Finally Got Out!

[BigBassin144]

Let me just start by saying it was great to finally get back on the water after not being able to go for over a month (Yeah, I know, that's the typical beginning of a story that ends with no bass)

Anyways, we were on the water by 8:30 this morning (Ramp is in a state park, you need a permit, and the offices don't open til 8). This is a new lake to us, so we didn't really know where to go. The lake is fairly shallow (5-7') around the edges and for quite a ways out. Then it drops off to about 10-13'. Water temp was 57* and it was mostly sunny with a light breeze.

Right where the drop, we found the weeds growing, some almost to the surface. I started with a White X-rap, and about my fourth cast, I hooked into a keeper largemouth while I was messin with the TM. Anyways, after one jump, he got off halfway back to the boat... We fished the spot some more with jerkbaits, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits to no avail.

We checked the map, and headed across the lake to a sandy flat looking for spawners. We slowly crept up to the sand, and didn't see any fish, or even any distinct beds (although that doesn't mean they weren't there).

We moved off the flat into the weeds and fished for a while. As we moved down the shore, we discovered another dropoff that went from about 6-7" down to about 12-14'. I put on a sexy shad Fat Free Shad, and after a couple casts hooked into a small pike (my first pike actually). Now I know why they call em Hammer Handles, lol. He was about a foot long, and couldn't have been much more than 1.5" in diameter. He shook off right at the side of the boat.

We fished some more, and I hooked another small pike, a little bigger than the last. I wish this one would've have shook off at the boat... He was hooked, by all three points of the treble underneath his head on bottom of both gills (I just wanted to know how, lol ) After bleeding all over me, the boat, the carpet, and one of my tackle boxes, we got him off and he swam away ok.

We continued fishing and my dad hooked another pike, bigger than either of mine, on a baby bass colored Fat Free Shad.

We fished some more, and decided to pack up for the day around 1:30.

I'll post the picture of his pike later. I gotta get it off my phone.

BB