WOW! I have fished in some miserable weather but today moved into my top five most brutal conditions list. Air temps dropped into the low 30's, it snowed/sleeted most of the day (which usually makes for a killer bite on Gville and it did), but most importantly there were 21mph sustained NNW winds with gusts to 35mph. I'm not sure what the deal was, but I had serious equipment malfunctions for most of the day due to ice forming on my rods, reels and line.
First stop this morning, I catch one pushing 3lbs on a jig on my third cast and then my reel freezes and I lost my anti-reverse. Since I couldn't feel my hands to retie to another rod and if I did I would've been blown 200 yards off of my spot, I decided to hit an Arig hole. I catch a 16"er pretty quick which I threw back because I knew it would be worthless and then my reel iced over so bad that the level wind gear stripped! I grabbed a crankbait, made five casts, rod guides froze, line broke! I grab a jerkbait, five casts, ice, break! It was ridiculous! Seriously frustrated, I had one more school to check another six miles up the lake so I was praying it would be semi protected from the elements......but it wasn't. The water was chocolate milk and it had 4 footers rolling across it. I made a few casts with the jig and pulled the plug.
It was 9:30 and I was already beaten down mentally and physically. I decided to check a river bank on the NW side that was protected, more so to get a rest from fighting the wind and to warm up a little before I headed back down lake. My co popped a small keeper on the Arig off the river bank and after about 30 minutes we were a little rejuvenated but I was still running out of ideas on what to fish because most everything I found in practice or have fished in the past was getting hammered by the wind.
I had one small stretch of grass in the back of a creek where I'd caught two 4lbers on Monday that I knew would be somewhat protected. I made my way back into the creek expecting to see thirty boats stacked in the area but saw only one and they weren't on my stretch. I dragged my Redeye shad rods out of the rod locker and started down the bank. I'm not sure what it is about this little stretch but I have a waypoint from two years ago and every time I go back there in Feb. I catch a 3 or 4lber within a couple casts of that waypoint. This time was no different. As soon as I reached my waypoint my rod loaded up and I called for the net. Before my co could even get to the front deck, the fish made a surge and pulled off. I didn't get a good look at the fish, but it looked and felt like a 5lb class fish. I fired another cast out and bowed up again but it was only a 16"er. I've never caught more than two off of this stretch but I usually fish it really fast. Since I didn't really have anything else to fish, I decided to drop my Power Poles, fish it thoroughly and hope to coax a few more bites out of there. Long story short, after two hours I'd made 5 passes up and down this stretch and caught two fish every time I reached my waypoint. I had a pair of 4lbers and a 5lber and the others were just 16"ers. I left there at 1:30 with about 18lbs.
The sun popped out and the wind seemed to have calmed a little so I ran back down lake and hit my three schools one more time. I caught a short off of one and my co caught a 3lber off another but they were loner's. I made it to my last school spot where I had started the day at 2:30 and had about 45minutes to fish it. We doubled on 16"ers on our first casts and I thought it was about to be on, but those were the only two bites we had. I decided to just finish out the day there dragging my jig around and hope to get a good bite. Five minutes before we had to head in, I felt a tic and set the hook on a 4.5lber. That culled a 16"er and gave me 20lbs 9oz for the day. That was only good enough for 16th place and a $500 check but after the way the day started, I was proud to have what I had.
Catching those fish two at a time off of my little grass patch made me do some thinking. I have so many little stretches like that on Gville where I'll catch one or two every time I get close to a certain spot but I'm always in such a hurry just trying to cover water and hit as many productive stretches as possible. It just makes me wonder what would happen if I just dropped the Power Poles more often and caught what was available in an area instead of trying to target the more aggressive fish in multiple areas. I like to have as many fish located before a tournament as possible but today that one little stretch being the only fishable place I had, definitely salvaged my day.
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