I finally gotta full day on the water and I finally broke down and heaved the Arig 99% of the day loaded down with big 'ol Shadalicious swimbaits. It's amazing, but it seemed to make a big difference in my cast to catch ratio.
The third stretch I fished today had two sweet spots. One of the little key spots had a very small patch of bright green coontail and I caught a 4lber, a wad of coontail and a 4.5lber on three casts and I moved on. I fished several hundred yards and hit another patch of coontail and a giant patch of fish. I caught a 3.5lb largemouth and magnum white bass on several casts in a row and even caught one of each on the same cast a couple of times before I decided to pull off of 'em and save a few for Saturday. It'll take a lot more than 3.5lbers to do any damage but I'll gladly start the day with 17 or 18lbs on ten casts in any tournament and there were enough there to do just that if they'll be as cooperative as they were today.
I made my way down the lake side imaging and fishing points, deep banks and anything that looked half decent. I picked up a 4lber and a 5lber along the way but they were loners.
The only bites I got on anything other than an Arig today were on a place that's been really good to me in the fall. It's always been a jig spot but of course the Arig hasn't been an option before. I decided to start with the jig for old times sake and a 3.5lber ate it up on my first cast. My next cast I caught a 2.5lber and my third cast, I shook a bite off. I couldn't wait to throw my little school of Shadalicious' through there but to my surprise, they wouldn't touch it! Apparently, this spot is loaded with crawfish because I have never had a bite on anything but a jig on this place and it hasn't been from lack of trying other baits. I was about to leave and I started thinking about the past and I've never caught anything much over 3lbs off this place in the spring. So, if there were only 3lb class fish using it, it may not even be worth the time Saturday. I decided to make one more cast and hook whatever bit......it was a 5lber. That was kind of a double edged sword because I hated to hook that fish before a tournament, but I may not of even fished there if I hadn't caught that fish and I may start there now, so I guess we'll have to wait and see how important of a piece of the puzzle that fish was.
I worked my way down the lake a little more and didn't really find anything promising. I did catch another 5lber but it was hooked in the back and so random that I could never duplicate it, so it shouldn't even count.
I don't know if it was the changing of areas or chunking the Arig all day but overall it was a much better day. I had around 23lbs on my best five and I think I caught 20 or so keepers with most of them being over 3lbs. From what I'm hearing, 23lbs isn't going to be that strong but after the past two days, I'd be tickled to have that come Saturday. I'm still not seeing many boats on the lake. This is usually the most crowded, frustrating place to fish that I've ever been. You usually have to wait in line to fish anything but I've had the main lake to myself for three days. These guys must be piled up on all the community bridges and rocks way down lake. They're probably crushin' 'em on that stuff but I still refuse to join the crowd.
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