The morning started off a little chilly at 48 degrees and windy! The bite started off slow with a channel cat on a chatter bait early for me and my co-angler Sue had one keeper on a senko with a weighted hook. I could not find an active fish bite so I went to a weightless Ace. My rig is a 7' MH casting rod with a US Reels Supercaster 1000 spooled with fluorocarbon. The fish were almost sitting on the bank and the bite with the wind was almost negligible. We had to be in the wind to get any bites with deeper water close by the shallows. By 10 AM, I had a limit and Sue had three. I decided to go to this one small section that was really shallow, out of the wind, but had a couple of docks. One was collapsed with a nearby small feeder creek. My jig was calling my name so I dropped my 1/2 ounce jig with a Gambler Mega Daddy trailer on the edge and my biggest fish to this point was heading to the boat. The US Reels Hibdon Supercaster 800 made easy work of getting that fish to the boat. This fish showed evidence of spawning.Most obvious was an almost non-existent tail! Even with all of the rusting tin and debris the FINS ORT braid held up like a champ on that fish which was just over 4 lbs.
My big fish of the day came on one of those under a dock where you know there should be a fish and if you hook one will worry about how to get it out later. I skipped a weightless Ace under this really big dock and it hopped over and between an upright and a 45 degree support. I thought I was hung and popped the rod tip only to have it yanked down almost to the top of the water. Keeping pressure, I had to pull up the trolling motor and pull the front of the boat as far under the dock as possible. My co angler had extended my dip net as far as it could go and was holding tension my pole. I am on my belly under the dock reaching as far as I could to net that fish. Sue had to push the boat out because it was too tight for me to even turn over. As we got out and pulled the fish in from the net, the folks who owned the dock had been watching from their deck and erupted in clapping! I am sure my feet dangling out from under the deck and the wrangling of the boat was a sight.
From this point on, the weightless bite was almost non-existent. Blue bird skies has set in and the fish had tucked in tight. For me, it was flipping a jig under docks and at any piece of timber with deep water near by. Sue stayed with the senko for a while with the weighted hook and got her limit. She later had to move to a Texas rig to get bits and they were almost all way back under docks. We tried this in places out of the wind, but could only find better fish in the wind.
I ended the day with 17.75 lbs and big bass of 4.81 for the Dallas Bass'n Gals April tournament. It was a good turnout for the group with everyone having a good time.
My sights are now set on the next Lady Bass Anglers Association event in Anderson, South Carolina on Lake Hartwell. I'll be heading out on April 28th, spending a day getting a few more details for Lake Guntersville taken care of on Friday. Hopefully I can get some time on the water that day as well. Saturday, I'll finish the long trip to Lake Hartwell and work with Secret York on the last minute items. Official practice starts on Sunday and the tournament begins on Thursday! With two good sacks on the last two tournaments, I am hoping this sets the tone for a third at Hartwell!
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