Chilly water......

[3dkicker]

Hit the river yesterday for a little Mid-Week action and found some cold temps in the creeks. Water was down from mid 60's last week to low 50's. We got 1-2" of rain in the 48 hours so there was the concern of cold muddy water affecting the fish.
Also got to get on the water with Donnie Poore, FishnArt, whose custom baits I've posted on the site for the past couple years. I've been pestering him to get out and fish with me and my club for a long time .......Well here he is!!!!


So we hit a couple spots early and nothing. We roll back into a creek and start hitting some pads. Nothing. All moving baits. We make a switch to craws and hit a channel bend with a pad edge and bingo....fish on!! We work this area and catch a couple fish and only one "keeper" (turns out the fish was short). We work back in the creek and the water gets colder.....brrrrr. But still manage to catch, and miss, a couple more fish. When the fish hit they smashed the baits and hauled water!!!!!

Here's the bait of the day!!!! Yep Nemesis Bullet Craw in black/blue. If you haven't picked any up from Chris or Brian you need to!! I think Donnie's sold on them.

Keeper fish???


So we leave the creek and head south to another creek to check things out. We hit a series of laydowns that typically hold bass at this time of year and I decide to toss a jig/pig combo and have a bass smash it and haul.....I set the hook and the knot explodes leaving me with a limp line and the fish rolls twice trying to dislodge the bait.

We move from spot to spot hitting a small fish here and there but finally find a couple fish interested in the moving baits (custom Yozuri HC and Kaotik punisher). No quality fish but the misses continue along with more break offs (Donnie's turn).

We head back into the creek into the channel and work to a couple laydowns. Donnie hangs a senko on a tree limb just submerged and watches a keeper come up and try to pull the bait off the limb and it fails and Donnie's not happy. We work around the laydown and I pitch back into a quiet spot next to the bank with the Craw and feel the pick up. Reel down set the hook and put another keeper in the boat. Pitch back in. Repeat but the second one comes up short and almost hangs me up in the tree.



So we head back to where we started only to find another club boat sitting on the area I was planning on fishing (and they caught a couple keepers). We move around. Catch a few small fish and miss a couple bites as well. By this time the tide is running out quickly due to the 15-20mph winds (Donnie hates the wind ) and we try to get out of the creek. We take a long slow route kicking up mud and finally get out of the creek only to find the pee hole blocked and the engine over heating. We slowly work back to the ramp and end up 13 mins late. You got to hate it when your pee hole gets blocked.....

All in all it was a decent day. Missed a couple good fish, plenty of savage bites, and still caught a 10lb sack (if there wasn't a 15" min) despite the cold muddy water.

Oh, another bonus, Donnie finished a couple custom batis for me....... Sweet!!!! (not the best pic but you get the idea)