7/1 & 7/4 late report

[Lucky Lager]

hit up Quail with a few buddies early 7/1 & could hardly buy a bite. conditions looked pretty good, but the action was just plain missing. it took nearly an hour to get the first bite, and it ended up being the wrong species

put up a nice fight at least. a couple short runs & a couple nice jumps....don't really get that with the stripeys :)
shortly after that, a little 14"er decided to bite

then it took about another hour to get another mini 16"er

they weren't interested in anything but the fluke that day & with all the rocks there, i donated 2 jigs & 1 swim bait, plus 2 jigs that i gave to my buddy...which he lost, haha.

we hit a few duct spots on the way home, but didn't even get a bite.



on 7/4 i had a busy day lined out with the fam, so if i was going to be able to hit the duct, it would have to be early.
the water was flowing pretty good, so i was throwing a 1oz jig w/fluke & had a good feeling about it. well, my feeling was wrong. i hit a couple spots without any bites. the 3rd spot produced a bite, but not a strong one. worked that area for a bit, trying to entice another bite, but no luck. by then the flow was slowing & the gates were dropping.
i decided to switch to one of JigGuy's swim baits & his 3/4oz jig head & hit some open water since the flow was slowing.
worked a few bends, went for a little walk, still no action. i mentally prepared for the skunk & started heading back to the car, casting at any spot that looked fishy. when i got near the bridge, i did the infamous "last cast" in my head. made the cast, let it fall, started the retrieve...bam! fish on!
i set the hook proper, because i had lost 2 smaller fish the day before & i didn't want that to happen again. (they were both hooked in the lower lip & came off as i was lifting them out of the water).
anyway, this fish had a lot of energy & put up a fun fight. it did not want to be dinner....too bad, because that's what he became.

just a little 4.5lber, but it's the first keeper i've had in several outings.
it had 1 sculpin in it's stomach

hopefully the bigger fish start showing up, these minis are everywhere!!