Mother Nature Shines

Norm & I hit the water early this morning, hoping to monopolize on every minute of daylight. Today was going to be a winner and we didn’t want to miss it! As with most trips, his faithful companion Buddha tagged along as well. I don’t think Norm would have made it out of his house alone, when the dog saw him carrying his rods. Buddha has grown to love the boat and really doesn’t like it when Norm travels solo, making it impossible for him to sneak out undetected. The sun was just starting to rise above the overnight clouds when we launched and the water was flat calm. Forecasts called for sun, no wind and temps in the upper 50’s. Who could ask for more! The first area began producing almost immediately as Norm locked up on one of many of the 3.5 pound clones we would encounter throughout the day. A slow presentation was the ticket with the 43 degree water we were faced with and the bites were subtle. So subtle that some of the fish were dropping the baits even before we had a chance to set the hook. It would take a few hours with the sun up to activate them and I knew we would have to fish slowly before the aggression set in. This was one of those days that everyone was also taking advantage of as there were plenty of boats on the water. I guess a lot of people called in sick today! As with most days out, I have to be cautious when fishing around other boats as they seem to like the same areas, apparently! We continued to hit several current breaks and with the fallen water from the last couple of days, fish positioning had changed. If you could read the water correctly, you would succeed. If not, there would be less fish caught as they had repositioned into the softer water once again. We really never went long between bites and had plenty of action throughout the day. Enough action that is to keep the “Buddha Bear” alert and on his feet all day! I’d love to have a video of him when someone hooks up as he gets just as excited. Let’s just say that he sleeps well after a day on the water! The action finally picked up shortly after mid day and for a while it seemed like every fish was willing to eat our offerings. Many quality sized bass were coming aboard and Buddha loved the release. We had to toss them a little further each time as he wanted to kiss every one! Several times we found him just licking the net after! Late in the afternoon, on this incredible November day, we decided to call it quits. We had milked every minute of daylight and the sun was starting to set when we packed it in and headed back to the ramp. I’d have to say that today was probably the nicest one by far this fall and I pray for many more just like it. What a perfect end to an equally perfect day!!