A Quick Start

Craig was back for a couple of days and this time he brought Herm along, both looking for that elusive 6 pounder. Although Craig had taken one on his last trip, you can never have enough and he wanted more! Herm had never landed a six and had a personal best of just under 5.5 pounds. Would this be the trip for him? We hit the water shortly after 8:00 and headed right to a big fish area, hoping for a few trophies. The weather was an overcast one with cool morning air and virtually no wind. Air temps were in the low 40’s and expected to hit mid 50’s by days end. With the water temps around 58 degrees, I anticipated great action. Herm was the first to lock up and it was in less than 5 minutes. Ironically, this bass was almost 5 pounds and made for a great starter fish. With fish like this, who could ask for more! We kept at it for almost an hour and they landed several more good ones but nothing over 5 pounds came aboard. It wasn’t until we switched locations and made a drift in deeper water that Herm locked up once again. When this one took to the air, I knew she had to be over 5 pounds and confirmation was made after I netted the pumpkin. Although she wasn’t even 20 inches, it topped the scales at 5.10 pounds and Herm had the lead. When things finally slowed down, we moved again and were surprised to see boats all over the place. There were lots of fishermen out today and it felt more like a summertime competition than a pleasure day on the water. We were now limited to where we could fish but made the best of it, moving around often. Plenty of fish were caught in the remaining hours of the day but Herm’s big one would stand as the largest today. Several high fours were landed but nothing over 5 pounds made it to the net again. We stuck it out till about 4:30 and then called it a day. Last drift, had both Herm & I locked up on rocks and I found myself retying again. Craig was the only line left in the water and before I was finished, he was battling a nice fish of almost 4 pounds. Now that’s the way to end the day! We’re back on the water again tomorrow and might hit another place, hoping for better success. This is the season for giants and we’re in hot pursuit of the pigs! Bring it on!!