I had heard there were some guys that were catching good numbers of bass at Lake Monticello. I sent an unlikely spy to find out what they were caught on and where. The spy was told “we’re not going to tell you” so the ploy was unsuccessful. At daylight I was in the water anyway. When I saw the bass striking before I even cranked the motor, I needed no other info. A Whopper Plopper was the first bait out and it caught a few but the wind put a “check”on the water that discouraged a top water bite. Quickly a small grey crankbait came out that I caught some on there last year. It worked well and one time caught a double.

When I lifted the double in the boat, the fish hit the floor, flopped twice and the line broke. Had I been thinking, I would have broken out the Alabama rig but the fish were biting too fast and furious for me to do anything but catch as many as possible.  As the sun came up the fish slowed on the road where I was fishing so I ventured into the stumps and caught one here and there. The stumps were in a bit shallower water. Since that did not work, I got into deeper water, 12 to 14 feet deep. A deeper diving bait was needed since the small crank bait only goes to 4 or 5 feet. My go to swim bait has been a 5 inch Bass Magic but the last time in the Basspro they could not be found so I bought a Basspro version to try (4.8 inch Speed Shad in Blue Gill Flash color). They seem to be softer , have a hook slot on the bottom and a groove for the hook point on the top. The swimming motion is as good as the Magic but the “thump” is not quite as good. Also there is a thin part of the body leading to the tail that looks as if it would break if there are tail biters. In the new spot the swim bait got the call. It was thrown on a long cast and allowed to sink all the way to the bottom. It caught one on the first cast and I, as well as the fish, was hooked. It was not catching one on every cast but what was really good was the hookup ratio with that bait. The bass were schooling bass that were variable in size and the swim bait caught both big and small. A tail biter finally proved my fear to be well founded and pulled off the tail. When that spot ran out, I went looking for another. A few fish were caught here and there but in no concentrations. One of the good things about the day was both reels that I just refurbished with new bearings and pawls worked flawlessly. When I put them back together there were no parts left over. Imagine that ! The day ended up with 33 fish of which the FOD was around 2 1/2.