very short trip 7-1-16

[merc1997 Bo]

had nothing pressing to do and decided to make a short trip with one of my retired buddies that lives in emerald beach.  put in at 8:30 and was back on the trailer at midnight.  actually just after dark, we had the lake pretty much to ourselves.  started out just hunting and pecking trying to figure out if anything was key to finding some.  fished some flats to begin with , but not much going on there, then hit a couple of points, and that did not work.  went to a long bluff that has many terrain changes and started down it and found the key to the specifics.  had to be fairly vertical down to an extended ledge occurring around 15 ft.

best lure was a 1/2 jig, but did catch a few on a beaver type soft plastic rigged on a 3/16 head with a 1/8 slip sinker.  the next key was definitely the retrieve.  knickmeyer had me down 4 to 0 and the difference was that he was picking his jig up and letting it coast, and i was letting my jig drop.  as soon as i started coasting mine, i immediately went to catching and not just being the guide keeping the "customer" where he could catch fish.

we ended up with 10 keeps, with 4 in the 3+ range.

lesson to be learned here from staying on the move looking at different types of areas to having the correct lure but not fishing it in the correct manner to make the bass strike.  paying attention to details makes a big difference between success and not getting a bite.  even though we both started out throwing the same lure, we were both fishing with a different type retrieve.    when knickmeyer was getting bite after bite and i had not had one, i knew that i needed to change what i was doing retrieve wise.  do not get stuck into fishing your lures the same way everytime.  i have watched way to many people in the boat over the years that fish, say a worm, the same way everytime.  they never change the type of retrieve they are using to see if a different retrieve type might trigger strikes.  many of those same people will however change their retrieve speed on a crankbait.  the same principles apply to fishing drop type lures such and jigs, worms, spoon, drop shots, or spinner baits.

bo

[jim m]

good report with good info. it is so eazy to fall into the rut of the same retieve

[Nitro 750]

Thanks for the report merc, very good info!!