Fishing - Perfect Conditions for fishing

Seemed that way at launch this morning, a bit of wind, flat water in the
coves, cloudy skies and rain in the forecast.

Took 1 fish Tom out today. Now Tom's the kinda weekend warrior when it
comes to fishing. catchs all fish accidently when he starts reeling in and
feels the fish, almost all his fish are gut hooked, the good thing is.

A- he makes me feel like a better fisherman

B only 1 fish gets gut hooked per trip and I can usually get the hook out
without any bleeding. Hence the name 1 fish Tom.

Anyway we started out fishing sticks, stumps and just about any kinda wood
we could find as the fish were up shallow. That much I knew. There is a back
cove on this lake, you have to run down this little channel about two feet
deep 6 feet wide and 50 yards long. But it opens up into a bigger part of
the lake, loaded with timber from front to back. No wind, tons of sticks,
what's not to like?

Tom's first cast with the already rigged fluke on the guest rod, results in
the usual. "Oh I think I have one" sure enough he does, a nice 3 lb bass,
and not gut hooked either. He kinda forgot how to hold it and asked me if it
would bite him. I assured him it would not and I took the picture.

I was fishing the same speedworm that I killed them on yesterday morning,
Feel a tug, see the line move, set the hook, A good bass, jumps and
disappears. Tom laughed, said it serves me right for calling him 1 fish Tom.
About 15 feet down the shoreline, Tom hooks his second bass. I should't say
hooked as I never really saw him set a hook. None the less he has another
decent fish. Right after, I swing on a fish and the fish runs straight down
in the nasty, my 6 lb test comes flying back at me with nothing left. Damn!
Tom laughs again. Next fish I'm crossing his eyes I swear. Sure enough I
repeat my fish on, fish off performance 2 more times, including what looked
like a 4-5 lb bass that jumped and spit my hook out.

I keep fishing the speedworm, check the hook and realize I couldn't hook my
lip never mind a bass lip with it, dull as could be. I change hooks and land
my first bass, just about 13 inchs, then my second, third,fourth and fifth,
all on one shoreline in about 25 minutes. Tom meanwhile has also caught 3
more good bass in the 14-15 inch range on his Fluke, not one gut hooked. Hmm
might want to keep him in the Flukes for a while. We decide that the other
end of the lake is where we want to be, we cleaned up this side and now it
was on to the really heavy sticks. The kind that you know if you hook a fish
you better get it up. Sure enough the first fish I hook wraps up and pulls
free. The second fish however, never had a chance, a solid 3 pound bass that
I skimmed across the water the minute I set the hook. God I love braid,
should have fished it all morning. We pounded the banks and picked up
another 6-7 Lm's in the 2+ range. Any piece of wood you could find almost
certainly held a fish. The one funny part...???????

I cast under a dock as far back as you could go and feel a solid thump,
good fish I think. I swing on it and my worm comes flying back, I tell Tom,
there's a fish and a half under there, I motor back out and cast again,
it's immediately picked up and the fish starts running, I reel down and set
the hook and watch as this 7 inch bass comes wizzing by my head. Tom starts
laughing as my face turned red, yeah I was right about part of it, there was
a half a fish under there. Would have sworn by the feel that it was a good
fish. Who Knows I also use to set the hook on those little taps just to see
a big fish come up and think, "Why didn't I set the hook harder" A great
morning out!!!