It has been since mid-March (the 13th and 14th, to be exact), when we have had a combination of wind and rising temperatures with air temps close to that of the water surface temperature overnight. This combination bodes very well for springtime fishing.

We experienced those weather conditions from Thursday into this morning, and the fishing really turned on well.

Although the first hour and a quarter of this morning‘s trip were slow due to nearly windless conditions, a  southeasterly ripple quickly ramped up into a south wind at 11 to 13 mph. Within 20 minutes of the wind starting, the fish turned on and stayed on until about 12:15 PM. Over this span of time, David and Brian landed exactly 133 fish using one bait and one technique.

That bait was the white, 5/8 ounce Bladed Hazy Eye Slab, and the tactic they used it with was a slow-smoking tactic , in which they let the bait fall to bottom, and then cranked it upwards, keeping in cadence with a small metronome I now keep on the boat. They defaulted to five cranks unless Garmin LiveScope revealed they were getting chased, in which case they would keep right on cranking until the fish either caught up with the bait, or turned back toward the bottom.

We fished a total of 4 areas in this manner.

The men’s 133 fish catch consisted of 3 largemouth bass, 6 freshwater drum, and 124 white bass.

Thanks to these ideal conditions, the fish moved faster horizontally, and swam more aggressively upward through the water column from off of bottom than I have seen thus far this spring.