Fall Feed Bag equals biggest Round Lake limit of 2017 on October 1

[djkimmel]

Getting to that point now in October that I start to wonder how productive it will be getting up before dawn to hit little Round Lake. But I'm glad so far I'm still doing it though the topwater bite is slowing down some and at times ending hard and fast at times. If the wind doesn't kick up though the topwater bite seems to carry on longer.

I didn't post much socially on my October 1 trip because I wanted to maximize the steadily shrinking hot morning bite! I started out again in the pitch black with my steady 5/8 oz. black Jitterbug. Just a nice slow gurgle.

This morning I didn't get my initial big bass bite. I had some kind of wimpy bite I missed. I made a few more casts to the same general spot without another bite. I was ready this time with my black rattling thumper spinnerbait. Unfortunately, my very first cast through the same shallow stretch immediately resulted in a 'lazy'l dogfish whopping it!! I had a feeling if I rolled this slow through shallow areas in the dark on Round I might be in for dogfish problems...


So I moved along and went back to sticking for now with the black Jitterbug. Started off with a small bass this time as my first hook and land. Which is okay since I always like a nice topwater bite, especially in the dark when you're mostly waiting for the sound to react to.


Hey! They're getting bigger on the Jitterbug! Caught this nicer bass off the same pad point as the 1st one. Always check for more because often there are more! This one hit harder! Missed another bass too by throwing shallower past where the first two hit, and it didn't give me a follow up unfortunately.


WHAMMO! Actually it was more of a really loud SLURP when this mini-toad sucked the ole black Jitterbug under! Another very good fight too! I had started to turn out towards deeper water as the sun began to creep close to the horizon. It was still darker than it looks so I was sticking with the Jitterbug. I cast over the stretch of water inside the break that used to be the shallow weedline because that's where lots of things were busting smaller things. The Jitterbug was slowly plopping along and suddenly disappeared below the surface in a small whirlpool with a medium smooching sound! Set the hook and another great fight as I said!!


Chilly and foggy again this morning so my remote camera button wouldn't work again until later in the morning. Despite the somewhat darker conditions the topwater bite died pretty early again this morning. I tried several different ones to be sure but wasn't getting the bites suddenly. But the bait was still around so I just went subsurface on them. Slightly subsurface. Got this little chunky keeper basse to drill the KVD 1.5 (pike killer color) under a school of nervous minnows!

For those of you who don't mind some 'color commentating' while I was sitting there later in the day playing social feeds catch up while one of the Bald Eagles was 'escorting' a very unhappy Osprey away from its lake! I say unhappy because the Osprey was not going quietly!! It was a much, much chillier day too than my recent visit where I was practically scorched alive.


Worked again! Strike King 5XD Sexy Shad off the end of the windy point (a lot windier at times than they forecast - big surprise again...). It was still fairly early around 9AM and I'd worked my way out to the end of the big point. Cast the crankbait towards it. Bump. Bump. KAWUMP!! Almost 5 pounds of hawg largemouth inhales the crankbait !! The day just got much better!! 2nd really good bass of the day and it's still early!! Despite the early drop off of the topwater bite the day was starting to look pretty good!

At the time in the morning I couldn't get another bite though. I tried multiple presentations, angles and speeds but couldn't seem to prove there were more bass around the point. There were some gamefish still coming up sporadically off one side of the point. Looked to be a mix of bass, pike and dogfish. It was scattered enough that I couldn't get the right timing together to pop one of the ones that appeared to be a bass.

So I headed to a shallow shoreline stretch that's been fairly active recently. Still couldn't get much topwater action - different day with this major cold front. No surprise there I guess...


The fog cleared out and the wind dried things up so that darn selfie stick finally decided to work again... I started doing better with a 1-2 punch of a little swimbait on a weighted weedless hook and the slightly weighted X-worm rigged like a tiny jerkbait! Getting lots of small ones with a few small keepers like this mixed in! This bass snatched the X-worm while I was deadsticking it.


Little chunker keeper pounced on my little white swimbait! The fun part is trying to stay 'un' bit off by all these shallow pike!! I was actually sightfishing some of the bass, or casting where I saw something attack bait. It wasn't always easy to tell the pike from the bass fast enough but I managed to avoid the full bite off most of the time. An added bonus was that the dogfish were primarily sitting pretty still unless something landed right on their nose. I tried hard not to land on their nose since I've caught plenty. I did sneak up and spook a few that were just laying around in the shallows...


Actually stalked this nicer keeper after I saw it ghosting up shallow near the drop hunting minnows. Dead-sticked the X-worm out ahead of it to get it! Caught a handful of bass doing this but wasn't finding real good ones.

