Weather forecast was showers in the morning, some clearing in the afternoon. Maybe some sun. Breezy. I decided to boot up and go.
First stop was the location that had shown me good smallies on each of my first three trips this season. I had replenished my supply of 1/8 oz. Bare Naked Bear jigs and started with one but got not a tap after a number of casts. I wasn't willing to believe that there weren't smallies around this choice spot. So what had changed in the past week? Water temperature. It had jumped up to 61.3ª. Maybe the bass wanted something bigger, livelier. I tied on an 1/8 oz. bucktail with a 2" chunk trailer. Bon appetít mes amis!
It hadn't rained and the sun was peeking out by 9:00. I decided to travel to see if I could locate a comparatively deep ridge. Since I don't use portable sonar I needed bright sun and a calm surface. No luck today.
Checked a hump in the vicinity which hosted no takers then worked steep breaking edges of a large sand flat. Still throwing the little hair jig and trailer, my Shimano Stradic 2500 and St. Croix Avid 7' ML got a workout with this:
I am not a big fan of lake trout. Nevertheless, I am impressed by the speed and power of the runs they make when they first see the boat.
Further around the sand flat I hooked up again:
And what's this in its mouth? It's a Duo Realis Spin Bait 80, of course. I start to throw this deadly little lure when the water temp approaches 60º. Colder, no, because the bass are more likely to be pegged to the bottom and that's not where I want to leave this $13.99 bait.
It's late in the afternoon now. Time to recheck my first spot. Huh, nobody home. Can't blame them if they've had enough of me for the day.
How about a shallow rocky flat? The wind's up now and my 12 lb. river anchor dragged a couple of times setting up here. I had to question my sanity. Was I a serious bassmaster or a fair weather wuss? I had just the bait for this situation, a Super Fluke Jr. which I nose hooked. Zig, zag, zig . . . Wham!
Alright then. Leaving time to carefully whump through the whitecaps while avoiding prop-modifying flats, I made my way back to the dock. Love it all.
Postscript
I had sent an older Stradic 2500 to Delaware Valley Tackle to be cleaned, lubed and have a bearing checked. I got it back in a timely manner with the work done at a reasonable price. It felt like new and performed superbly. Thanks, Mike!
