Arrived Friday evening about 7:30. Got the food put away, rods and reels rigged, and had a couple of adult beverages with a cigar on the porch, swapping a few fish tales.

Two of the guys had come over early and had fished the afternoon and evening. They had a very good day for numbers, putting about 70 fish in the boat, but no trophies.

On Saturday, three of us started out in the largest pit on the place, called Long Lake. It's shaped like the pi symbol, with a straight top bar, a very short right leg, and a very long left leg. We started in the short leg. The water was very dirty. It looked like the lake was in turn-over, with all the bottom gunk floating on the surface. The water temp was no where near cool enough for that, so I'm not sure what was going on.

The first cast was about 7:30, and no fish made it to my boat by 9:00. My brother, and buddy John called on the radio to report the same. I was thinking, man I'm glad Kent couldn't make it this time. It would be a poor introduction to this place.

Then I "figured" it out. A nasty backlash caused my senko to sit on the bottom in about 15 feet of water for close to five minutes. When I finally got it cleared, I had a fish on. The next hour and a half produced twenty fish from a small area, dead sticking a senko and jig with Bacon Rind in 12 - 15 feet, but nothing over 1.5 pounds.

Decided to move after brother Mike called to tell me about some clearer water. I moved up the short leg, down the tee, and into the long leg, finding some much clearer, slightly cooler water. Grabbed the spinnerbait rod and caught a dozen on about twenty casts, again, nothing over about 1.5 pounds. Decided to go a little deeper, and got the Ika rod. I had on a blue Ika, based on the guys report from the day before. They said any color worked, as long as it was purple or dark blue. Nothing. Got out the jigworm rod, Ike's spike jighead and 3X floating worm.

Here's where I "figured" it out again. Dug into my worm bag for a pack of 3X worms, grabbed the "wrong" color pack, and put my worm bag away. I'd pick a green worm with a charteuse tail. Cussed at myself, and rigged it up anyway. Proceeded to catch 11 fish in 12 casts, all spots in the 2-3 pound range. YeeHaa, spots are almost as much fun as smallies. Almost.

I rigged up a green tube with chartreuse tail on another rod, and a green Ika with charteuse tail on a third rod, and went to work. Every place I found green weeds, I caught fish. Where the weeds came up brown, there were no fish.

Did I mention my depth finder shot craps? I use a Bottom Line Fishin Buddy on these trips. It's not exactly a full featured sonar unit, but will give a decent view of the bottom contours, brush piles and weedbeds.

When we launched the boat, I dropped it on the water and turned it on. It gave me a surface temp of 92 degrees, and a depth reading of 110 feet, with no view of the bottom on the screen. I was in about 6 feet of water that was warmer than the air, which was in the mid-sixties, but was no where near 92. So, I was running blind.

I tied on a big jig, with no trailer on another rod, and used it to find the green weeds. Plumbing the depths, old school.

That was the pattern for the remainder of the day. Cruise along, throwing the big jig to locate green weeds, then stop and fish them with the three green/charteuse baits. The Ika and the thube were the best producers. Finished the day with close to 100 fish, mostly spots in the 1.5 - 2.5 pound range, with two 3 pounders and one 4 pound largemouth.

Along the way, I learned something. I took some JJ's Magic along this trip to give it good try. Decided to do a head to head comparison, JJ's vs Megastrike. I dipped the chartreuse tube tails in JJ's, turning that a bright, bright yellow. Greased up the Ika with Megastrike. Both worked better than untreated baits. The bite was very light, hard to detect, and I got a much higher hookup percentage with the treated baits. Then I switched, dipping the Ika tails in JJ's, and greasing the tube with Megastrike.

I really tried to keep score, but lost count. The final result was close enough to call it a draw. But, both helped put more fish in the boat. When I had on an untreated bait, I'd either feel the lightest of taps or see a very slight line movement, drop the rod, reel up the slack, swing and miss. With either JJ's or Megastrike applied it was swing and a hit.

Here's something interesting. I've had really good results with the Ike's Spike jighead / 3X floating worm combo. But the Ika and tube were much better on this day. So I decided to try JJ's on the worm. Got out the bottle of red, thinking that maybe a red tip on the charteuse tail would do something for me. I dropped the tail of the worm in the bottle, let it soak for about 5 seconds, and pulled the worm out, minus the tail. Something in that little jar had bitten off the end of my worm. I thought, this ain't good, and by the time I got my pliers to remove the worm tail from the bottle, it had all melted down, turning the JJ's into orange cottage cheese.

JJ's and 3X plastics are not what I'd call compatible.

Mike and John were on the same lake I was. They had a so-so day. I'd seen them a few times, cruising along, throwing spinnerbaits and cranks, not catching that many fish. I told them the green weeds, green/chart baits, 12 - 15 feet deep pattern, but it didn't change what they were doing. They ended up the day with about thirty fish, and one three pounder.

Steve and Paul were on a different lake, fishing dark colored plastics slow and deep, and had a very good day. About 80 fish in the boat between them, but nothing over three pounds.

A nice day at Trophy Country. Finished up the day with my infamous Fish Camp Pasta, some good bread, and either wine, beer or ouzo. The cowards I was with would not drink any ouzo with dinner, so I had it all to myself. I didn't drink it all.

Got to go home, so I'll give a report on Sunday tomorrow. Sunday was better than Saturday.

Cheers,

GK

 WOO-HOO!  

That sound like fun  

Sounds like a GOOD time !!!

                  As ever,

                   skillet

It's shaped like the pi symbol, with a straight top bar, a very short right leg, and a very long left leg.

I read this website partly because I was told there would be no math.  Thanks for ruining it for me.

PS: Sounds like a great trip.

Hey Chris, no more math. I promise.

Besides we all know that pies aren't square; pies are round.