Half day frank became no-day frank, so I went of on my traditional
"opening day of trout season bass fishing trip to Mudge" alone. Got
there just before 7, and had the place to myself. Water temp was 48. The
water that dripped off my boots when I pushed off from the shallow ramp
froze on the front deck. Started shallow with a jerkbait and got not
action. By 7:30 I had reached the first set of deep rocks, and then from
about 7:30 to 8:30, I caught 6 fish, broke one off and flat-out missed
4, all from rocks in 12 to 25 feet of water, using a drop shot rig and a
jig & grub. Couldn't believe how rusty I was at light tackle deep
fishing. Anyway the 6 I got were all in the pound to pound-and-3/4
range. I'm telling myself that the one I broke off was bigger, but my
line was frayed, so probably not. But then the deep action seemed to
die, and I went back into search mode. Found a couple small jerkbait
fish (12 inch class) on flatter bottoms in 6 to 8 feet of water. The
winter really did a number on the weeds there this year. These shallower
fish seemed to be relating tiny clumps of soggy vegetation that might as
well not have been there at all.

Then I went through a couple or three hours with maybe 2 bites -- one
each on the DS and the jerkbait. A couple of my buddies came out about
9 and we crossed paths around noon and exchanged pleasantries. They'd
caught three between them since 9, and caught a 4th while we were
talking. I had to be off the water by two, so I continued fishing toward
the general location of the ramp toward the southern end of the lake as
they continued north. About 12:30 I finally caught a decent fish on a DS
rig. http://www.richz.com/fishing/images/05opener1.jpg

Then things got really interesting. Caught another OK fish on the DS
rig, then picked up the jerkbait rod and took off the small pointer I'd
been using and tied on a modified X-rap. In the next 45 minutes, I
caught 9 more fish. Mostly 1-3/4 to 2 pounders, but including one about
3, and this one. http://www.richz.com/fishing/images/05opener2.jpg By
this time, the sun had pushed the water temp up to 51.

Sorry about the crummy pictures. I was supposed to have a partner, so I
didn't have anything set up for singlehanded photography. Didn't have my
scale, either, so I don't really know what the biggest fish weighed, but
I'd guess it was a little shy of five. Anyway, all the DS and grub fish
were very tentative bites, but the jerkbait fish were attacking the
lure. Most had the whole thing in their mouths, and the biggest one
required a lot of work to get the hooks out safely, because it was half
way down his throat and the FRONT treble was in its gills.