I carried my kayak to the second jetty only to find that the wind was flying in from the southeast so fast that I could hardly get my boat into the water. I didn't even try to get in at first; instead I started from shore. The water had started warming up, so I tried jigging a little spoon out in front of the rocks. I quickly met with success by catching a 16 inch largemouth (just between you and me, I snagged it in the side). The wind started to die down a little so I set out with one rod tied with the spoon and the other with the Shad Rap (that I mentioned last week). I went straight into the wind and paddled until I was halfway across the lake. When I reached a good point, I cast the Shad rap upwind, jigged the spoon up and down, and drifted all the way back. I noticed that no matter where I was in the lake, it was never deeper than seven feet- it didn't matter if I was in the perfect center or thirty feet from shore. I saw several fish take interest in both lures, but I didn't get any strikes. Then when I was halfway back, I felt a thump and set the hook. It was a good minute before I saw the fish and it was at least two before I could identify it. The fish turned out to be a big 25 inch catfish that dragged me the rest of the way down the lake before I could get it in the boat.
The catfish was the last fish I caught for the next half-hour, but I was inspired by a fish that hit the surface after missing the Shad Rap that I had in the water- so inspired that I switched both rods Shad Raps and started trolling. Before long I had a 13 inch rainbow trout that was not really ready for the fight- I don't think he knew he was hooked until I pulled him out of the water. I kept trolling and quickly caught an 18 inch catfish at the other end of the lake. The action slowed down after that point and all I caught was a little green sunfish in the next hour.
The fast was broken by a fifteen inch channel catfish that hit me on the north side of the lake. After that, I noticed that a bunch of fish were chasing flies on the surface. I tried to move in as stealthily as possible but I could not get any interest. I switched out the Shad for a jointed minnow that only dives two feet deep. It got me one good bite, but I wanted to go even smaller. I tied on a spinner to try to see if I could get any interest, but I somehow got a huge knot in the line that took several minutes to undo. By the time knot was worked out, the sun had kinda set and it was kinda completely dark outside, so I had to go. As I paddled back I kept hearing carp jumping out of the water, but they sounded more like bodies because (of my imagination) of how quiet it was out there by that point.
The take away points for this week are don't hook fish in the side and don't watch too many cop shows. So until next time- fish on
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