March 14 Trip

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Man, what a day for thumb rash. I dropped the boys off at school this morning and headed to meet a buddy of mine and we hit the water. We were sitting on the water in the Stump Jump Express about 0830. I fished from the bank with a War Eagle SB (Wht w/Gold Blades) for a few minutes and had 2 followers. I took it I was off on the color. We got out in the boat and I was throwing a Bandit 200 Splatter back and also had 2 followers, but no commitment. So I just took it I was on, but the color was off in the white category. But my buddy was had put 3 in the boat so I couldn't take it anymore and tied on a Wat/Red lizard and pegged it about a 1' above. Second cast, wham, fish on and a solid #2. We continued to hit hot spots down the bank. Then the wind informed me that the weatherman lied. Instead of the 1-3 MPH S winds as predicted, we got 10-20 swirling winds. All we could do was try to keep the boat sideways and let it blow us up on the bank, and make a charge back out and do it again. I changed off the liz to pack of tubes bklash got me for the secret santa deal we had last year. Man, was I not disappointed. First cast, wham, fish on and in the boat. Second cast same area, wham fish on, DTC rod on load, pe-ow = heart broke. I knew I had heavy fray, but I had put off retying because every time I stopped the trolling motor, we would be all over the place and I was trying to keep my buddy in position to cast. I continue catching fish on the tube and my buddy was catching on a JB lizard. I finally burned through the pack and lost another good fish that ran under a log and picked up a reel with a 1/8 oz Blk/Blu Strike King buzz bait. Second cast, the buzz just disappeared in the heavy chop and the rod loaded, hook set, fish on. I continued swapping back and forth between a battered tube and the buzz bait. Every fish that hit the buzz bait pulled it under and would barely break the surface. But it was fun to say the least. We ended up keeping 26 between #1-2 and released around 15. It might have been 2 months since I hit the water, but it was well worth the wait. We loaded up around 1:00 and headed out, but I think we could have kept on snatching if we could have. It was just an awesome day to be on the water. If I can find my USB cord, I will upload a few pics from my phone, but I think I sent them to a few of y'all.