Friday, May 21st, I discovered that the camera I used for fishing had bitten the dust just before I was going to leave for the lake.  Without a second thought, I took my Nikon 3200 DSLR in its place.  I will revisit this subject momentarily. 

 

When I arrived at the lake it was cloudy and windy, and the water was a bit dirty so I grabbed my rod with a black and blue jig and started pitching and casting.  Within less than two hours I had a feeling this wasn't going to be a normal day.  A significant number of the fish I was catching were over 3 lbs and I already had one over 4 lb and one over 5.  I would like to say that I spent some time figuring the fish out and that my skills in finding them and figuring them out made all the difference, but that wasn't the case.  The fish were very cooperative allowing me to determine rather quickly that they were in 3 to 8 feet of water around wood and on humps with grass.  Other than trying a spinnerbait and crankbait to test their productivity in the wind, throwing a 6 inch Senko after a couple of lost fish, and trying a different colored jig and trailer, I only used the black/blue or Okeechobee Rage Craw colors all day with a black/blue Siebert Outdoors Grid Iron Brush jig.  If I couldn't get bit with a hopped or dragged jig, I would swim it slowly over the tops of the grass.  All of these presentations resulted in good fish.  The results were 22 bass, over half of which were over 3 lbs.  The best 5 weighed 23 lbs 1 oz (5 lb 3oz, 4 lb 4 oz, 4 lb 2 oz, 3 lb 14 oz, and 5 lb 10 oz).  Not to mention I lost a few on a jig that had a dull hook from previous use.  While this isn't a record bag, nor did I catch anything near a PB, it was a very fun day.

 

And then there was the camera.  Within 15 minutes of putting the boat in the lake I had my first 5 lb fish.  I placed it in the livewell and started to setup my camera when I discovered I had brought my old, small, crappy tripod that was less than perfect at holding the weight of my DSLR.  Number two, it was cloudy and with my polarized glasses I couldn't see the LCD  screen very well which I use when setting up photos with the timer.  The glasses are prescription, and without them, I cannot see the LCD very well either.  So, please excuse the poor photography.

 

5 lb 3 oz

 

4 lb 4 oz

 

4 lb 2 oz

 

3 lb 14 oz

 

5 lb 10 oz Pic 1

 

5 lb 10 oz Pic 2

 

Fantastic outing, had to be fun.

That would be probably double my biggest bag ever, great job! I been throwing a jig a ton lately and haven’t gotten a bite in what feels like years 

Excellent post about a great trip. Thank you.

Very Nice!

Sounds like a great trip! 

What a day.  

I thought that was the stupidest looking hat I ever seen .. Had to take a second glance .

You've got some nice bass right there.