No Big 'Uns, Just Happy to be Back At It

[Koz]

I was excited when @flatcreek asked me to be his back seater for a local fishing club tournament on Friday out on Lake Oconee. Oconee fishing has been terrible for the past year or so, but we hit an area that's usually holding bass. We caught a lot of dinks and weighed in with only four, but ut was still fun being out there with good company. I also played hooky from work, so that was great as well.

 

True story about the boat that won - their boat broke down and while waiting for a tow they caught all of their keepers. They managed to have someone drive their truck to where they were towed and made it back just in time for the weigh in. Unbelievable.

 

But wait - there's more. They caught their keepers down near my hotel, where last year the LMB stayed away and it was striper and catfish territory. There's nothing like adding insult to injury with beating us in my own back yard.

 

Water temp was in the low sixties, and with only light winds I decided to break out my kayak today. I was planning to wait until the water warmed up a bit more, but I got fishing fever yesterday. So naturally I fished in the region where the winners fished. Rather than run and gun I took a methodical approach. I started by fishing the docks and wood sea walls in open water. Nothing. Then I moved to the grassy banks and stone seawalls in open water. Still nothing. I fished a few points and flats along the way and still drew blanks.

 

I had planned to kayak a few miles o a feeder stream area, but the wind and clouds changed and I did not want to get caught too far away from my launch point. So I ducked into a small, narrow cove and started fishing the rip rap. Wouldn't you know it I landed a 4 pounder and a 3.5 pounder. For Oconee that's pretty decent size.

 

It was great to fish with @flatcreek again and it felt good to get out on my kayak as well. And after the poor LMB fishing on Oconee last year it was not only nice to find some bass right now, but it was also great to find them close to where I launch.

 

I also realized how much I love my Curado DC / Expride setup. For years I've been content with the stuff I would buy from DSG and BPS and could not understand spending more than that on rods and reels. I was wrong in so many ways. Of course, now I'm afraid that after moving from $250 combos to $400 combos I'll be tempted to try out some $800 combos. Baby steps.