Friday, June 15 - A learning opportunity

[Revtro]

But did I learn anything?  That is the question.  Got out around 8 because my partner overslept this morning.  We started out in 12' and started getting bit right away.  The breeze was minimal and hence the learning opportunity.

I'll just say I love drift fishing.  For me, this is the most relaxing way to fish for Smallies (and least expensive), but you've gotta have enough wind to cover water.  When you're drifting along at a decent pace, you will catch them pretty steady as you move in and out of areas with fish.  It's pretty simple...the more water you cover, the more you catch.  But when the wind dies like it did this morning, you have to do something different.

So we did.  We started targeting beds, but the problem is that there were not as many active beds with fish on them as there have been.  It's definitely feeling more post-spawn out there.  I did see a few beds with bass on them and they were finicky.  But I saw many more with no fish present.  The end result was that the bite for us dramatically slowed down.  I don't own an Ultrex or an autopilot motor of any sort, so I wasn't gonna stand on the trolling motor, moving slowly, while steering and fishing.  I'd rather target specific structure or cover if I'm gonna do that.

In hindsight, I probably should have kept moving and throwing moving baits.  I think our catch rate would have gone up.  But next time out will be a different plan.  I will start to search summer areas and target fish fly hatches with topwater and dropshot tubes from Xtreme.  They just work. 

We did manage a couple nice bass in the 4lb class but they both inhaled the hook, so we didn't want to keep them out of the water once we got the hooks out.  I did get a few photos of the fish fly slicks around Metro Beach.  The hatch should be really healthy within a few days I would imagine. 

The Cutoff ramp today was PACKED.  Get there early if you plan to fish tomorrow.