A Morning Of Firsts
Went out for some Saturday morning fun, trying to build some confidence in lures not named crankbait. I had planned on stopping by the Charles, but ended up having to make an emergency run back home.
When I managed to get back out, I ended up going back to College Pond instead. It was a brisk morning, with a light drizzle of rain from time to time. Great for bass not being too skittish!
Started out with a Zara Spook, trying to polish up on the walk-the-dog moves. Took 5 minutes to land my first real topwater bass, a dink around 9 inches or so.
Switched to a zoom fluke, and missed a couple of fish. One held on for a good 10 seconds, without the hook ever getting set right. Managed to land another short fish a bit later, despite having to drag the poor thing through the reeds. First fluke bass! Maybe 10 inches.
Couldn't help myself, and put the 4S Sexy Shad crank back on. Got another short fish in the 9-10 inch range. Immediately felt guilty, and put a chartreuse spinnerbait on. Nothing. Fished a shadalicious swimbait for a bit, and hooked up with a pickerel that hopped off as I was landing it for maximum convenience.
Eventually I built up the nerve to tie on a jig, a bluegill pattern swim jig. Spent 15 minutes swimming it around without a single tap. Started dragging/bouncing it instead, still nothing. Decided to give some nearby reeds a workover, and felt a very distinct thud. Quick hookset, and a good fight led to a 15-16 incher around a pound and a half. Definitely one of my favorite fish, especially coming on the jig!
I ended up getting nothing else on the jig, and went back to the fluke. Around then, the dinks decided to wake up and annihilate the fluke for 15-20 minutes. Got 3 more on the fluke, one keeper, one short fish, and one that was barely longer than the fluke itself!
Ended up heading home around 11 after a great outing. Very happy to have landed some fish on baits that I don't feel confident in yet. Just gotta keep at it =)