My first trip on the water after my son was at Beaverdam reservoir in search of crappie. I only had a couple hours to fish, but I managed to catch 2 yellow perch. I'll take that by-catch any day! It wasn't a stellar trip, but I enjoyed the time on the water.
The second trip was an exciting one...until it happened. Forrest, Rob Choi, and I fished a private lake for about 4-5 hours and had NO luck at all. That is very rare for this particular lake, because I've had such great luck there in the past.
I had to head home around noon, because believe it or not I do have some responsibilities. Forrest and Rob on the other hand just went from one lake to the next. I REALLY wish I could have made it out with them because they did very well. How well? This well...Buckets & Chains.
After seeing how well they did, naturally I had to give it a shot. I was lucky enough to have off work for my birthday and even luckier to have a wife that would let me go fishing on valentines day! (Those days are the same for me)
Having Forrest as a friend is almost an unfair advantage sometimes. That dude can put anyone on fish!
I got to the lake a little late, but still had about 3 hours to fish. I started by trolling a couple shallow diving crankbaits and picked up a 23" pickerel. Within two hours, all I could manage to get was 3 pickerel (not that i'm complaining.)
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| 23" |
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| Feisty! |
About an hour til dark I finally landed a small bass on a Rapala husky jerk in about 3' of water.
Not long after that I hooked a solid fish on a hollow body swimbait. I knew it was a nice bass, but I was surprised to see how fat it was! It was only a tad over 19", but I bet it was 4.5lbs! Chunky!
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| BIRTHDAY BASS!!! |
As it got darker the fishing slowed down a lot. I ended the day with one more fat 23" Slime Dart (pickerel)...my personal best so far!
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| Pickerel slime |
I have to stop writing now. Sometimes writing tries to make my brain explode. My brain will asplode soon.
The rest of this report is coming soon!
Congrats again on being a new dad and for getting out and getting on fish.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, that looks like an awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your still getting out there Justin.
ReplyDeleteNice bass Justin. This winter has been great. You can't beat shallow cranks this time of year. I have been on to some great bass with suspending baits over the last few months. Congrats on the new fisherman in the family.
ReplyDeleteNice report Justin. I tried for the bucketmouths and only got a few pickeral. There still fun to catch!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys!
ReplyDeleteYeah, It was quite a bit of work to get the bass. The pickerel were biting a lot more.
Haha, I did not fish much in the days after my son was born, but I was fishing a tournament the day before my wife's due-date. Does that count?
ReplyDeleteYup...That counts! :)
ReplyDelete