Finally got out on Friday

[Joel]

Finally got out on one of the NYC reservoirs with a buddy of mine. Took the long 1 1/2 hour drive up and was on the water by 7am. Sure felt good after nearly 4 months of just being basically a couch potato.

Air temps were in the low 40s while the water temps were 42 degrees when we launched and was 44 by the time we got off the water at 3pm. Skies were overcast with a light but steady wind out of the North which shifted to a steady 10+ mph out of the West by mid afternoon.

We kept the boat out in 20 FOW and concentrated on shallow flats working hard jerkbaits up top in 6-8 Fow and alternating with very slowly fishing a grub, hula grub, or a tube on the bottom. I had tied on a # 8 XRap while Jim worked a LC pointer (not sure what number, but it was about the same size as my X Rap).

Jim was the 1st to connect and boat a nice 2 lb LM. Then it was my turn with a 3 1/2 lb LM. About 20 min later I got a duplicate of my 1st fish. Then the sun came out and the bite just died. Hours later Jim thought he got hooked onthe bottom, so we moved the boat to make it easier to get his jerkbait back. Then his line moved and his rod really had a nice bend. Nice little fight and Jim boated a 3+ Pickerel.

We met up with a few other boats that were all friends of ours, and everyone seemed to be having a similar day with 4 in the boat, but everyone had accomplished it with different lures. Ugly Otters, & 1/2 oz jigs were big for them, while we couldn't buy a bite on them.