There are just some days that we should stay in bed and not go fishing. Yesterday was one of them for me, but I'll tell the full story as it does have some good points.
I was excited to be heading back to Lake Fayette Country yesterday morning. The last time I was there I had a awesome day throwing the BHOA ThunderSlaw from Throw-n-Thunder Lure Company and was hoping for a repeat. The last time I'd missed having a wonderful video due to playing with the setting on my GoPro and I hoped for another chance to get it on video. The weather was suppose to be about the same as that previous trip so all was looking good, well that was until I crawled out of bed. The temperature at the house was a little cooler than the forecast said but that was no biggie. The wind was also blowing a harder but that didn't mean I'd fine the same at the lake. I arrived at the ramp about 6:45 after a 2.5 hour drive to find the weather forecast was totally wrong. Not only was it colder the wind was much stronger, but worse the wind direct was not out the northeast, but coming out of the northwest. Over the years I've learned that when the wind is out of a westward direction the bite is generally pretty tough. Oh sure there have been a few time when this is not the case but those are far and few between, but I hoped this would be one of those days. After driving that far I wasn't just going to turn around and go home.
After I got the boat launched and the truck parked it was time to go see if I could get some bass to bite. What I found was all of my favorite holes were pretty rough due to the wind direction and speed. Sure I tried, but even the powerful ThunderSlaw couldn't draw a strike. After an hour of nothing on the ThunderSlaw it was time to try something else. My next choice was a Santone Lures Rayburn Swim Jig with a Creme Lure Company Reel Scremer trailer but again it was met with no takers. It seemed the weather conditions really had given the bass lockjaw as they weren't interested in what I was throwing. The fish were there too, I was marking good number in the deep timber but just couldn't get them to bite. I was able to catch one good bass on a Santone Rattlin' Jig in Watermelon Red/Chartreuse with a Creme Same Thing Beaver in Watermelon Red as the trailer with some Crawfish Rage Fish Attractants Liquid Mayhem. The bass was a good 4.5lbs and put up a pretty good fight in the heavy timber but it wasn't nothing my Dunamis Rods jig rod couldn't handle. In fact the fish hit so lightly if it hadn't been for my highly sensitive Dunamis Jig Rod I might not have even felt the hit. I thought I was on to something but after another hour of nothing it was time to look for greener pastures.
The second spot I tried wasn't any better so I moved off to another spot that had standing timber in deep water that was a little more protected from the wind. I tried the ThunderSlaw, Rayburn Swim Jig and Rattlin' jigs with the same results of nothing. However because this area was a little better protected from the wind I decided to break out my finesse gear. I selected a Santone Football Piglet shaky head and a Creme Same Thing Straight Tail worm in Watermelon red and I put some Crawfish Liquid Mayhem on the worm. These days I don't throw any jigs or worms that don't have Liquid Mayhem on them, it works that good!! This was the ticket as on the second cast I felt that very wonderful tap, tap and the fight was on. It was a really good fish in timber with light tackle but luck with with me and a very fat 5+ pound bass was soon on board. I was starting to feel better about the day but in my rush I didn't check my light line for frays after fight that bass which was a big mistake. About three cast later I got another tap, tap but as I set the hook my line snapped. Dang it, I know better than that!!! After checking for any more frays I tied on another piglet, added the worm and some Liquid Mayhem. Just a couple of cast after the re-rigging a nice 2.5 pounder was on board. This went on for a few more bass in the pound class. All these fish were on one tree that was beneath the surface and I missed seeing one of the extended branches and hit it with the trolling motor. Not sure if that shut down the bite or I'd just caught all the ones willing to bite, but either way the spot was finished.
I did try one other spot before calling it a day and picked up one about 2lbs. It was on some rocks near the power plant intake canal. I did break off another fish on this spot due to forgetting to retie again. So all in all, I was having a mentally challenging day and decided to call it quits. I stowed all my gear for the ride back across the lake as I decided to test out some tweaks I'd made to the boat setup and was going to open her up. My 20 year old Cajun bass boat is 16.5ft and it has a 20 year old Johnson 88 Special on her that I rebuilt myself last year. With just me, no gear and half a tank of fuel I've gotten up to 42 mph but normally she will run 38 mph at wide open throttle. I installed a 6 inch manual jackplate after the engine rebuild thinking I might get a little more speed out of her. I have been tweaking on the jackplate off and on ever since to get it right. I normally don't run at wide open throttle to save on the gas bill, but would like to know what she can do in the speed department. So with pretty much a full tournament load of gear and three quarters a tank of fuel I opened her up mid lake and trimmed her out. The GPS quickly shot up to 45.5 mph so I must have done something right with these latest tweaks
Now I told the part about testing out the boat tweaks because it plays into the worst part of the day. After getting the boat on the trailer and pulled out of the way, I started getting everything ready for the trip home. I had been video taping during the day and even though it wasn't a great day fishing, it would be a pretty good video. I had stowed my GoPro and accessories in their bag and tucked them under the console for the boat test. When I getting the GoPro bag out form under the console to put it in the truck I hit my thumb on the edge of the console. At first I didn't think anything about it until I was almost at the truck and saw it was bleeding pretty good. I laid the GoPro bag on my truck bed side rail as I got a paper towel out of the truck to stop the bleeding. I then thought it would be a good idea to go in the restroom and wash my hands to get the fish slim as well as the liquid mayhem off them. After washing my hands and getting the bleeding to stop, I jumped in the truck and headed home. About 50 miles from the lake I glanced in the passenger seat where my GoPro normally is kept and realized it wasn't there. I also realized where I'd left it and pulled off at the next exit hoping it had fell in the bed of my truck. I wasn't that lucky and found myself heading back to the lake to see if I could find my GoPro. Long story, short I didn't find it. This also explains why I don't have any pictures with this article as there was supposed to be an accompanying video.
As I said in the beginning of this story there were some good points from an overall bad day. I
did catch some bass they were hard to come by but as we all know that is
fishing. Also it was Friday and I was fishing and not working and I
don't care how bad the fishing is, it still beats the very best days at
work. Also my old boat ran like a new girl, so now I need to finish
restoring her. Restoring the old Cajun wouldn't take so long if I didn't
go fishing so much. Heck I've never been about looks anyway. The bass
really don't care how pretty your bass boat is, they don't bite any
better if you are fishing out of a 20 year old Cajun or a brand new
Ranger!! So for the time being I'll be out of the video production
business, hopefully it won't be too long. I'll just have to remember to
take still pictures of my bass for upcoming articles.
Yes there are days that it would be best to stay in bed. The problem is we never know which are those days until we live them. So if we don't take the chance and just stay in bed we might just miss out on one of those once in a lifetime days. I mean who would want to miss one of those days when it doesn't matter what bait you are fishing you are catching fish!!
Till next time, Tight Lines and Take a Kid Fishing!!!
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