So I decided to give the big point another try after making a steady pass over the 'used to be good' hump. It was about quarter to five in the afternoon when I approached the end of the point.


Boom-shaka-laka... G g g giant Bass!! As my friend Dave Mercer would say!!! After my mid-afternoon lunch break and some liberal sun screen application I snuck up on the big point again from out deep off the end!! Glad I did! I wasn't sure exactly where I was due to the light and breeze but I cast out and felt the Strike King 5XD (Sexy Shad) started bouncing bottom hard and then came clean for just a moment. Felt like I hooked a log!! Then maybe a big flathead catfish!! What a deep tug-a-war!! No jumps! Just bulldogged determination not to be mine!! Oh do I LOVE Fall Fishing!! I was going crazy when I finally saw how big it was was and you never know for sure how well you really have them hooked on a deep crankbait but I LOVE the feeling of a huge bass eating a deepdiving crankbait like this!!

As you can see, I got her and after a couple quick pictures I let her go because who knows... maybe next time I see her she'll be a real monster?!? Three real quality bass now in the boat so a really good day, and I had lots of time yet... as I often say, I always assume there are more bass in the same area. I had dropped my anchor so I was in about the same exact spot as when the giant bass hit.


I was a man on a mission now to wreck some bass, and boy oh boy did I! 2 casts after I caught the monster this 'little' 3 1/2 pounder jumped all over my crankbait! I thought it was bigger at first! Bounce, bounce, bounce and then slack and a whump! Fought like an absolute banshee!!! Jumped several times!! The bass even managed to tangle me on the anchor rope despite my best efforts! Somehow we untangled and I got her in to add the day's awesome catch!!


The very next cast after I released the last quality bass - slammed again!! Just a 3-pounder this time! Multiple jumps again! Fights real hard! But I landed it again... That quickly the spot seemed to die, and I noticed the recent uptick in general surface activity all around died too. I stayed on the spot though because I almost always believe there are more bass. Maybe they moved a short ways? Maybe they don't like crankbaits anymore? Or maybe just a different crankbait? That's what I usually try first.


Tried slow. Fast. Multiple angles. Different techniques and rigs. Finally got whacked one more time - just a 2-pounder - when I switched to heavier line and a gaudier crankbait (blue-chartreuse sparkle Bomber) but that was it. Great while it lasted though!! Time to move along while the surface activity has picked up a little again as the wind slows down.


Found some bass nearby still busting a little. Saw some spectacular attacks!! Even threw right on multiple bass right in the middle of the action. Though I saw a much bigger one I only managed to hook 1 small keeper on the little white swimbait by just swimming it through the action! Had 3 different slashing strikes I didn't hook - something that was happening earlier too. Then something pulled my little walking popper under and I missed that too!!

Though I've had an awesome day it still drives me a little crazy to KNOW there are bass feeding there and not catching them all... or sometimes even getting bites. It's why I keep throwing things, changing things up and always trying to get better - learn, learn, learn...

But... I HAD to make one more pass off the end of the big point before I go!! I almost ALWAYS believe there are more bass there in a spot than we catch. Or a hot spot will have more bass move into it shortly from wherever they are roaming in and out from (something I'm ALWAYS trying to figure out!!!).

Before I even got out to the end as I pulled up about parallel to the end I made a cast across it. l wasn't out as far as I thought but I had on the 12 pound mono rig with the gaudier Bomber that doesn't dive as deep as the 5XD. Even then it was digging hard into the bottom yet my crankbait rod buckled over and a fish as strong as ANYTHING I've hooked all year was on and pulling very hard!!! All I could do was hang on and try to pull it away from the shallows. But I lost it!!! RATS!! I came up with a big long wad of the muddy, gooey, stringy, thick grass-like algae strands that grow along some of the shallow breaks... SHOOT! Felt like a monster toad again...


But I took the time to line up out deep again and picked up the 5XD. Made a cast towards the end again. I bounced bottom a few times. Nothing happened. Felt it pull out off the first drop. Nothing. It was just tapping bottom out deeper and almost to the point of turning up when it got plastered by another 5+!!! It fought so hard staying down deep that at first I really thought it was a big pike!! Not... Yeah! Thank goodness! That was pretty much the end of my day but what a GREAT way to end a GREAT day of fall bass fishing!!! Can't wait to go back!

[21XDC]

   Nice.... You never take me. 

[djkimmel]

Get up real early and drive over. We'll go after them...

Not a lot of room in my packed little row boat but maybe we could make it work. Done it before. You could bring yours... little more complicated but there's a way to make that work out too...??

No guarantee of results of course... the big bass have already moved again and I couldn't find them the last time out. There out there somewhere though...