First Bass of the Year

It's been a couple weeks since I last posted. Part of the reason was there was not much that happened but the primary reason was that I had a stinky virus for 2 weeks. It pretty much kicked my butt, but I was finally able to fight it off and feel better now.

There is an open tournament at Alum Creek next weekend for our club. The plan was to spend the last 3 weekends at the lake getting in practice for my first tournament and to get more comfortable out on the water prior to tournament season.

Instead what happened was a road trip with the wife and kids, being sick and only spending a couple days on the water.

Last weekend on Sunday I started feeling a little better so I pulled the boat out of the garage to clean it up for spring and to fire up the motor. I hooked up the garden hose and it fired right up. After a few hours with the vacuum and a bucket of suds the boat was sparkly again. Since it was out of the garage and hooked up to the truck already I just couldn't help but to take it out for a bit.

I called my buddy Gene and he came over to go fishing for a few hours. Deer Creek was the closest lake so we headed there to run the boat and get in a bit of fishing. We hit some of our primary early spring spots as well as some of our fall hotspots. The fish were not cooperative and Gene was the only one to boat a fish. It was a rather small white bass.

By the time we made it back to the house I realized that I had pushed it too hard for the day, and the virus sensing that I had used up all my energy, proceeded to take its licks. It was still worth it.

While we were out on Deer Creek the trolling motor batteries died really quick. We were on a really shallow flat and had to ore quite a ways to get to some deeper water to fire up the big motor. New batteries are not in the budget but I have a contact in the bass club that can get me good new batteries at a great price.

Over the couse of the next week it was a battle of me vs. Viro. It was that bad it gets a name. Saturday rolled around and I was ready to hit the water again in anticipation of my first bass of the season. Friday night was filled with dreams of lots of bass being caught. Saturday morning I arose to less than desirable conditions. It was cold and really windy. Since it was not a tournament day, I chose to stay home and take the kids to the zoo in the afternoon. It was a good choice as I will not get to spend as much time with them once tournament time comes around.

Sunday was going to be a day on the water regardless of the weather though. I text Gene and let him know we would be heading out early. He text back and said that he will be on the couch when I get up. Saturday night I got on pokerstars to take a stab at a tournament around 8:00. About 4:30 in the morning I was nearing the end of the tournament when I lost in 47th place out of 2800 players for a decent profit. The early start to Sunday morning fishing was looking like it would start a little later. Gene rolled in about 3:00 as well and stayed up with me almost until the end so I didn't figure he would mind.

Feeling a little rough, I ended up getting out of bed about 9:00. We hooked up the boat and drove to Alum Creek. It was breezy and cold but I was able to catch a 12" bass on a white and chartreuse spinnerbait off a stretch of reeds right away. That would end up being the only bass of the day.

There was also 2 bluegill and a crappie that fell for "Tiny Dancer", my jig head and grub skirt combo that is my go to for pan fish.

I had a huge swirl and miss on my spinnerbait off another reed stretch on the North end of the lake. If it was a bass it was huge. More than likely it was one of the many Musky that lurk around Alum Creek.

The trolling motor batteries are apparently still going after several years of use. I had the three bank charger plugged in for 48 hours last week. They got a good test, running the trolling motor all day in the windy conditions.

With the cold and breezy conditions and the lack of action after 8 hours on the water we loaded the boat on the trailer. A stop at the Chinese buffett on the way home solidified yet again another great day.

I'm not sure if I will be fishing the Open this next weekend. Mizike moved and Gene has to work Saturday so I might just show up and fish that day unless I find somebody else that is wanting to partner up for the tournament.