Refining Presentations

Craig & Herm were back this morning for another day of smallmouth fishing. We hit the lake around 8:30 under some clouds and a cool morning air, with high hopes of getting a few giants. I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve today for Herm and I knew he would enjoy them! Water temps had dipped to 48.5 degrees and I was sure they would bite well. Air temps were in the high 40’s at their peak and we had a mix of clouds and sunshine, making this a pretty nice day to be out. The only draw back would have been the west winds, blowing strong. At times there were gusts of 20 or more knots and that wasn’t comfortable. It made the air chill a lot worse than it really was and thin gloves were needed, just to stay warm. Herm wasted no time, locking up on his very first cast and loved the new technique. Bad luck to do that, I told him, as he brought the 4 pounder to the net. It would be many casts later before he was to hook up again and the proof was in the pudding! Craig on the other hand was getting plenty of hits, but most of them were not hook ups. We had to refine a few things before he could monopolize on the number of fish that were picking up his bait. Finally, he was catching and catching good! Several bass in the four pound range were coming aboard along with a few smaller ones as well. This went on for a while before we had to relocate to another area, when it just slowed down. Herm went right to work, hooking up on his first cast once again. Craig wasn’t far behind with one of his own and soon they were both landing many more quality bass from this location. We jumped around plenty looking for the larger ones but never really got into them today. Oh there were plenty of decent fish in the 3 to 4 pound range and many over 4, but nothing above five. Late in the afternoon though, a couple of pigs were landed that surely looked to be in the five pound range. For some reason today the fish were a little strange and I found myself constantly refining both areas as well as techniques, many times. The one common denominator however, was a slower than usual presentation. We literally had to dead stick some of the baits at times in order to get bit. Hopefully in the next few days this will all change and return back to the way it should be. Fall is big fish time and plenty of them are around. Numbers and size are a common thing and I expect both on each and every day, at this time of year. Although they didn’t see the real giants on this outing, they will be back for more. It took Craig until his last trip the previous year to get the biggest bass of the season and I hope he matches it again. Overall a great day on the water regardless of the lack of trophies landed. It’s the anticipation that keeps us going and we anticipate bigger & better things to come. I can’t wait to get back out again!!