Hope this is a good sign...

WatterBoy · 07-28-12, 12:13 AM

I arrived at our lakeside cabin after a long 5-hour drive by myself about 30 minutes before sunset. After getting things opened and quickly toting all my fishing gear from the garage to the boat, I took to casting from our dock. After 4-5 casts with no action on a 7" senko, I grabbed a different rod/reel and tied on a zara spook. As I was about ready to lift it back out of the water following my first retrieve, it was smoked by a 2lb 15oz pike. On the very next cast, the same thing happened with a 2lb 1oz Smallie. I bet they both hit the spook within 5-10 feet of where I stood on the dock! There was a swirl behind the spook on the next cast, but nothing else after that. I tried a few casts with a Pop-R in near darkness...nothing. I switched to a Black Widow poppin' frog and hooked up with something after just a couple of casts. After a brief tussle, it was just gone. Not sure what it was, but I'm guessing a LM. A couple casts later I hauled in a tiny bass that couldn't have even been 12". I made a few more casts even though the mosquitos were nasty, but there were no further signs of fish. I hope that is a sign of things to come for my upcoming 4 days of hardcore solo fishing! My alarm is set to walk the dog at 4:15 tomorrow a.m. and then hit the water.

joedog · 07-28-12, 03:59 AM

Dean it's definitly going to be a great four days.
I'm eagerly waiting for the follow up posts.

Hey I've been meaning to ask you, when using like a spook or popper or anything for that matter, what you using for a leader to keep the pike at bay?
Do you use anything special like with a hollow body frog?
Do you use different when like switching from a crank to topwater?
Do you use a leader when worming?

I know you got a lot of aggressive pike at the 'resort' so thats why all the questions.
I'm anticipating a need for this knowledge soon.

Have a great tommorrow morning!

Heck, have a great 4 days,
The resort all to youself. Companies all good and everything but 4 days of hardcore fish catching picture taking on your own. Did you pinch yourself to make sure you didn't die and go to Heaven?

keithdog · 07-28-12, 04:28 AM

I'm looking foreward to reading aboout your 4 day stay at the cabin. Being your fishing solo, you should do pretty darn well based on your past reports. Those Spooks are great topwaters for sure. Getting smashed right at rods length is like having a pheasant flush below your feet. It surely pumps up the adrenalin.

WatterBoy · 07-28-12, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joedog

Dean it's definitly going to be a great four days.
I'm eagerly waiting for the follow up posts.

Hey I've been meaning to ask you, when using like a spook or popper or anything for that matter, what you using for a leader to keep the pike at bay?
Do you use anything special like with a hollow body frog?
Do you use different when like switching from a crank to topwater?
Do you use a leader when worming?

I know you got a lot of aggressive pike at the 'resort' so thats why all the questions.
I'm anticipating a need for this knowledge soon.

Have a great tommorrow morning!

Heck, have a great 4 days,
The resort all to youself. Companies all good and everything but 4 days of hardcore fish catching picture taking on your own. Did you pinch yourself to make sure you didn't die and go to Heaven?

I don't really do anything different or special to try to keep the pike away. I almost never use a leader. I used one with a swim jig earlier this year for a little while, but that was the first time I used one in years. I don't know why, but I rarely lose top water lures to pike. They love to swipe cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs, senkos, etc., however. I do use a snap or snap swivel with some of my top water lures, but I don't think that really does anything to keep pike from sawing me off. I do almost all of my fishing in 8' of water or less, so maybe that has something to do with it in the summertime since I think the pike like to find the cooler (deeper) water also...at least I've been told that is true of the bigger ones anyway.

WatterBoy · 07-28-12, 03:12 PM

Day 1, morning 1...

I successfully ignored my alarm until 4:45, but then I finally rolled out of bed and took Lucky for his morning walk. That meant I was on the water and at my first spot ready to fish at 6:00 a.m. I had my first fish on a couple minutes later, but it wrapped me up in the reeds and got away. I made up for that a few minutes later...6:08 to be exact...when I landed a 2lb 8oz, 14.75" LM. Two more LM paid a brief visit to the front of my boat within the next 20 minutes. I was joined on the shoreline I was fishing by some wildlife. The doe had her fawn with her, but I couldn't get a shot of the fawn. Dang. Oh well...

I caught 2 more LM and 1 SM, all of which were under 2 pounds, during the hour I spent at my second location. My 3rd spot and 3rd hour of fishing also produced 3 fish, all LM this time, and was kicked off with this one that checked in at 2lb 12oz and measured 15.5".

