Today it was a good day... 5-10-14

[Jigman13]

Met up with Dale (GetANet) this morning for a trip up and over to a big, deep body o' water. It was pea soup heading up. Visibility was crap... But we kept on truckin'. Launched around 7:45 AM after scooping some herring on the way. Shot across the watershed to a shore I've never really fished before but recently heard of/saw some quality activity being reported. We were not disappointed. 1st up was Dale. Live lined herring gets punished on the surface. Nice hook set and a good fight--yes? Let's call it, adventurous! Dale had a minor reel issue that was inhibiting his ability to gain on the fish so what does he do? Revert to tip up style and handlines the goddamn thing lol. He made solid work of the fish and a few mins later I scoop up an 18" SMB boatside. Niiiiice... Measured (lighter and tape, of course!), and released. Good start. A short time after that, I switch to a live lined herring on my ultra light setup and get popped... Again, crushed on the surface. This time its a 22"-23" pickerel--my first in this particular body of water, and she was chuuuuuuubbbbyyy lol. Well-fed fish were the day's pick! Pic coming...

Not long after that, Dale's up for round 3--his second tango. At first the fish seems moderate--kinda doggin' it. Then she busts the surface! Sweet sweet bronze again! He takes his time, plays her well... Not long after I scoop another THICK, HEALTHY smb. Measured-with lighter and tape--photographed and released. She measured 18.75" and had a baseball in her gut. Sweet...

Shortly after I bag a 12-13" bronze... Then it slowed... And it slowed for a while. We prob went 90 min w/o a strike. We decide to switch it up and cover some ground via the troll. Dale begins deploying the planers. Not more than 2 mins into the first board going out--whammo! Then it dropped... Womp womp womp... Reload, deploy, troll on...

We made a couple loops in an area that showed promise. While trolling, Dale had a visitor named Ralph. Or Slurpee... depends on who's telling the story. Anyhow, Dale had a herring hanging off the back of the boat no more than 3-4 ft from his rod tip on a spinning set up he was using for live living. Now, he's driving the boat not looking at the dangler. I'm in the bow talking to him and in the corner of my eye I see a huge f*ckin boil RIGHT NEXT TO THE MOTOR! Dale goes to look back and again another HUGE BOIL RIGHT NEXT TO THE MOTOR! He thought the prop popped outta the water. I start yelling "drop it back, drop it back!" But it was to avail... Missed a shot. The sound the fish made sounded like someone saying Ralph... twice. Moving on...

We decide to anchor up in that area after another lap. I set up 2 live lines off the bow. Two for Dale in the stern. I'm up a bit shallower as the drop off is drastic. I wind up getting back-to-back LMBs. Nothing big... just healthy fish. Nice. Shortly after, two used douches motor wide open with a decent thrust electric and pretty much wake us while we have four lines out--15-20 ft off the stern. WTF!!! You have an GIGANTIC body of water with ample room and you feel its necessary to do such a thing b/c you're in a b*llshit bass club tourney?!?! Fuggin jackasses... I hope you both got the skunk! End rant...

Not long after that I got introduced to Mr. Brown. Anchored in 28-30 ft of water, my live lined herring gets slammed. I pay out line for a few seconds and make sure my drag is set well. Then BAM! Set the hook. It's on. I feel head shakes. I say "Dale, head shakes like a trout." Sure enough, blistering run and blasts the surface! Biiiig fish. She did this a few times--prob 3 or 4. Man, when they have open water, they certainly use it! Dale and I did an anchor & rod dance for a few brief agonizing minutes. Lines laying on mine while fighting the fish which we resolved (thanks to my incisors!) and then Dale pulling the anchor and getting all the lines outta the water--it was an adrenaline pumping fight. I'm not certain how long it lasted but it felt like it was about 10 minutes. 2 of her runs dumped at least 50 ft from my reel--and I was using my ultra light trout set up w/ 6 lb line and a 6'0 st croix light action rod. Once she tired, I led her boatside and Dale scooped her. A gnarly silver slasher laying in the net--elation! She measured 21" on the button and she was THICK! The Berkeley digital scale on the the boat read 4.5 lbs. She certainly fought bigger than that! It took a while to revive her after the long fight. I was dreading the thought of having to take the fish--so was Dale. After some time and getting a good water flow over her gills, she started to come around. Then with a swipe of her broad, wide tail, she bolted like a bat outta hell back into the depths! Awesome...

Shortly after, the weather rolled in.. before it got too hairy, we got up on our high horse and started trolling back towards the launch. We hit 2 more spots with the remaining baits we had. The last stop yielded a 16.5" SMB for me and that was all she wrote! Sweet, sweet day on the water...Thats for sure!

Catch em' up!

[Jigman13]

2 more pics...

[flatcreek]

Great post and great pics, just makes me want to go fishing. Congratulations
on a great day you guys deserve it. You fish hard and it pays off.

[bigfishy]

Way to go guys!!!You did much better than we did there on friday!!
Glad somone smacked em up there...We left there with one fish and off to SR we went....Way to put ur time in boys

[FASTEDDIE29]

Good detailed report guys! Looks like you had an AWESOME day out there. Man that place produces some big healthy fish. AMAZING! Nice variety and nice big BRONZEBACKS!!! Yesterday was your day. You should've seen the torrential downpours we had back east while your out there hammering fish. Great report, great catch!!!!!

TIGHT LINEZ!!!!!

[Bicey]

Way to get in done fellas. Some real nice fish you got there. Lol gotta love those bass tournaments .....that was the "classic" up there this weekend so I understand why he waked you

[The Birdman]

Nice report man! i really wana get my boat in there soon .

[NorthJerzyG]

Looks like an awesome day!! Real nice size, and variety. Sweet!!!