I swear... I can't even try to tell that story again without laughing. Man,
you had me doubled over on the boat about to **** in my pants.



"alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...
That was a night I won't soon forget, we could not even cast we were
laughing so hard, what a night


"Joe Haubenreich" rofbmail (at) secretweaponlures (dot) com wrote in
message ...
OK.... more details:

Wednesday, prefishing: weather was moderate (in the mid-60's), cloudy,
with
scattered drizzle, turning to rain after awhile. Dan and I fished
together,
and the only two fish we caught were before 11:00.

bass #1: 4 pound smallmouth, caught about 20 feet off a rocky secondary
point near the head of Indian Creek, with the boat in about 30 feet of
water. I'd estimate the water was about 18 feet deep where the fish hit
my
1/2-ounce Secret Weapon White Shiner with single, gold willowleaf blade.
- bass #2: 1 pound Kentucky (spotted) bass. Same spinnerbait, but I cast
it
across a 6-inch diameter laydown trunk in about 1 to 1-1/2 foot of
water.
The bass trapped the lure against the far side of the log. I just
cinched
it
up tight against the log, trolled over, and lipped it.

In the afternoon, Steve and I ran back out for a couple hours to try to
locate bass just inside main lake points. We did find several nice spots
(KY
bass) that hit pearl flukes and a white Senko. The pig of a bass I
caught
hit my pearl Driftwood Lures drift stick within a foot of the rocky
shoreline. It must have been there trapping fry and other prey in the
shallow water. I brought it out to the boat, but then it threw the hook.
I
stopped reeling. The bass darted off about three feet, turned back, and
then
started moving its head back and forth like a dog trying to pick up a
scent.
It spotted my lure, and then attacked it again. A hit and miss. On its
next
attempt, I finally got a good hookset and brought it into the boat.

Next, we ran to a shallow cove where the Indian Creek Church Camp
covered
boat dock sits. There Steve connected with a 4-pound largemouth while
flipping his white Senko willows, brush, and timber in no more than one
foot
of water. We suspected the largemouth had already spawned, judging by
the
condition of its tail. Might have been a big male; if on a bed, we never
saw
it.

In fact, although I looked, I never saw the first bass bed all weekend.
Smallmouth had already spawned out, we were advised, but we should have
seen
some sign of largemouth and spot spawning beds.

Thursday: threatening, gray skies turned to rain and then thunderstorms
for
several hours. The spinnerbait was non-productive before the storms set
in.
Afterwards, Dan and I picked up a couple of bass using white, plastic
stick
baits, rigged Texas-style, without weights. I cast them alongside
laydowns
and around brush and willows. Then Randy, the Outdoor Frontiers
cameraman,
joined us for an hour of fishing and another in the private dock. With
camera rolling, we picked up another bass off a laydown... same bait and
pattern as befo just cast it out, let it drift down, and kept an eye
on
my line. Any tick or unusual movement indicated a pickup; I never felt
the
hits... just pressure.

Friday: Partnered with Joe P. Same weather.... less rain, more wind,
cooler.
Nice, gray overcast all day long. I thought the fish should be a little
more
active, although we were in a post-frontal condition. I think we were
seeing
multiple fronts passing through. It may not have confused the fish, but
it
sure threw me off.

My first bass of the day, another spot, came on the same spinnerbait. I
took
it while moving up the dock under high trolling-motor speed, near a
small
outcrop of rocks on an otherwise nondescript bank, between two
widely-separated laydowns. I believe the bass came out from the shore to
hit
it. After that, we switched to white or baby bass and started catching
two
more bass from rock shelves along the side of a deep cove off Indian
Creek.
Working out way to the back, where water was shallow (about 15 feet
under
the boat at the tree tops), we flipped and cast around a half dozen
laydowns, some blocking access to the shallowest section of the cove.
That's
where Joe and I caught another seven keeper-size bass, all on Drift
Sticks
and Senkos (or some other variant).

In the last hour, we ran back out toward the main lake, stopping at the
mouth of Jones Branch -- a side cove just inside Indian Creek. We tried
a
few more laydowns on the right side of the mouth with no luck. With time
running out, we went across to a broken-rock rounded point between two
nice
little pockets. We started at the left pocket, where we immediately
started
getting hits on fast-moving Drift sticks, retrieved about two feet down
in
a
walk-the-dog fashion. I got two strong hits, and Joe P. had another. I
got
the first one up near the boat, close enough to see it was a big
smallmouth.
I suspect the others were as well. This is the place and the retrieve
that
had been recommended to me, but foolishly I had not tried it until the
very
end of the tournament. We ran out of time before it paid off for us.

Saturday evening, two boats (Randy and Charles in one, Chris, Dave, and
I
in
the other) went out with black lights and fluorescent lines for some
nigh-fishing. Chris caught a nice 1-1/2 pound bass on a black Senko,
rigged
weightless. Dave and I, too, tried it, and while I got a few pecks and
one
solid "thump," in the hour we fished, we came up blank. I think Randy
and
Charles caught another two. Had they not been laughing so hard that
tears
obscured the trees lining the bank, they might have done even better. As
it
was, they spent a lot of time retrieving their baits from overhanging
limbs.

One other note.... Every bass I caught in three days was keeper size.
All
were spots, with the exception of that big smallmouth.
--
Joe Haubenreich
www.secretweaponlures.com
First real spinnerbait change in 50 years!
_______________________

"Chris Rennert" wrote in message
...
Is there any way everyone can detail how they caught them without giving
away the farm? Just curious how you guys worked through the weather
situations?

Congratulations everyone, and I am glad to hear everybody had a great
time.

chris