The 4th hour and 4th spot continued my pattern of 3 fish per hour/location, this time yielding 1 LM, 1 SM and 1 Rock. The Smallie came at 9:50 in about 3' of water and it crushed my Zoomie worm as I was speed-retrieving it to make another cast! It reminded me of a spinnerbait hit, and I just reacted with a hook set. After whiffing about 4-5 times with my netting attempts, and pleading for it to stay on that whole time, I finally got it netted and into the boat! It registered 3lb 9oz on my scale and had a length of 17.75". I was shaking for several minutes after that.

I changed it up a bit for the next 90 minutes and went to deeper water (14'-16') and had zero bites. I used a MightEE worm! a jig & pig, and a DT16 crankbait. I stopped on the way back and hit the shoreline I had started with. I battled the wind there for about 30 minutes and then headed back at noon. I nabbed 3 more LM, 2 of which were just over 2 pounds, to give me a total of 15 fish (12 LM, 2 SM, 1 Rock) in my 6 hours on the water.

All in all, it was a pretty good morning. My best 5 bass totaled 13lb 1oz. After I grab a nap and take the hound for his afternoon walk, I guess I'll hit the water again until dark.

bamabassman · 07-28-12, 03:21 PM

dean......fantastic man!!!

joedog · 07-28-12, 03:22 PM

Great morning!
Thanks for the share.

bcklash · 07-28-12, 03:34 PM

Awesome Dean

nobass · 07-28-12, 05:20 PM

sounds like a good morning enjoy your 4 days

bluebasser86 · 07-28-12, 06:59 PM

Sounds like a good time to me! Yesterday was the coolest day we've had over a month at a chilly 94 degrees! Haven't been doing a whole lot of bass fishing with water temps in the high 80's and even low 90's but your report made me want to try it anyways

WatterBoy · 07-28-12, 11:00 PM

Day 1, evening 1...

I made it back out tonight for 2.5 hours and managed to catch 4 LM, 1 SM and 1 Rock. The Smallie was the biggest fish at 3lb 2oz, 17.25". A couple of the LM were just over 2 pounds. The SM and one of the LM came on a Zara Spook, so those were fun, especially the SM. It followed my spook all the way up to the boat, so I stopped my retrieve when I saw the follow, then gave it one twitch/pull and BAM, the short fight was on.

07-28-12, 12:13 AM	#1
WatterBoy BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Owatonna, MN Posts: 2,280	Hope this is a good sign... I arrived at our lakeside cabin after a long 5-hour drive by myself about 30 minutes before sunset. After getting things opened and quickly toting all my fishing gear from the garage to the boat, I took to casting from our dock. After 4-5 casts with no action on a 7" senko, I grabbed a different rod/reel and tied on a zara spook. As I was about ready to lift it back out of the water following my first retrieve, it was smoked by a 2lb 15oz pike. On the very next cast, the same thing happened with a 2lb 1oz Smallie. I bet they both hit the spook within 5-10 feet of where I stood on the dock! There was a swirl behind the spook on the next cast, but nothing else after that. I tried a few casts with a Pop-R in near darkness...nothing. I switched to a Black Widow poppin' frog and hooked up with something after just a couple of casts. After a brief tussle, it was just gone. Not sure what it was, but I'm guessing a LM. A couple casts later I hauled in a tiny bass that couldn't have even been 12". I made a few more casts even though the mosquitos were nasty, but there were no further signs of fish. I hope that is a sign of things to come for my upcoming 4 days of hardcore solo fishing! My alarm is set to walk the dog at 4:15 tomorrow a.m. and then hit the water.

07-28-12, 03:59 AM	#2
joedog BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: JANESVILLE,WI. 53545 Posts: 3,415	Dean it's definitly going to be a great four days. I'm eagerly waiting for the follow up posts. Hey I've been meaning to ask you, when using like a spook or popper or anything for that matter, what you using for a leader to keep the pike at bay? Do you use anything special like with a hollow body frog? Do you use different when like switching from a crank to topwater? Do you use a leader when worming? I know you got a lot of aggressive pike at the 'resort' so thats why all the questions. I'm anticipating a need for this knowledge soon. Have a great tommorrow morning! Heck, have a great 4 days, The resort all to youself. Companies all good and everything but 4 days of hardcore fish catching picture taking on your own. Did you pinch yourself to make sure you didn't die and go to Heaven? __________________ "Fishing isn't life or death... it's more important than that."

