Saturday's fishing
Seems like all I've been fishing lately is Champlain and Mudge. I'll be
back at Champlain next week, and Half-day Frank hasn't been to Mudge with
me since April and was kind of anxious to go, so...We put in at 5:40am or so. Got squat from the pads on the way out from the
ramp, but then Half-day got one about 2 pounds on a Golden Shiner Fin-S
Fish, just as we got past the thick pads. Then he got another one -- a
little smaller -- on a watermelon red-flake Slug-Go ElSalto a few minutes
later. I was down two fish to none to Half-day Frank. This ain't supposed
to happen! FINALLY I felt a hit on my wacky rigged Spanky and set the hook. I felt a
head shake a time or two, and then dead weight. 14 pound Fireline, so I
just leaned on it, figuring the fish had me buried in the weeds. Instead "the fish" turned out to be a 30 pound plus snapping turtle.
Discretion being the better part of valor, I reached over the side and
snipped the line as close as I dared get my hand. For the rest of the morning, we caught fish pretty well, but nothing big.
The two most productive lures by far were the 5-3/4" golden shiner Fin-S
Fish (over the weeds in 5 to 10 feet of water) and a gold/green Pointer 78
(working it through/near the scattered weed growth at the outside edge) We
caught a few on green pumpkin creature baits as well, but it wasn't nearly
as productive on the bottom as up around the weed tops. Fishing the pads
was singularly unproductive. A couple half hearted rolls at the Fin-S Fish
was about all either of us could muster in the pads, and we did spend
(waste?) a lot of time trying. When I headed back toward the ramp to drop off Half-day at 1:30 or so, I
was pretty much resigned to putting it on the trailer and heading home as
well. We had caught 33 bass between us (let it me known that after his 2-0
start, Frank only caught 5 of the next 31). But the wind had been blowing
pretty good since about 11, and the fishing had been kind of slow since
noon, and I didn't see much chance of it getting a whole lot better. Of
course just as we neared the ramp, the wind fell calm, the air got sticky
and it just got real fishy feeling, so I decided to stay out for another
few hours. Went back to the last weedline I'd caught a bass on, and immediately got
one on the jerkbait. Then the calm, sticky, fishy feeling conditions
disappeared, as quickly as they'd arrived. A quick, total change in the
weather. The humidity was gone, the wind returned with a vengeance from a
more easterly direction, and the clouds disappeared in a matter of minutes.
It was obvious the front had passed. Caught a few more crappie and bluegills, along with one big pickerel on the
jerkbait, but it was obvious that the "up" bass we'd been hammering all
morning were done. I went drop shotting, and just like last week, it proved
to be the right move. Caught 8 in the last hour I was on the water, drop
shotting an assortment of 4" plastic baits on/around rocks in 12 to 20 feet
of water. Mostly just 12 to 14" fish, but did get a couple 3 pounders,
which was better than any of the fish we caught in the morning, when the
bite was on good on the incoming side of the front. RichZ©
www.richz.com/fishing |
RichZ
Jun 20
2004
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