alewife, where the bass school up on the plentiful forage.  For more information on catching these schooling fish, check out this blog post.

Day One 7/14/16
On the Water: 4:40PM - 5:50PM
Air Temperature: 82-77
Water Temperature: 78-76
Water Clarity: Clear
Skies: Partly Cloudy/Overcast
Wind: 10 MPH S, gusts to 16MPH
Barometric Pressure: 29.9-29.8

By the time I finally got on the water, storms were already starting to roll into the state, so I knew I wasn't going to have much time to fish. I pulled up my Navionics sonar map on my phone and went straight to my most productive area of the lake; two humps side by side, with 30 feet of water on all sides, and 17' at the peak of the humps. As soon as I came across the first hump on the upwind side, I began marking fish at the first depth change, in about 28 FOW. I dropped a Reaction Strike Chunky Shad, rigged on a 1/4 oz Strike King Squadron Swimbait Jig Head, off the side of the kayak, and before it hit bottom, it got picked up. It wasn't a huge fish, it was actually a little below average for this lake, just shy of 2lbs, but I'll take a fish in my first cast any day. Once I landed the fish I dropped a marker buoy in the general area, and took another cast with the swimbait. This time I got hit 3 times on the retrieve but couldn't hook up. After 10 more casts without a bite, I decided to try the adjacent piece of structure. I noticed the fish were sitting a little higher up on the water column, so i tossed out a Strike King KVD Jerkbait, in the crystal minnow color, and after experimenting with my cadence, I hooked up with a fish. Unfortunately, the fish hit on an extremely long cast and I was not able to gain any leverage, once he jumped, the Jerkbait promptly came flying back towards me at mach 10. However on the next cast, I was able to boat a fish, that was a little over 2 lbs. As I was drifting over the hump, I began noticing some surface activity, I must of spooked a school of alewife and fired up the bass.  I tossed an Albino Zoom Superfluke into the surface commotion and was immediately struck. Another decent 2lb fish. As I was releasing the fish, I noticed a couple more boils roughly 10 feet in front of me, again I was struck almost as soon as the bait hit the water, but this time my line broke on the hook set. It wasn't long after this I heard a rumble of thunder off in the distance, so I began my trek back to the launch.

Total for Day One: 3 Fish in the boat, 1 lost on a jump, and 1 broke off. I'll take it for only being out there an hour.


Here is the Reaction Strike Chunky Shad, this is the sexy shad color.  I like these because the plastic is a little more rigid than other soft plastic swimbaits, and it does not seem to inhibit the action all that much.  It is also a bit more compact, which I feel can induce more strikes from finicky fish, that would otherwise watch a larger bait swim right by.

This is the Strike King, KVD Jerkbait, in the Crystal Shad Color.  I really like this color when imitating alewife, as the translucent properties give it a more natural look, especially on sunny days.

Day Two 7/15/16
On the Water 2:50PM - 7:45-PM
Air Temperature: 90-83
Water Temperature: 79-76
Water Clarity: Clear
Skies: Partly Cloudy/Sunny
Wind: 5-12 MPH
Barometric Pressure: 29.9-29.8

As soon as I got out, I headed right back to the same area I caught my fish on Thursday, to see if I could get on them again.  As I drifted over the structure, I noticed the fish holding much closer to the structure than they were the previous day.  This was to be expected as it was much hotter, and with the plentiful sunshine.  I went back to the swimbait, and began fan casting the area, counting it down to 12, and then using a medium speed, start and stop retrieve.  On my 6th or 7th cast, I hooked up, and was rewarded with my biggest fish of the day, weighing 3lbs, 12oz.  When I got it to the side of the boat, I was sure it would be over 4, but it was long and slender.  I fished this area for a while longer employing the same technique and landed 2 more fish in the 1.5-2lb range.