07-28-12, 04:28 AM	#3
keithdog BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: IN Posts: 8,308	I'm looking foreward to reading aboout your 4 day stay at the cabin. Being your fishing solo, you should do pretty darn well based on your past reports. Those Spooks are great topwaters for sure. Getting smashed right at rods length is like having a pheasant flush below your feet. It surely pumps up the adrenalin. __________________ Just one more cast, and then some!

07-28-12, 03:21 PM	#6
bamabassman BassFishin.Com Premier Elite Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: cedar bluff, alabama Posts: 15,292	dean......fantastic man!!! __________________ so many lures, so little time.

07-28-12, 03:22 PM	#7
joedog BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: JANESVILLE,WI. 53545 Posts: 3,415	Great morning! Thanks for the share. __________________ "Fishing isn't life or death... it's more important than that."

07-28-12, 03:12 PM	#5
WatterBoy BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Owatonna, MN Posts: 2,280	Day 1, morning 1... I successfully ignored my alarm until 4:45, but then I finally rolled out of bed and took Lucky for his morning walk. That meant I was on the water and at my first spot ready to fish at 6:00 a.m. I had my first fish on a couple minutes later, but it wrapped me up in the reeds and got away. I made up for that a few minutes later...6:08 to be exact...when I landed a 2lb 8oz, 14.75" LM. Two more LM paid a brief visit to the front of my boat within the next 20 minutes. I was joined on the shoreline I was fishing by some wildlife. The doe had her fawn with her, but I couldn't get a shot of the fawn. Dang. Oh well... I caught 2 more LM and 1 SM, all of which were under 2 pounds, during the hour I spent at my second location. My 3rd spot and 3rd hour of fishing also produced 3 fish, all LM this time, and was kicked off with this one that checked in at 2lb 12oz and measured 15.5". The 4th hour and 4th spot continued my pattern of 3 fish per hour/location, this time yielding 1 LM, 1 SM and 1 Rock. The Smallie came at 9:50 in about 3' of water and it crushed my Zoomie worm as I was speed-retrieving it to make another cast! It reminded me of a spinnerbait hit, and I just reacted with a hook set. After whiffing about 4-5 times with my netting attempts, and pleading for it to stay on that whole time, I finally got it netted and into the boat! It registered 3lb 9oz on my scale and had a length of 17.75". I was shaking for several minutes after that. I changed it up a bit for the next 90 minutes and went to deeper water (14'-16') and had zero bites. I used a MightEE worm! a jig & pig, and a DT16 crankbait. I stopped on the way back and hit the shoreline I had started with. I battled the wind there for about 30 minutes and then headed back at noon. I nabbed 3 more LM, 2 of which were just over 2 pounds, to give me a total of 15 fish (12 LM, 2 SM, 1 Rock) in my 6 hours on the water. All in all, it was a pretty good morning. My best 5 bass totaled 13lb 1oz. After I grab a nap and take the hound for his afternoon walk, I guess I'll hit the water again until dark.

07-28-12, 03:34 PM	#8
bcklash BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Elliston, Va. Posts: 4,372	Awesome Dean __________________ The soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box. keep us free:

07-28-12, 05:20 PM	#9
nobass BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: clarksville, tn, Posts: 1,690	sounds like a good morning enjoy your 4 days __________________ the only easy day was yesterday

07-28-12, 06:59 PM	#10
bluebasser86 BassFishin.Com Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Gardner, KS Posts: 605	Sounds like a good time to me! Yesterday was the coolest day we've had over a month at a chilly 94 degrees! Haven't been doing a whole lot of bass fishing with water temps in the high 80's and even low 90's but your report made me want to try it anyways

07-28-12, 11:00 PM	#11
WatterBoy BassFishin.Com Super Veteran Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Owatonna, MN Posts: 2,280	Day 1, evening 1... I made it back out tonight for 2.5 hours and managed to catch 4 LM, 1 SM and 1 Rock. The Smallie was the biggest fish at 3lb 2oz, 17.25". A couple of the LM were just over 2 pounds. The SM and one of the LM came on a Zara Spook, so those were fun, especially the SM. It followed my spook all the way up to the boat, so I stopped my retrieve when I saw the follow, then gave it one twitch/pull and BAM, the short fight was on.

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