DT10

I was coming off a bit of a rusty rusty performance last time out, and I got off to an unusual start; I didn't prep the night before as I hemmed and hawed over whether to go bass or muskie fishing.  Eventually watching the Red Sox and sleep won out, so I found myself launching on Reeds Lake at the odd (for me) time of 9:30 AM.  Usually I am thinking about getting off the water by that time!

I'd committed myself to working on new patterns and locations, but I hedged my chances for success by starting with a Rapala DT10 crank bait along deep weed edges.  After all, I'd gotten hit a few times with this last week; I just hadn't executed any of these chances.

Green craw DT10

A solid 2.5-pounder ate the bait on my second cast.  Sometimes having such quick success 

is a Kiss of Death for the rest of the day, but occasionally it's just an indication of good things to come.  I continued to work offshore weed edges in about 8 to 12 feet of water, but it took a relocation to a smaller, less conspicuous hump to generate any more strikes.

This particular hump is often good for a single, large fish.  Sometimes nobody's home, but every so often this location coughs up a four to six-pounder.  Working the windward edge of this hump, I caught another solid fish, but what really got me juiced was the Mega-Bass that was excitedly swimming in with my hooked fish.  This was easily the largest bass I've ever seen in this lake; it was a true Michigan Giant.  I netted the 2+-pounder and noted the location of the lunker on the GPS.

Working my way around the hump, I caught a thick 3-pounder on the opposite side.  All the fish were hitting in the same type of water; offshore weed edges dropping from about 8 to 12 feet of water (and beyond.)  I was starting to get a solid pattern going!

Deep cranking provided a few more fatties to just over three pounds.

I couldn't leave this hump until I'd circled through the spot where I'd seen my lunker.   I ran into a short and fat, yet acrobatic, 4.84-pounder on the deep windward edge, but the fish I really wanted did not show herself again.  That was the only disappointment of the day.

4.84 pounds on the scale; but still not the bass I was looking for.  But this is a great anchor fish, any day on the water!

At this point I'd pretty much run out of weed-fringed humps, but I knew that a conspicuous submerged point dropping off into deep water might provide similar options for the bass.  It took a bit for me to find Bass Number 5 for the day, but when I found him (a barely legal keeper), I found a whole school of them.  I was able to barely cull once, but there wasn't much size to these guys.  Regardless, I had my limit before Noon, despite the late start.

After a photo session and releasing the bass, I moved to a new offshore area.  This seems to be an area of subtly raised hard bottom.  There's no obvious or dramatic relief, but there's a fairly extensive area between 13 and 17 feet of water, surrounded by the lake's basin of 20-23 feet of water.  I switched to a DT20 (this particular lure has taken both my largest bass and pike from this lake!), and it felt good to be grinding bottom and pulling up the occasional zebra mussel.  In a fairly short time, I missed a strike and then I caught a nice, bonus, approximate 30-inch deepwater pike.  This guy hit in 16 or 17 feet of water near the feature's edge.

GoPro Action!

A solid, bonus deep-water pike.

Not a bad day!  The rust is off!

Bucktail Bass -or- Hair Jig Payoff II

It took me over 30 years to catch my first striper, and it took almost another 20 for me to score one on the greatest, simplest and most versatile striper lure of all time; the humble, yet productive, bucktail.

4:30 AM EDT and all is well!

Of course, I just threw one for the first time while targeting stripers, and it really only took a few dozen casts for me to get bit.  I wish I could say this personally momentous event took place on one of the hair jigs I had crafted over the winter; but instead, I have to admit that I was throwing a nicely tied custom jig from The Tackle Shop in Portland, Maine.

This particular bass will forever remain etched in my memory for the cool, visual strike it provided.  I am accustomed to watching for my lure in the water during the retrieve, and soon after my slowly swimming jig came into view in the low morning light, this bass flashed up from the bottom and annihilated the bait.  She was probably within a rod's length when we connected, and I got to watch the entire strike and fight sequence unfold.  This healthy 26-incher was a perfect match for my gear in hand, too, and it was a pleasure to catch such a fish on a beautiful Maine morning!

5 AM and all is even better!

She might have thought it was a peanut bunker, or perhaps a finger-sized mackerel.  She hit hard, right at my feet.  All of the weekend's bass were thick and adorned with sea lice.

So, I somewhat successfully deployed a "new-to-me-in-this-place" tactic in a truly peaceful setting.  I had carefully selected, quality gear *** in hand, and I even caught a few other fish on this morning.  Some were larger, but none were quite as interesting or as satisfying as this particular bass.  What else could one ask for from a given morning, a long weekend road trip, or a winter spent daydreaming of (and preparing for) such things?


*** One of the pleasures (and potential frustrations) of fishing this spot is matching my tackle to the available bass.  While they have probably averaged about 24 or 25 inches (probably about six pounds) over the years, on any given day, the bites can come from micro-schoolies weighing in at a pound, or from unstoppable freight trains of unconfirmed size.  Moreover, my available tackle in Maine has always been a little limited and make-shift.  But with my increased saltwater fishing interests and participation over the last few years, I have purchased some high-quality saltwater reels and a couple of travel rods.  This day's set-up: the newest version of Shimano's Stradic 4000, spooled with 30-pound Momoi Diamond Braid; a heavy action, 7-foot Cabela's Fish Eagle 50 rod; 25-pound Seagar fluorocarbon leader;  and the 3/8-ounce sparse bucktail tipped with a 3-inch Lunker City shad body.  This was a fine delivery system that just felt good, at least to me!