MAVERICK27
04-10-2010, 12:29 AM
Well, its funny how things work out sometimes...I had plans to fish with a Pro today, but he had something come up. So, I was invited to board my new FNN friend's boat. Matt (Silkgato) was gracious enough to take me out on his Tracker. Out of all the people and countless days I have taken other people out on MY boat, this is one of only a couple of times that I was able to board somebody else's. It was a nice change to just show up and walk on. Thanks Matt! For those of you who have not met him yet, what a great guy!! One of the hardest working fishermen I know and very good company on the water.
The main topic via text messages last night were my thoughts of a Grand Slam. I have been hearing of so many species biting that I was convinced we could do it. I also just got a new baitcaster that I wanted to break in on a bass. We hit the water first thing and worked the various docks for Crappie. Matt warmed things up with a nice slab. We're on the boards! I had a few short nibbles with no takers. I was also throwing various bass baits with no followers. The New Revo S was performing well :) We made a few moves to keep working structure for Crappie...Matt was determined. We seemed to be chasing the schools, but coming up one step short. after working about ten different baits and three spots by 11 am, we made run for boat dock cove to work the treeline. First couple of casts for me resulted in a decent bass on a white curl tail grub rigged wirth a lead head. The only thing was......it came on my Phenix Elixir on 3lb P-Line Flouro!! I had to finesse the fish in and Matt was quick to the net! What a fun fight!! Mission 1 completed...bass :)
So, there it is...were both on the boards. What a beautiful day!!! By about 1130 am, the temp was in the mid 70's with a light breeze, stained water with about 2 feet of visibility and water temps in the low 60's. Perfect conditions for most fish. Cold enough for trout to bite, yet warm enough for the Bass to come up for the chad and Crappie to get hungry. I still had the Grand Slam on my radar. We agreed for one more spot before we target trout. While working the aux dock, matt hooked up on another slab! This one was much larger. My rod got bumped a couple times, but was probably too small for the jig I had tied on. So as agreed, we decided to get to trolling for our trout.
Matts boat, although an awesome machine, was a little fast for the troll (ok Rooster and TD.....insert your "Mav's 100mph trolling speed" joke here hahahaha), so we had our work cut out for us. We tossed out two rigs with some usual suspects like Daiwa, Rapala Firetiger etc..First action came in the form of some short bites and clickers singing with no joy. I made a call to go off my usual rigs and toss out a crankbait on my Revo with a Boron Phenix from my seat on the bow. After seeing the thousands of chad all over the lake this past week, what a better color than the chad pattern. While headed on a pre-determined flight path in the flats, the Boron 7 footer goes bendo!! This fish fought like a truck and even tried to run deep and pull drag when he got close to the boat. This fish ended up being over 4 lbs and was super broad across the back with a full tail. No wonder it put up such a battle. Another mission accomplished...broke in the Revo S!
Next action came shortly after where my Abu Garcia level wind sent the clicker nutso!!! Matt grabs the rod and realizes that the bait was hooked on a cormorant hahaha. The thing kept diving and trying to get loose. Matt said it was like fighting a fish. I backed the boat down on it until I could help release the bird at the boat. He was fine and wasn't even bleeding.
We ran around a while and found that we actually had two lines twisted badly. I guess we were having too much fun to realize. We changed gears and worked some other spots with a couple misses and about 400 bait changes. So we decided to troll one more time for a "buzzer shot" late in the day. While crossing mid lake, headed to the flats, the Revo sang again. It was a nice aerial display until I tried to bounce it in the net and hit the motor. Poor lil trout was now missing part of his lip, but was free!! No worries. Shortly after, another BENDO on the Revo. This was definitely the hot stick for the day. While Matt was fighting the fish, I could see it was bent way too hard to be a stocker trout. I thought maybe a Largemouth...NOPE, a WIPER!! Finally saw these things bringing action. Matt did a great job working it in and there it was ...........GRAND SLAM a 4 species day!!! All missions accomplished!!
Sorry for the long read, but it was just such a fun day. I thought i'd share it with you. We didn't kill it out there by any means, but we did what we set out to do and I could not have asked for a better day. Here are a couple of pics and maybe Matt will post his as well.
Thanks for reading and i'll see ya on the water!!