Shortly after, the wind picked up a little more, and whatever cloud cover was present, had quickly diminished.  As the wind pushed me up the lake, I noticed a small amount of surface activity, so i tossed the fluke into the ripples, and hooked up with a fish that later jumped and spit the hook.  I got my bait right back in the water and was hit a couple of times but couldn't hook up.  Around 5:00, all the action seemingly died, with the slight chop on the water, it was difficult to pick up on bass busting on alewife, so I decided to paddle around and see if I could find some more active fish.  I came up on another piece of structure that has produced in the past for me, but after throwing everything I had tied on at it, I came up empty.  With the sun being so hot, I figured I would change my approach a little bit.  There is a point that has some lily pads, and quickly drops off from 7' to 30'.  I roll casted a 3/4 oz Green Pumpkin strike king football jig, with a watermelon/red Rage Tail Craw trailer, and before it hit bottom, I was on with a decent 2.5lb fish.  A few casts later, I stroked the jig violently, and felt it get picked up as it descended towards the depths, and I stuck it with a rather violent hook set.  This was my second biggest fish of the day, weighing in at 3lbs 10 oz.
As the sun started to dip behind the trees, the wind halted completely.  It was getting ready to pack up, when I noticed an enormous amount of blitzing bass on the shaded side of the lake.  I briskly mustered my way towards the explosions, and on three consecutive casts, I boated 3 fish on the super fluke, all of which were in the 2lb range. I slowly started making my way back to the launch, and was able to manage two more bass before my exit.

Total for Day 2:
3 Bass on a Reaction Strike Chunky Shad, including the 3lb 12 oz lunker
2 Bass on a Strike King Football Jig, including the 3lb 10 oz
5 Bass on an Albino Zoom Super Fluke

Here are the two 3 plus pound fish.

Hawgust Continues

On the Water: 5:25 am - 12:15 pm
Air Temperature: 66 - 75
Water Temperature: 70 - 72
Water Clarity: Murky/ Clear, Visibility 4-6 ft
Skies: Partly cloudy in early morning, mostly cloudy with occasional sprinkle later in the morning.
Wind: 0-7 Mph SW until 10:00, changing to W, NW, N
Barometric Pressure: 29.87 - 29.83

Well, my plans for a 3 day trip were foiled, so I decided to take a trip to a small lake that I visited once earlier this year (see the report here).  Given the weather conditions over the past few days (unseasonably cool, with even colder nights), I wasn't sure what the bass were going to be doing.  I anticipated, that they would be emerging from their summer time haunts, and getting ready to move shallow for the upcoming fall.  But I had a variety of lures tied on, to allow me to adapt quickly to what the fish were doing.  Unfortunately, I was expecting dirty water, but all that rain must have flushed out the dirty water, and replaced it with much clearer water from the stream that flows in from the south, so I had to retie to more natural colors.  As soon as I switched colors, it was game on.

I changed out my junebug colored soft stickbait, for a Watermelon / Red Flake Senko. I made an awkward cast, almost behind me,  to a deep lily pad edge, and I see my line jump, I set the hook and I was in for a ride.  The fish started pulling drag and spinning my kayak around, before swimming 15 feet or so into the thick lily pads.  I thought I lost the fish several times, as I paddled in to get him, and I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the end of my line, and saw the fishes enormous back sticking out of the water.  I scooped it up, and picked the grass off him before weighing and snapping a picture.            

This guy went 6.12

After catching many less than stellar bass on the senko, I finally hooked up with a couple keepers, one was 1.19 the other 2.12.  I took a few casts with a Booyah! Spinnerbait over a large flat, and scooped up another good fish, this one weighing 3.78. 

Here's the 3.78 on the spinnerbait

After a while of catching dinks, and dropping a couple fish on a square bill, I made it to a large tree that sits perpindicular to a steep bank.  I pitched a  watermelon red flake Zoom Ol' Monster into the thick of the tree, and felt a thump on the way down, I set the hook, and was immediately tangled up in the tree, but I could still feel the fish tugging on the other end. Instead of pulling back and trying to force the fish out of the cover, I simply kept tension, and paddled my way over until I reached a more favorable angle. I landed the fish, and aside from a few more dinks, that was the end of my day. 

