Went out for an afternoon of bass chasing today. I hit Oneida first, got on the water around quarter to noon. I was immediately greeted by a couple of loons laughing away. It's always a treat when they're around. The water was fairly murky, maybe two feet of clarity and 51 degrees. I promptly snagged a nasty mirror carp in the tail with a lipless crank.
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After the long battle, I retied my line, and a couple of casts later, I got an even nastier carp.
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I fought him for a while, replaced my mangled line, and then snagged another, but this time I only landed a scale. I ditched the crank and started swimming a grub around some rocks in about three feet of water, and I thumped a nice chunky little smallie of 14".
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I was feeling pretty optimistic, and then the wind started blowing. Not bad, but enough to make it tough to work a subtle bait and to keep the tube on a spot. I think I missed a couple more fish on the grub, but I'm not positive. I tried shallow and deep jerkbaits (probably too murky for them right now), a deep diving crank and a dropshot working water from 1-20' and got nothing. I decided to look for largemouth before I spent too much time at Oneida.
I hit Winder for a couple of hours. Water clarity was good, and the temp was 51-54. There were loons on both ends of the reservoir and they seemed to be having a conversation with each other. I probably should have spent more time fishing jerkbaits around dropoffs, but I got distracted when I heard some splashing and saw a commotion in the shallows. I tossed a soft jerkbait up in the brush in a foot or two of water and promptly missed a decent fish. The wind was putting a lot of slack in in my line and I missed another. Three's the charm, and I landed this monster.
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I can't believe it got a 4" bait and a 3/0 hook in its mouth. I caught two more, and they got a little better.
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I decided to try the far shore as it dropped off much more abruptly and I thought it might be a good place to fish some cranks and suspending jerkbaits. I was disappointed to find the water was several degrees cooler on this side. I probably should have stuck with it longer, but I kept thinking about the shallow brush lovers on the other side and headed back.
The wind was getting peskier, so I decided to ditch the tube and walk the shore since the fish were so shallow. I downsized to an even smaller jerkbait and scored a few more small bass of around 10". Not too exciting, but it was fun watching how they attacked the baits in the clear water. They would dart out, then swing wide and try to hit it head first. They often missed, but then I would let it sink like they'd stunned it, and they typically snarfed it up. I missed a lot of the little guys, but that's okay.
Not the most exciting day, but it was good to finally catch some bass, get some sun, and hang out with the loons. With the forecast I think it's going to turn on very soon. Glad I have Monday off from work too [

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