I meant to post this last night but just ran out of energy. I rarely have a full free day. Yesterday, I knew I had a free day and told no one about it. Left the house before daybreak and headed to Bass. Stopped at Butch's and got 3 dozen crappie minnows. The kind lady in there gave me a crazy good generous count and off to Bass I went. Have not fished Bass since spring and launched and was surprised how very shallow - more shallow than I remember - the initial 1000 yards was heading out. Stopped at that first deep hole out in front of the marina and simply trolled jigs/minnows at a slow pace around the perimeter of the hole. Picked up about 7 striped bass that were about 12" in size and very strong with the gear I was using. Trolled out toward the bigger water and found an area in 14' of water somewhat in front of the beach house which produced a large number of crappies of all sizes -- dinks and decent... A couple of more stripe bass also and then I slowly trolled bottom bouncers with minnows but only crappies were caught on the bottom. Saw a lot of decent marks near the bottom and thought to try to jig them up but did not. Left Bass at noon and headed to Max. Got to Max and it was quite a bit more windy. I launched and headed to the opposite shore by the academy and proceeded with the same technique -- trolling jigs/minnows and tried to stay in about 10' of water. Fun and tough both with the wind and I am grateful and amazed at the technology with the I Pilot and my garmin electronics. Anyway, fished until just at dark and had one 17" walleye - one average perch -- too many smallies to count with 3 right at 18" and two of those large rock bass with the red eyes. What a fantastic day - outdoors -- wind -- waves -- clouds -- sun -- no phone... As much as I truly love babysitting my grandkids, church opportunities, visiting with patients in the office, a day like that outdoors is tough to beat. I really think the wind was a huge plus. Anyway, thanks for reading and please share your stories with the outdoors...
