9/24: 22" Largemouth Bass Streak Continues

If you saw the last blog we posted, Two Trophy Largemouth in 2 hours, you would have read a report in which I landed a 22" and 21.75" largemouth bass in under two hours. Since then I have hit the water a few more times and I haven't been disappointed.

Saturday 9/20

Saturday Shawn Skidmore and I went out and fished a few different lakes in hopes of upgrading our 5 fish total in Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail's Buckeye Bass Challenge. On our first stop of the day we hit a small state lake and began by throwing buzzbaits. At this point in the week we were fishing pre-cold front conditions. The water temperatures were holding in the low 70's and fish were still really active. The air temperatures at night hadn't dropped below 50 degrees yet, but they soon would. The buzzbait was hot, well for Shawn anyway. The day began rough for me, I ended up fishing more in the trees than I did in the water, broke my favorite buzzbait, and only managed two small fish (18" and 17"). Shawn on the other hand was on fire finishing the day with a 17", 17.5", 18", 18.5", 18.75", 20.5" and 22.25"! (Most of which were caught in the morning at our first stop.) 

At about 10am the wind started to pick up and fishing the small state lake became nearly impossible. We loaded all of our gear up and drove down the road to grab a bite to eat. From there we hit our 2nd spot of the day which yielded a few small fish but nothing worth mentioning. At about 5pm we loaded our gear up and drove over to our third and final stop. We fished until dark but failed to find any decent fish. 

Monday 9/22

Monday evening I went out by myself and tried to find the giant bass that I mentioned seeing in my "Two Trophy Bass in 2 Hours" blog. I had spent much of my time thinking about this fish over the last few days, "What if I tossed a jig back at him instead of pounding the water with the buzzbait?, What if I had stopped my buzzbait while he was following it, would he have ate it on the drop?, I wonder how big the fish really is? Will he make it another season?"...etc. It was driving me mad so I decided to head out and see if I could find my "white whale" and fool him into biting. At this point we were experiencing the full force of the cold front. Nightly air temps had been dropping into the low 40's and water temperatures were fluctuating quite a bit from dawn to dusk. I knew that the fishing was going to be tough but I couldn't help but to throw a black buzzbait. I fished for 4 hours and only landed one fish.  In the 4 hours that I fished I probably had two dozen bites on the buzzbait, and each time the fish would either miss my bait completely or pull my skirt down the shank of my hook. Since I was getting the bites I needed, I continued to make minor adjustments to see if I could trick them into inhaling the bait. I added trailers, I changed colors, tried triple bladed buzzbaits (as opposed to the traditional double paddle buzzbait), I changed my speed, etc. I went home that night with my head down, after several months of excellent fishing this trip really hit me hard. 

Wednesday 9/24

Shawn, Russ, and I went back out and tried to find a few quality fish. Shawn and I got on the water around 11am and Russ met us on the water around 1pm. Shawn started the trip throwing buzzbaits and crankbaits.  I on the other hand began with a hollow body frog and a jig. My thoughts were that if the fish were going to bust topwater again, maybe a slowly walked frog might do the trick. I worked the frog around vegetation and the jig around wood. I quickly found a few small fish on the jig near submerged wood, this would give me the confidence I needed to stick with the jig. About 50 minutes into the trip I hooked up with a solid bass on wood in 8 feet of water. After a short battle I landed the bass, took measurements, and pics. 

The bass went 21", which was good enough to bump my five fish total up by .5". I continued working the jig down the lake and landed several bass in the 16-18 range. On two separate occasions I hooked solid fish on deep wood and battled fish to the surface, after a few runs both fish found enough wood to wrap me up and throw the hook. I wasn't very happy that I was losing fish, but at least I was getting the bites I needed. Shawn on the other hand was having a very rough day. He struggled to get bites at all and he ended up spending more time in trees than he did in the water. At about 1pm Russ pulled into the parking lot and began unpacking all of his gear. I worked my way over to the boat ramp and waited to tell him that it was a tough bite but we already had one good fish on the board. As he was unloading I worked my way back into a small creek arm. I found a patch of duckweed setting in a little more than a foot of water and began working it with a jig. I had always gotten bites on a frog here before, but for some reason the fish had a hard time getting the frog in their mouth. I threw the jig onto the bank and began working it back to my kayak. With each hop of the jig I could see the duck weed move at the surface. At the end of my retrieve, about 3 feet from the edge of the duckweed, I hoped the jig and I noticed a boil of water push the duckweed away from my jig. I had either gotten somethings attention or spooked something. I gave the jig a quick hop and then waited........nothing. I pulled the jig up slowly and made another long cast, making sure that my jig was going to go through the area where the duck weed had been disturbed. I hopped the jig a few times and then I noticed my line jump. I dropped my rod tip and watched the fish swim away with my jig. I reeled up the slack and set the hook, and that's when the water exploded. It was another giant bass. After a few jumps and a couple slips of drag I pulled the fish into the kayak. 

I took a picture of the fish on the board and then called Shawn to come take a quick picture for me.  By this time Russ was just paddling over to see what all of the commotion was about, it would build his confidence.....which would only be shattered as the day pressed on. We fished until dark and the bite never really turned on. Shawn went on to land 9 bass under 16" and Russ landed a 12" bass and a 10lb snapping turtle on a frog.

The fish went 22" and 5lbs 7oz. This would make the third bass for me over 5lbs in less than two weeks, and that's not counting Shawn's 5lb 13oz 22.25" bass....not too bad for a couple of guys from Ohio. I'd like to say that we have been very fortunate the last month, but to be honest its been a heck of a year. We have been blessed with quality fish after quality fish, which has me both nervous and excited. I am beginning to wonder if we have hit our peak, can we do any better in the years to come, or will this be the year we look back at and remember? I guess only time will tell!