Bass and snakeheads

[3dkicker]

Had great plans for Sat and Sun. Had good fish shallow on marsh banks and pads in a couple areas. With overcast skies I expect fish to be feeding up and they were.
Only problem was that the prop I got to replace my old one is different brand and won't allow me to get up on plane. I've got to drop my jackplate a half inch. No problem? Wrong. The bolts on the jackplate are locked and won't loosen. Been spraying them with different sprays like Liquid Wrench to loosen them they all haven't come loose yet...Got one more to go.
So without being able to get on plane I can't get to the spots I want to fish . On Sat. I idle off and head into the nearest creek. With high tide there's a couple pad fields that should be holding bass but I've never fished them so I'm not sure if they hold fish or not. Sure enough I hit a keeper on the first pass on Baby 1. I also release a fat 14.5" fish (I hate the 15" limit!!!). We continue to fish the pads for a while and catch a bunch of short fat chunks but no more keepers. We idle into the back of the creek and find cold muddy water.....not good. So we head back out to the pads. On the first cast I get a bunch of hits on flukes but can't hook up. My partner hits a nice keeper. Second pass I miss a couple more.....and switch up to a floating worm. My partner misses a good fish. Third pass I hook up and catch a keeper and a short on the worm. My partner hits his second keeper. Next pass I put my third keeper in the boat plus another short. Now I have them figured out but run out of time. Things are looking up for Sun .
Sunday comes with rain early but overcast skies for most of the day. Fish should be feeding up as the were the day before. We found two sweet areas that gave up the keepers and better chunks so I hit those areas first. My second day partner breaks off a keeper first thing. No more bites........ We work back and forth using multiple baits and techniques and still nothing...... Actually we do hit a couple small snakeheads but that's not what we are there for.
We run to another set of pads to give the area a break and don't get a bite. We come back and my partner loses a second keeper on a Baby 1......but no bites for me??? I'm confused but continue working back and forth. Finally I see a pad shake, toss in a lizard, and I get a bite and catch a 14.5" short fish. Not what I need. A few more time back and forth and I hit another short on Baby 1. Not happy! Something is off so I've got to pull one out of the hat.
So I move on I head towards the mouth and an area that I've caught some fish in the past and is known to hold keepers. I change baits to a custom painted Hardcore Drum and make a cast. Fish on!!! But short . Partner hooks up a keeper. I catch another short. We find some fish stacked in a small area. We work back and forth for the rest of the day leaving the area for a short period. Everytime we leave and come back it's fish on the very first cast but most are short. I pick up a keeper and my partner catches three nice fish. My partner should have had his limit and I basically got skunked for keepers. Caught a bunch of fish in the 14" range but doesn't help this time of year.
Did catch my first on the new BBZ 2.5". Watched the bass suck it off the surface. I'm going to have fun this year with this bait!!!