Labor Day weekend fishing

[WatterBoy]

We were up at the lake with some family for a few days over Labor Day weekend. The fishing was average as far as numbers go, but was excellent for good-sized fish (3+ pounds is good for us). Here's a rundown of the good ones we caught.

My brother-in-law started it off after dark on Friday night with this nice 3lb 2oz Largemouth that was 16.25", caught on a 5" wacky-rigged senko.



I caught my second 4-pounder on this lake for the year on Saturday morning. It was an even 4 pounds and 18.25" long, caught on a zoomie right on the edge of some lily pads.



Nick, my 5-year old nephew went with us on Sunday morning and caught this nice pumpkinseed.



I had my best outing of our stay on Sunday morning. We were on the water and fishing by 6:30, and I caught a couple dinks in the first 20 minutes using a 5" wacky-rigged senko. That same thing landed me three real nice ones in the next half hour -- 3lb 2oz & 3lb 4oz LM and a feisty 18" Smallie that weighed in at 3lb 12oz. At that point, that was my 2nd best Smallie of the year, trailing only the 3-15 from opening weekend back in May. After the bite died in that location, I caught a small pike in each of the next two spots we hit -- one on a square-bill crank and the other on a jig & pig. The last good one came on a 3" Brown/White Koppers Live Target Hollow Body Field Mouse, and it was a real fun fight because of all the pads and other junk I had to fight through to land it. Here is Nick helping me hold some of the good ones.



My brother-in-law finally got back in the act again on Sunday evening by landing a 3lb 4oz, 17.25" Smallie while using a 7" senko.



Meanwhile, back at the dock, my sister-in-law hooked into the biggest crappie we've ever caught on this lake -- 13.25" and 1lb 12oz -- and she let Nick reel it in. He seemed pretty pleased with the result as you can see in this picture.



After our family guests had left, Kaye finally got a chance to do some fishing with me on Tuesday and she took full advantage of it. She had caught a couple of 4 pound Smallmouth last year, but had not yet notched her first 4 pound Largemouth (PB was 3lb 14oz). A little over an hour into our outing, while dropshotting with a 5" wacky-rigged senko, she landed an 18" LM that went 4lb 1oz. Sweet -- a new PB! (This was in the same location I had caught the 3-2 and 3-4 on Sunday morning, and is an area we just started to fish for the first time this year and we have caught SEVERAL really nice bass there.)



Twenty-five minutes later she was hollering "fish on" again and managed to battle another nice hawg into the boat. This one only measured 17.75", but weighed 4lb 3oz for ANOTHER NEW PB! We were both very excited to say the least. She ended up outfishing me 11-5.



We went back out that evening and she waxed me again with 8 fish to my 1, but at least my one, a 3lb 13oz, 18.25" Smallie was the biggest of the evening and my new 2nd best SM of 2012. Plus it was another fun one to battle because it smoked a Pop-R a long ways from the boat. She caught two more solid ones from the same "new" location I mentioned above -- 3lb 10oz, 17" and 3lb 1oz, 16.25" this time -- both on her trusty 5" senko wacky-rigged on a dropshot. In fact, that's what she caught all 19 of her fish with on Tuesday. She uses it pretty much everywhere we fish and seems to make it work in every location.



It's been a great year at our lake with 899 fish caught so far and 32 different people having caught at least one fish. We have some good friends coming up to join us next weekend, so we should add at least 4 more people to the "fish catchers" count. Then one more weekend of fishing up there the last weekend of September and it will be time to "close up shop" again in mid-October. Hard to believe another fishing season is winding down and almost over for me. I guess I have to make the most of the few outings I have left!

[woody]

I'm sure you will, Dean.

Congrats to your wife and her new personal best.



-Mark

[USMCbassman]

I always enjoy your reports! Congrats to Mrs. Watter for her PB! Those are some nice bass and that pumpkinseed has some nice colors in him! That crappie was a slab too! Thanks for sharing....

[Bassin' Gal]

Woohoo! Congrats to your wife on her PB. Sounds like everyone had lots of fun. I can't imagine an outing catching that many fish! May you have many more summers as wonderful as this one.