It's been a while! (Trip Report and Updates)

[MSUFisherBear]

Hi all!

Man has it been a while for sure. It's had to been at least a few years since my last post (and sure something I never intended!) Life seems to get by you sometimes and it seems like every time I sat down to log in and write one of these, something new popped up. Life has definitely been good in the absence of posts. Started a new job, had the opportunity to add on and renovate our home, got my first boat and, got to welcome my first born to this world (who Dad can only hope will be his fishing buddy soon enough). And even with all the craziness that happens sometimes in this life, I've still got the opportunity to wet a line every once and a while. So... life's been good!

So on to the trip report. This was trip #2 in the new boat (2003 Xpress X54 w/ 2016 Mercury 90HP). Both trips, I've spent at least a little time (safely and out of everyone's way 😁) learning a bit about how the boat handles and just getting used to it. Needless to say, it's been an absolute blast. I did take some time to fish yesterday.

The goal yesterday (outside of learning the boat) was really to explore the area a little more in-depth than what I had been able to do in the kayak (especially with the use of electronics). We put in at Rockaway. With the generation, the surface temp was lower than the first trip out along the main lake (getting readings at about 62*). The previous trip, we spotted several bass cruising the hydrilla and moss mats along the bank just upstream from Rockaway. This time, I didn't see one. So theory #1 for bass on Taney is... There's a temp preference and that probably pushes them up or back (depending on generation amount). Next, we motored up to just below Bull Island. I wanted to see the water temps (approximately 9a at this point) along with trying to understand where some of the trees may be laying in the channel. Water temps were around 74* at this point. Decided I wanted to go up just a smidge further and idled to just beyond Bull Island and then dropped the trolling motor to fish the channel side of the bank. Water temp at this point was registering at around 76* - 77*. The first thing I immediately noticed was seeing fish (though small) along the shoreline. I also noticed schools of shad working the surface. I watched for a while and didn't see anything actively feeding on them (though there would be, on occasion, something stir them up). These were out on the sunny side of the bank and not something I felt like actively chasing around if I didn't see much in them 😅. So we stuck to the channel side. I started by throwing a mini-chatterbait w/ a Berkley grasspig trailer and my wife was throwing a Road Runner w/ a Lake Fork paddletail swimming minnow (1/16 oz/2.5" minnow). I almost immediately caught one short of a laydown after ticking the chatterbait off a limb (just enough to change directions). It was a pretty aggressive strike (so I thought we were in businesses) but that was about it for the chatterbait. I threw that for another 20 minutes or so with nary a sniff. Meanwhile, my wife is catching green sunnies with the Road Runner as fast she can take 'em off the hook and throw 'em back in (so they were definitely active). I decided to slow it down a bit and switch to dragging a Ned. That produced another short and a break off on what, I believe, was a pretty decent fish (3-4 lbs). I saw it turn but I guess the line had a knick and watched it break just about 20 feet from the boat or so. But after losing what felt like the 10th Ned rig in the rocks, I decided a I needed to find something I could do more fishing with and less time hung up. I picked up a trick worm (which I hadn't thrown in what felt like 10 years) and FINALLY found a pattern. In essence, if I could skip the worm under a tree or lay it just over a break in the rocks/boulders, I could get a strike. These were nothing to write home about (mostly 9-10" little bass) but they were fun none the less. I too got in on the green sunny game (as they were just taking off with it as soon as it would touch down). After about the 5th or 6th fish landed, my wife wanted to give it a whirl. I just handed her the spinning rod and let her go to town. At first, I was just trolling along watching her, but soon I decided I had to have something to throw, so I picked up the buzzbait I had loaded up that morning and decided to just start chucking and reeling (nothing in particular). I proceeded to throw across a laydown (at the time unbeknownst to me) and SMACK. I thought it was a decent little bass at first, but NO. It was a TOAD of a green sunfish (like had to be pushing a pound). By this point, the wind had picked up and surface temp had crept up to 80*. We were pooped and ready to get back to pick up little man from Grandma's. We stowed all the tackle, took another nice little boat ride and called it a day.

So here's to hoping you all had a great holiday weekend and that you had some type of opportunity to do a little fishing.