This one went 4.14

At the end of the day, I wound up with a surprising 17.35 lbs for 5 fish. I caught 14 or 15 all together, but only 5 were keepers. I'm not really sure what is going on with this place. A lot of really small fish, and apparently, a good amount of big fish. But I'm still wondering where all the average size fish are.  I'm not complaining though, so far, I think I've done pretty well this month.  I hope it continues.                  

3 Days, 2 Bigguns, 1 Mildly Disappointed Fisherman

I decided on this location, because it is very different from the last body of water I fished.  Instead of deep and clear, and very sparse grass, this is shallow and dingy with extremely abundant grass, almost to the point of being choked out by milfoil. 

Day 1 8/5/14

On the Water: 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Air Temperature: 74-69
Water Temperature: 80-83
Water Clarity: Stained / 2-3ft
Skies: Clear
Wind: 3-12 Mph S, SSW, WSW
Barometric Pressure: 29.92 - 29.93"

I wasn't really sure what to expect starting out here.  I paddled out to the center to see if I could locate a weed line, but it seemed that with the shallow water, the grass grew pretty much all the way across the lake.  So much for that plan.  So I moved back in shallow, and began working some matted grass.  I figured with the high sun, and clear skies, the fish would be looking for shade.  My instinct was correct, as it only took a few minutes for a bass to explode on my frog.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hook up with this fish.  I moved up the lake a ways, and kept throwing the frog around. I noticed a thin patch of grass that was much brighter than the rest of the drab colored grass in the lake.  I cast the frog just past it, and as I was pulling it over the vegetation, it was crushed by a bass, in the 2lb range.  I thought I had started on a frog pattern here, but that was the last strike on the amphibian imitation for the rest of the day.  I moved further up to a pontoon boat that was tied up to a dock, I skipped a Pumpkin colored Senko underneath it, and pulled out a bass around a pound and a quarter.  At this point, I was just looking for shade, as it seemed that the bass were relating to that more than anything else.  I arrived at an area with several isolated lily pad clumps, and I pitched the senko around and pulled out a couple of small bass, one that wouldn't keep and another that was right on the edge, probably about a pound.  I tossed a 1/2 oz black and blue Booyah Boo Jig with a  Watermelon Red flake Rage Craw, and pulled out a bass about a pound and a half.  It was starting to get dark, so I just wanted to finish exploring this side of the lake.  I moved up to an impassable bridge, and I decided to pitch the jig under it.  Before it even hit the bottom, I felt a thump and set the hook on another two pounder.  The next cast, I pitch in again, same thing, but this time, the fish got the better of me, as he came unbuttoned half way to the boat.  I wanted to get further under the bridge, but my ability to skip with a baitcaster and a heavy jig isn't that great, so I picked up the spinning rod with the senko, and skipped it as far back as I could.  Almost immediately, I felt a thump, and I set the hook.  As soon as I pulled back, the fish made a bee line right towards me, I could barely keep up with it.  Once it got past the boat, it kept running, my drag screaming, I had to tighten it down, to avoid the fish getting engulfed in the nearby weeds.  Once I got it to the boat, it was a pleasant surprise to see that monstrous mouth sticking out of the water, I quickly grabbed the fish and snapped a few pics, and released the beast to fight another day.  I tried to weigh her, but my scale would not turn on.  I'm guessing a little over 5 lbs.  It had the length of the 6 pounder I caught earlier this year, but it just didn't have the gut.  I'm guessing pre spawn, this fish would be well over 6.

I apologize for the poor picture quality. I constructed a mount to hold my phone to take pictures (shown in day 2), unfortunately it was left at the house.

Going into day 1, I must say, I was somewhat intimidated by all the grass.  I feel a little better having caught 7 bass, including a 5 pounder, on a lake I've never fished before.  I just hope I can replicate this shade pattern on Day 2.

