My Christmas present from the Millers was a Jerry Rago swimbait that is extremely realistic. It looks just like a bream and has a big hook on top and a place for a treble under the belly. I put the largest treble (#2) I had on it but think the next size up might be the ticket.  It should be dynamite in Lake Monticello or the Garh —oops, the private hole where the water is clear. Here is a photo.

It’s as realistic a bait as I’ve ever seen.  Hal has totaled up the year and caught only 1916 fish for the year on 125 trips.  Both numbers are down for him since he has caught over 2000 bass for the last three years. The number of trips are down too 125 vs 143 last year if my memory is correct. He had two days of 100+ fish and 37 fish over 4 pounds. His largest was 6 pounds even.  The average per trip was 15.32 fish. No info was provided on zero days and I forgot to tell the other day that my zero days were 2.