Well, it's been a busy month. I fished Aeroflex Lake, Stone Tavern, Farrington Lake, and Furnace Lake.
It rained for 2-3 hours in spite of the weather forecast while I was on Aeroflex with a couple of fishing buddies. I finally managed a 17 1/2 inch bass on a red shad worm sometime after noon.
Stone Tavern should have been a good day, but it got off to a bad start. I made the stupendously stupid error of forgetting to release one of the tie downs on the back of my boat, so when I finally got the boat to come off the trailer, it rotated to the side and stopped, held by the tie down. So I had to wade out into the water up to my crotch to free the tie down. The day pretty much continued that way. I finally caught a 14 inch largemouth on a Senko, along with a few dinks, and my pants finally dried. (I had switched to the pants from my rain gear for the fishing day.) I sometimes do well at Stone Tavern; I won a night tournament there a few months ago.
Fishing buddy Danny and I have talked for a long time about fishing Farrington Lake at night, and we finally decided to try it. I launched at 11:30 PM, and pulled my boat out at 1:00 PM. For 13+ hours of fishing, I caught one tiny perch on a crankbait. It was that kind of day. When the fog rolled in around 2:00 AM, it was so thick that my 1.5 million candlepower spotlight wouldn't penetrate more than 25 yards! It was spooky and non-productive. I think we waited until too late in the year; next season, we'll have to try it in July or August.
Next Danny, Rick and I tried Oxford Furnace Lake. It must have the worst ramp in the state. Note to ramp designers; steep is good! My exhaust was gurgling underwater before the boat finally came off. And I didn't catch anything. Nada. Didn't get one bite all day. Early on, I went way to the left and was throwing topwaters (a buzzbait and a Spittin' Image) in about a foot of water. My buddy Rick was nearby, and I had seen fish breaking, so I called for him to come join me. The area I was fishing was wide and could have held three fishermen in separate boats without a problem. (Well, only if they knew each other.) Rick made some casts with a white spinnerbait, and within minutes came up with a 5 lbs. 7 oz. largemouth! That was one of the fattest bass I had ever seen. Rick was overjoyed (see his photo above), and Danny and I were really happy for him. He's been fishing really hard and was due for a hawg!
Next week I'm fishing a buddy tournament on Manasquan Reservoir with my buddy Bruce. We already decided we're going to win, so all the other competitors shouldn't spend the money they won't win in advance. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Labels: Bass fishing
