Strange Bass Bites

I was back on the water again today with Darren for smallmouth bass. We travelled to the lake in the morning with air temps below freezing and launched when they were barely above. A minor mishap with a trailer bearing put us a little behind, but not out of commission! By 9:00 we were wetting lines and into smallies shortly afterwards. Water temps were barely 47 degrees and the air temps never hit 40 degrees as we spend the entire day in the clouds. Thankfully, the winds were light from the W/SW at less than 10 knots for most of the day. The bite was real slow today and detecting some of the takes wasn’t too easy either. Some of the bass were just mouthing the tubes while others actually ripped line from the reel when they hit. Once again, covering water proved to be the way to go as we hit one fish here and one there throughout the day. Darren even managed to have another Muskie just pick up his jig and swim it by the boat like a torpedo before it just let go. Sunshine appeared in the afternoon for a while and it felt great! With almost no wind in the sun, it felt more like 60 degrees than 40. We continued to get into more & bigger fish in a few areas and Darren began to land a few close to 5 pounds in a brief period. One small area accounted for over 10 fish and were happy to see somewhat of a concentration, finally! By 4:00 we were ready to head out and packed everything up for the long run back. At this time of year, the temperatures really drop when the day ends and the sun disappears. It was a pretty good day overall with 25 to 30 smallmouth bass landed up to almost 5 pounds. Unfortunately, there were plenty of others missed as well as lost too!!