I'm not even gonna guess a weight or the bass angers here will eat me alive with inaccuracies :)
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1986.jpg
Matt at the helm of his fish slaying machine
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1989.jpg
The chunky fighter
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1991.jpg
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1990.jpg
The Wiper....YES we released it...:)
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1992.jpg
The main topic via text messages last night were my thoughts of a Grand Slam. I have been hearing of so many species biting that I was convinced we could do it. I also just got a new baitcaster that I wanted to break in on a bass. We hit the water first thing and worked the various docks for Crappie. Matt warmed things up with a nice slab. We're on the boards! I had a few short nibbles with no takers. I was also throwing various bass baits with no followers. The New Revo S was performing well :) We made a few moves to keep working structure for Crappie...Matt was determined. We seemed to be chasing the schools, but coming up one step short. after working about ten different baits and three spots by 11 am, we made run for boat dock cove to work the treeline. First couple of casts for me resulted in a decent bass on a white curl tail grub rigged wirth a lead head. The only thing was......it came on my Phenix Elixir on 3lb P-Line Flouro!! I had to finesse the fish in and Matt was quick to the net! What a fun fight!! Mission 1 completed...bass :)
So, there it is...were both on the boards. What a beautiful day!!! By about 1130 am, the temp was in the mid 70's with a light breeze, stained water with about 2 feet of visibility and water temps in the low 60's. Perfect conditions for most fish. Cold enough for trout to bite, yet warm enough for the Bass to come up for the chad and Crappie to get hungry. I still had the Grand Slam on my radar. We agreed for one more spot before we target trout. While working the aux dock, matt hooked up on another slab! This one was much larger. My rod got bumped a couple times, but was probably too small for the jig I had tied on. So as agreed, we decided to get to trolling for our trout.
Matts boat, although an awesome machine, was a little fast for the troll (ok Rooster and TD.....insert your "Mav's 100mph trolling speed" joke here hahahaha), so we had our work cut out for us. We tossed out two rigs with some usual suspects like Daiwa, Rapala Firetiger etc..First action came in the form of some short bites and clickers singing with no joy. I made a call to go off my usual rigs and toss out a crankbait on my Revo with a Boron Phenix from my seat on the bow. After seeing the thousands of chad all over the lake this past week, what a better color than the chad pattern. While headed on a pre-determined flight path in the flats, the Boron 7 footer goes bendo!! This fish fought like a truck and even tried to run deep and pull drag when he got close to the boat. This fish ended up being over 4 lbs and was super broad across the back with a full tail. No wonder it put up such a battle. Another mission accomplished...broke in the Revo S!
Next action came shortly after where my Abu Garcia level wind sent the clicker nutso!!! Matt grabs the rod and realizes that the bait was hooked on a cormorant hahaha. The thing kept diving and trying to get loose. Matt said it was like fighting a fish. I backed the boat down on it until I could help release the bird at the boat. He was fine and wasn't even bleeding.
We ran around a while and found that we actually had two lines twisted badly. I guess we were having too much fun to realize. We changed gears and worked some other spots with a couple misses and about 400 bait changes. So we decided to troll one more time for a "buzzer shot" late in the day. While crossing mid lake, headed to the flats, the Revo sang again. It was a nice aerial display until I tried to bounce it in the net and hit the motor. Poor lil trout was now missing part of his lip, but was free!! No worries. Shortly after, another BENDO on the Revo. This was definitely the hot stick for the day. While Matt was fighting the fish, I could see it was bent way too hard to be a stocker trout. I thought maybe a Largemouth...NOPE, a WIPER!! Finally saw these things bringing action. Matt did a great job working it in and there it was ...........GRAND SLAM a 4 species day!!! All missions accomplished!!
Sorry for the long read, but it was just such a fun day. I thought i'd share it with you. We didn't kill it out there by any means, but we did what we set out to do and I could not have asked for a better day. Here are a couple of pics and maybe Matt will post his as well.
Thanks for reading and i'll see ya on the water!!
I'm not even gonna guess a weight or the bass angers here will eat me alive with inaccuracies :)
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1986.jpg
Matt at the helm of his fish slaying machine
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1989.jpg
The chunky fighter
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1991.jpg
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1990.jpg
The Wiper....YES we released it...:)
http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1992.jpg