Had a BLAST today!

[keithdog]

Due to seriously bad weather EVERY weekend but one since ice out I've only been able to get out once. Today, my first day of vacation was my second. I wasn't planning on going today since we were supposed to get hit with strong thunderstorms all day. Lucky for me they shifted apart and I was able to get out. Conditions were ideal. Very overcast all day, winds around 15 mph, air temp in the low 60's, water temp guessing around 55 degrees. Actually I had gone out hoping to hang up with a few pike, but after 4 hours of no pike I switched gears to bass. Am I happy I did. It took me about 45 minutes to find the pattern. Every bass I caught was in water less than 8 foot deep holding up in either cabage or lilly pads. The pads are just starting to break water which made fishing them easy. Using a 5/0 weighted 1/8oz. swimbait hook and a 4 inch soft hollow belly swimbait worked a couple feet below the surface did the trick. They were smashing that bait today! One nearly swallowed the lure completely. I was casting with a Garcia Revo SX paired up with a Cabelas XML 7'0" MH rod. The reel was spooled with 40 pound Power Pro braid. In 2 1/2 hours I landed about a dozen like the one pictured here. Between 2 and 3 pounds. I lost a few more and spooked a monster that I came too close to before he spooked and bolted through the pads. Wish I'd had a shot at that big boy!