If I had been at the lake any earlier this morning it would have been too early.

By now, I have figured out the trail marking system that makes for a stress free and stump free trip across the lake possible. When I reached my destination the water was slick but no fish movement was seen. The first cast was at 6:00 sharp. It took 15 minutes to catch the first fish. After that there was a long pause in the activity, some small ones came out and chased or hit at it and missed but nothing that really wanted to eat the frog. I got to the place where on the first trip there was a 5 3/4 and caught one but only a 3 1/2, but it was a fish that I was glad to see. That place was at the end of the bank that I had been fishing the pads next to the shallowest water. Leaving I made some casts to some small groups of pads that I had been ignoring. I caught one in short order and missed another because the frog was completely balled up and covering the hook point. It was obvious the fish were on the isolated pads so I went down that bank again just a little farther out. The fish were biting like they meant it with even a Kawoosh or two. Almost at the end of the spot, I made a cast and got it through the bunch of pads when the phone rang . It was Willie reporting on things at the house. The wind was blowing the boat a little, so in essence I was trolling with the Ribbit over coon tail moss. Talking on the phone, I felt a pull on the line and instinctively set the hook. Had to put the phone down to catch the fish that I would not have caught had Willie not called. Then another dry spell ensued. This snake doctor sat on my casting arm for a half hour not bothered at all by casting. I just knew it was going to bring me luck, and it did finally when the last fish bit.

Today I caught a better percentage of the bites and the fish were larger as a whole. Of the 7 fish caught, 5 were between 2 3/4 and 3 1/2. I didn’t realize how hot it was until the boat was on the trailer. I didn’t get too hot but it was hotter than I like.