cast4bass
Well-known member
We started out at 6:30am and got the last trailer parking spot in Chester Frost Park. LOL! I am glad I live here. It would be awful to drive from up north and not find a place to park!!! The sky was bluebird clear. The water was very clear and the temps were low 80s. Wind was calm to gusty at times. No current!! Tried some shallow places but only very small bass wanted to play and had to work to hard. Went offshore and tried some worms, jigs, blades etc. Couldn't get on a solid pattern. First fish we hooked offshore was on a TW Chugbug in 20 feet of water and when I went to get the hook out of the bass he kicked around and hooked me in the thumb. Fish with one treble hook buried and me with one treble hook buried emoBang Thank goodness son was there to grab a pair of pliers and unhook a squirming bass that was attempting to put more hooks in me and yes it hurt while he twisted with one hook buried in me. So what to do. Tried to push down and pull it out but no luck so pushed it through and cut the barb. Lathered up with some neosporin and a bandaid and back to fishing. Caught a few more on TW and put them on the deck to remove the hooks emoZipped Caught a few on silver buddy then moved to try some deeper ledges. Marked fish but couldn't get the bite. Noticed the shad they were chasing to the top every now and then were tiny so tied on some small spoons and starting catching. No size but fun. Got tired and moved. Tied on some football head jigs with craw trailers and first cast Sam gets a good bump and leans back and the rod loads up. I though this is a big bass but the rod bent way over and line began to scream off the reel. Chased with the trolling motor. Then it came up. Whoa! Big catfish!!! Sam played it beautifully for about 35 minutes and it came to surface and rolled and took off so I moved the boat slowly to shallow water and Sam regained line and then got it to the boat and we got the head in the net and both supported the net and pulled and onto the deck he flopped. First cat that size on a football jig. I guess he liked the smell of the trailer because the jig was deep in mouth. Amazed the line did not get cut with the rows of teeth the beast had. Anyway that was the most exciting fish although we were targeting bass. Caught about 65 of different species mostly small LM and spots on a variety of lures. Big bass went to me with a found plus on the football head jig and craw trailer in 20 to 25 feet of water. We both lost as many fish as we caught. I dont know but I could not get good hook sets on the football jig and they came unbuttoned when they jumped. Lost some good ones on spoons too! Got em close to the boat but not in. There were some big fish that got off emoDoh We fished for 12 hours. It was hot but manageable. We drank every gatoraide and water on the boat. Yikes! Over all a fun day. If I had it to do over again I think I would have used the football head jig with craw trailer more and stayed mostly on the ledges. I think we wasted some time shallow but still had fun. Tight lines!
