Wrong Spot?

Friday, Part I.

On Thursday night I shucked oysters at a small party and on the return trip Cappa told me he had plans to fish with Donnie in the morning. “Yeah man, I’m meeting him at the ramp at 4:45,” he said. I was tired and the thought of an early rise didn’t appeal to me at the time. But when I hit the sack I set the alarm for 4:30 just in case. I woke at four and couldn’t sleep. So I went out.

It was as nice morning. I was a rosy sunrise with enough clouds along the east to keep the first bite going a little longer. The water was calm. I was early and feeling good and relaxed about that. My first spot lasted all morning. Within a couple of minutes some large fish began exploding at my custom jumping minnow (Joel’s Cherry Popper). And soon the first keeper of the day was landed on this magical lure: a 32 incher. By the way, the dog was with me on this trip and he was happy until this fish, which was larger than he, arrived and immediately outranked him. I continued to fish the same drift and continued to catch nice ones. The second keeper (29) was produced on a gray and white Fin-S. At this point the fish were best hooked by dropping several feet into the water column and surface plugs were only marginally successful.

When the sun broke the clouds I looked east and thought I saw Donnie and Cappa. Having a phone on me, I rang up Donnie and indeed, that was them out near Clark’s Island. “Dude, nothing all morning…how you doing?” asked Donnie. “Come over to where I am – there are tons of fish here!” I exclaimed to him, indicating which boat was I. Soon Donnie and Cappa were among me, my companions, and a school of midsized bass which were on the top.

But something happened. The fish almost immediately vanished and didn’t return. Hmmn. I felt bad for the guys – they had skunked so far. We chatted for a bit, then I decided to head in on the early side – last day of school for the kids and I didn’t want to miss the morning’s excitement. So, in I went. Plans were already in the works for a midday stint of fishing with Alex and Joel.