June 29, 2019
Fishing Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Rating: 6
Weather Conditions: Overcast
Bait: Drop Shot with Poor Boy’s Baits Green Pumpkin Erie Darter and Quick Drop 1/4 ounce weight
Rod: Megabass Orochi XX Whipsnake
Reel: Shimano Sustain
Line: 8-pound Sunline Sniper FC Fluorocarbon
Total Bass Caught: 2
Final Weigh in Weight: 3.75 pounds
I haven’t been able to get out on the water as much as I’ve liked this summer, so when I found myself with a couple of free hours I jumped at the opportunity to hit the lake. I got to the boat launch around 5:30 p.m. and instantly knew it was going to be a tough day. The wind was howling and the chop on the lake made it extremely difficult to keep the boat in one spot. As a result, my first twenty minutes were spent motoring around trying to find some protected water. My search eventually brought me to the rocky docks on the east side of Mercer Island. The first stretch that I fished proved to be unfruitful, but eventually I came to a high wooden dock located in a shady patch of water. I cast my drop shot right under the middle of the dock, gave my worm a few twitches, and then felt my line tense up. I quickly set the hook and, before I could even start reeling, felt the bass take off. The bass put up an amazing fight and after a long, hard battle I was able to bring the 1.75 pound smallmouth into the boat. A couple of docks later, I arrived at the southern tip of Mercer Island. Located there, was an old wooden dock that was shaded by a couple of tall trees on shore. The dock set up perfectly for a post-spawn bass and on my very first cast I had something hit my worm. I gave a big hook set, but came up empty-handed. I figured that the bass must have just swiped at my worm, so I quickly cast back to the same spot. Fortunately for me, the bass bit again and, this time, I made it count. The smallmouth proved to be a worthy adversary, but only weighed in at 1.25 pounds. After that the wind picked up even more, so I decided to just head in and call it a day.
Observations: The water temperature ranged 70-71 degrees, which goes to show that the summer weather is really starting to heat up. With the water temperature hitting the 70’s, the bass have started to move deeper and I caught both of my bass in depths over 20 feet. The bass are definitely in post-spawn mode and seem to be actively feeding to recover from the grueling spawn. However, this hasn’t taken the fight out of them, as the two bass that I caught provided me with some of my best fights of the summer.