Barrett Lake - part 2

I calmed down and started thinking about what was going on and was soon rewarded with my first Barrett fish of the season.

Phew. I kept throwing the Pop'R and it got blown up a few more times but nothing stuck, finally landed two more on the topwater. The bass seemed to be hiding in shadows and as the morning wore on the shadows became fewer and farther between. We switched to plastics and I texas rigged a chocolate blue-vein worm and began tossing it around somewhat aimlessly. I was drifting down a shoreline and not getting any action, nor did I have the least bit of confidence in this style of fishing.

Brett picked up a fish on an Aaron's Magic worm with a curly tail and he tossed a few of them my way.

He had splitshot his line before leaving home and neither of his had any more shot. So I retied a carolina rig and pegged the weight, close enough, I thought. It worked! Back in the shallow water, between 1 and 3 feet, there was a school/pocket/herd/whatever of largemouth just waiting for something like this. It was fish after fish for a while and in less than an hour I had 6 more bass and no more of Aaron's great magic. I considered my options and pulled out the only other thing I had with a curly tail - Assalt ringed 4" worms in black/red flake. It was about 5X larger than the little worm I was using previously but I pushed it on the worm hook anyway. First cast landed my largest fish for the day - he went just a hair under 3#.

I saw a fish boil under a grass mat that was sticking out just a bit from the rocky shoreline behind me. I hadn't caught a fish on a Senko and the slow style of fishing required for them is challenging for my ADD riddled brain. But I threw the risk of boredom into the wind and plunked a senko down on top of the grass mat and wiggled it back to the edge, let it touch the water and then twitched it into the drink. It was instantly slurped up and the line went tight - I set the hook, prepared to dodge, but found a fish stuck on the other end. That was a thrill! The rest of the day was the Assalt rig - 8 more bass on this.

The rest of the morning we paddled back, stopped in a talked to Clayton a bit, saw Mick on the dock and we waited around for the train to leave (and hour or so later than we'd hoped).

Incidentally I made it to the wedding on time...kinda. We saw the exciting parts anyway and had a great time at the reception.

Thanks again to Mick and Brett for the fun and companionship - next time we don't leave early!