This morning I fished with “Grandpa” Sam S. of Baytown, TX, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Johnny I., and his teenaged son, Johnny, a proud Shoemaker High School Greywolf!
From L to R — young Johnny, Staff Sergeant Johnny, and Grandpa Sam, with our best 6 of the 135 fish boated today on bladebaits.
You may remember the Old Milwaukee beer commercial that showed two fellows on “Bedico Creek” casting crankbaits and catching bass … as the commercial ended the one fisherman says to his buddy, “Let me tell you, it doesn’t get any better than this.” Well, that’s the kind of morning we had this morning.
We met at the boat ramp, got to know one another a little bit, then covered some safety basics and some fishing technique basics. Sam is an 8th Grade science teacher near Houston, and Johnny is currently assigned to a Route Clearance unit on Ft. Hood. The unit’s motto is “You Fear ’em; We Clear ’em!” referring to their mission of removing mines, booby traps, and improvised explosive devices from roadways used by our other armed forces.
We headed off to Area 995. We did a bit of flatline trolling to try to nail down the location and activity level of white bass in that general area. As we motored around, I saw the first topwater feeding white bass of the season, albeit very, very light. Then it happened, we came over an area we’d been over 3 times already, but this time the fish had moved in and moved in big time. I let the boat continue to motor past the fish to avoid shutting it off and making a sound change right near the fish. We got a double hookup on the crankbaits were were trolling, letting me know these fish were ready to feed.
Next, I got us positioned within a cast’s length of the large school of fish we’d just encountered and we went to work.
We caught fish for 3 1/2 hours straight. The action ebbed and flowed but never stopped as we worked our bladebaits right through these hyperactive pre-spawn white bass.
When all was said and done we’d boated exactly 135 fish before the brightening sun finally killed the bite around 11:15. By then it was all over but the picture taking.
This was a very productive day definitely aided by the fact that everyone already had a good bit of fishing experience under their belts.
TALLY = 135 fish, all caught and released.
TODAY’S CONDITIONS:
Start Time: 7:45a
End Time: 11:45a
Air Temp: 66F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 62.7F
Wind: Winds were S3 at sunrise with a slowly building S breeze increasing to S7 by trips end.
Skies: Skies were 100% overcast but still bright.