Finally getting some confidence w/ cranks

Rained pretty steady Thursday, Friday, off and on Saturday.  Sunday I planned to fish...and it didn't look good...

47 degrees when I got on the water around 9 AM, wind from the north ~18MPH. Water temps 53-54 degrees.

Relatively new lake, opened in 2018, lots of flooded timber. Still catch and release only (I like).

I normally prefer finesse fishing -- NED, weightless Senko, etc., but with the wind howling right down the lake, I tied on a KVD 1.5 square-bill to my bait-caster.

Much to my surprise, this guy hammered the crank just a few feet from the boat. Made a run under the boat, but the power-pro held strong (no leader)

Went 29" / 6lb-2oz.

I kept throwing the KVD and boated six small bass, three in or near the trees, three on rip-rap.

Normally when the wind blow strong like that, I'm headed home. Nice to gain some confidence with cranks today.

I did snip off one hook off the front treble...seemed to help from getting snagged in those trees.