It started off slow. Bobber and I were both pitching jigs under cover of various kinds - trees and docks - and into pockets in the weeds. I've been fishing a jig more than ever this year and have had reasonable results. One unexpected outcome of retrieving a jig over and over again is something I have to call jig-elbow. The repetitive stress of snapping a jig through weeds, lilies, grass and sticks has taken its toll and after about half an hour on Sunday, my elbow was toast. I switched to a 6 inch pumpkinseed senko-type bait and after a few bounces underneath branches, I hooked up with a nice smallie - the biggest bass I've caught in about a month. I guess it was about 3 lbs...
I caught a couple of smaller bass while Bobber carried on with the jig. Finally I heard the "zing" that Bobber's line makes when he sets the hook. And look at that - Bobber is on the board with a nice largemouth in the 3.5 range...
After Bobber caught his bass, I was prepared to overlook the excruciating pain of a full-blown case of jig-elbow and start throwing my own jig but nahhhhh, the senko is much easier to retrieve for a few more casts and POW, my first smallmouth was no fluke... I was into a decent largemouth of my own this time.
At one point, Bobber saw a lone mat of slop surrounded by water full of weeds covered in slime - not the kind of water we typically like but seeing as how we had just drove the boat for five minutes to get to this particular spot, Bobber was going to have a cast. What the heck is going to get through that thick mat of slop? Bobber used what looked to be a 1 oz bullet sinker to punch through the slop and drag a 6 inch crawdad through the hole and down to the bottom. He does this by lobbing the bait and sinker high in the air so that gravity provides the kind of impact required to crash through the slop. On the 3rd lob Bobber finally found the largemouth that was underneath the mat - this one was 3.8 lbs.
I kept with the senko, rigged weedless, and working it real slow, forcing myself to be patient. Only one of my bass on this day slammed the bait soon after splashdown, the rest took it well after the bait had sunk to the bottom and sat there for up to ten seconds. When I can stay patient, senkos work great. When I don't have patience they really suck. I forced myself to wait on every cast and was rewarded again...
On my last cast of the day, I threw the senko at a few sticks that Bobber had just snapped his jig from. Casting to a spot that did not work for Bobber is not usually productive for me, but I had to flick the bait at those sticks. Bobber felt snubbed. The bass had clearly turned its nose up at Bobber's jig and the next thing I had my own 3.8 lbs of largemouth...
What a great Sunday! Too bad we had never had a tournament Saturday like that on the Rideau.
Great bunch of bass..you dont forget those days on the water.
That smallie is pretty massive! WTG on another great outing