Day 2 8/6/14
On the Water: 9:30 am - 12:45 pm
Air Temperature: 74-78
Water Temperature: 77-83
Water Clarity: Stained/2-3 ft
Skies: Clear early, increasing clouds at 11:00
Wind: 5-6 Mph N, changing to 5-12 Mph SW at 11:00
Barometric Pressure: 29.85-29.82"

On day 1, I only had time to explore about half the lake.  I figured I would try the other half on day 2.  It was much of the same, a lot of grass, mats in random places, shallow water, and a few laydowns along the shoreline.  I started throwing a Strike King KVD 1.5 square bill, in the chartreuse/black color, ripping it through grass, and bumping it off laydowns.  I got my first fish on one of the downed trees, that wasn't anything special. Maybe a pound and a half.  The wind pushed me south to the damn, and there was some matted grass, with what looked like current breaks, on the down wind side.  So I pitched a 1/2 oz black and blue Booyah/ Rage Craw jig to the motionless water, and was rewarded with a nice fish, probably around 4lbs.  The next cast, I got another one in the 1.5-2lb range.  Once I figured out this "pattern", I began looking for all the matted grass I could find, but wouldn't you figure, the wind shifted, and the clouds rolled in, and the fish shut right down.

Day 3: 8/10/14
On the Water: 5:30 am - 10:45 am
Air Temperature: 61 - 82
Water Temperature: 74 - 79
Water Clarity: Stained in Open Water / 2 ft, Murky in Dense Grass / 4 ft
Skies: Clear
Wind: 6 - 10 mph N, NNE
Barometric Pressure: 30.09 - 30.12

I got on the water just as the sun was starting to appear over the horizon.  Panfish were slurping bugs off the surface in front of the launch.  I started with a frog around grass and got a few lazy "blow ups", but couldn't connect.  Finally I hooked up with one fish on the Booyah Poppin' Pad Crasher.  I kept throwing it around isolated lily pads, and matted grass, and continued to get hits, sometimes multiple hits on the same cast, and just couldn't get a hook in these fish.  I did everything I was supposed to; I waited for the fish to take the frog down, when the rod would load up, I would pull back, and each time, the end result was the same.  Me dodging a hollow bodied frog coming at me like a rocket. Legs were trimmed, hooks were bent up, I'm not sure what I could have done different.  I've always missed fish on a frog, as we all have, it's just part of the game, but today was unlike anything I have ever witnessed.  I figured at this point, the bass weren't really committed to a topwater approach, so I broke out the flippin' stick, with a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, and a Trokar 4/0 straight shank flippin' hook.  I quickly caught 2 bass off of a grass mat.  I moved up a little bit to the bridge I caught the 5 pounder from on day 1, and skipped the same pumpkin colored senko under again.  Within seconds I had a fish tugging at the other end.  But it was running the wrong way.  I had to tighten down my drag and turn the fish around or I didn't stand a chance if I allowed to pass to the other side of the bridge.  When I finally turned it, he jumped and spat my senko back at me.  The fish was probably 3-3.5.  Definitely would have been my biggest on the day.  I picked up my jig rod, and flipped the Booyah/Rage Craw combo to the front side of the abutment, and pulled out another bass.  Then got two more on a shaky head Zoom Trick Worm.  I got one more on a jig on an isolated grass mat, and aside from a few blowups on a frog, that was all the action for the day.  The downside to this was, it was only 8:00 at this point.  Once the sun climbed over the tree tops (cue the Bill Dance theme song), the bite shut right down.  Perhaps it was the rather large moon last night, but who knows.  I'm not here to make excuses, I'm here to catch fish.  I only caught 7 bass on the day, nothing over 2 pounds, and I missed 12 or so fish all together.  I was never really able to develop a pattern here, although I didn't do terrible, I expected more out of this small lake.

My Lake Rating: I will give this lake a 2/5.  The 2 points coming strictly from the big bass potential. There is just too much grass.  It's hard picking apart a grass flat when it's only a small section of a lake, never mind the entire lake. If it were a little deeper it would be okay, as there would be some weedlines where the grass would cease.  It gets a little more sparse in the middle, but it's all the way across the lake.  However, I do look forward to visiting this lake again during the spawn, as there is a lot of sight-fishing potential.