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07/21/2010
I will be shaking down the SeaCraft tomorrow by
running offshore for Dolphin. I will update with a report over the weekend.
07/20/2010
There was no free lunch this week in the shallows. The backcountry
was holding a good amount of Bass as in previous weeks, but this weeks
warm weather had its effects making them very fickle and spooky. The approaching
moon has turned the shallows into one big giant vat of decapod crustaceans
and fry sized bait fish which gas the bass in the very selective and lazy
mode. All week the Bass on top water as well as subsurface presentations
have given anglers 1 chance for a hook up and then they are gone. I must
say though that the bigger lurker Bass are certainly still present through
out the SJ back country as twice this week we had our hands full with
a couple of bruisers that after a brief battle alluded us as they managed
to take us around structure when running and broke us off. Blue are still
cruising around making their presence known, usually ranging in size from
1-3 lbs, with a bigger 4 to 5 lb'r mixed in. Water temps are a sultry
77 degrees and steady. Summertime patterns are in full effect, low light
and night time are the right time until Fall. Sleep is overrated, lets
go fishing. Photos and daily reports can be found on my web site. Remember
fall is just around the corner ...
07/09/2010 It
was as if I fell asleep and woke up and it was last Tuesday again. Warm
water, smooth conditions, Bass chasing bait, and very hard to get them
to eat. We started off stalking a big Bass that we had heard slashing
bait in the shallows Once we had him in our sights and took a shot at
him he went to crash the plug, missed it by a foot, and never came back.
That's the scenario that would repeat itself over and over again today.
One chance and done. Later in the trip we swapped up for some subsurface
action to try to redeem ourselves in the area where we had the 2 trophy
break offs from Tuesday and it did not take long before we had them again
on the end of our line. Unfortunately we had the same results, 2 on and
2 off. Though we stayed in front of Bass the whole trip we had a 1 chance
per spot allotment, which ultimately resulted in not removing the skunk
from the boat today.
07/07/2010
All looked very good as we pushed off from the dock
with high expectations to repeat the spectacular action we had in the
week leading up to the July 4th holiday.....not so much. We raised our
1st Bass right out of the gate today, followed up by nice groups of Bass
cruising for grass shrimp in ultra skinny water, but we just could not
get them to feed on our artificials. This continued to be the case for
the remainder of the trip. We had 1 Blue fish on topwater that was a nice
size @ about 4lbs but that was it for surface action. We did a little
run & gun to look for some action but the real event happened at our
last location of the day when we had 2 brute size Bass grab our offerings
and got the reels singing as they peeled off line once hooked, but both
of them wrapped us around structure and broke us off. Having not seen
these cows, I can tell ya by how they reacted once they were hooked that
they must have been in the 36" + size class. So today the Bass won.
07/01/2010
Someone should have called the fire department
because the backcountry was on fire today. Leaving the dock the waters
looked great with good moving water, big temperature swings and no other
boats on the water due to the daily storms in the surrounding area. Coming
up with only a few bumps at our first location we made a move to find
a cooler patch of water that will in turn be holding the Bass. Settling
down for a quick "hit and run", while in route, gave us our
first bass of the trip. This six "cast location" dished up a
22" schoolie on top water that got the skunk out of the boat and
the ball rolling Photographed, released and off we went to one of my favorite
flats. Settling down on the edge I poled us across the hard sand flat
in to position and with only a few casts in we raised a big bass that
was laid up in a small pocket. Working our way down the flat to our final
"stake out" destination we raised 2 more Bass and boated 2 others
both in the 23" range. As we approached our final position to set
up for shots at Bass as they approached I could already see nice groups
of fish waking and fining in the shallowest part of the flat. This was
just the beginning of a 2 1/2 hour Striper party that provided truly non
stop action offering up a minimum of 11 Bass to the boat and countless
amounts of fished raised. Most Bass ranged in size from 26" to our
largest of the trip which at 32" 10lbs gave us a great fight as he
sped across the flat after crushing the top- water plug. I did just so
happen to have captured about 30 minutes of video footage which I will
post some still photos from later next week that will include Bass attacking
so aggressively on top-water that they would launch themselves completely
out of the water on the take. Needless to say very entertaining and exciting
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