Jackson made a “forced march” back home from a party in Little Rock and met me at the landing at Monticello at about 7:30 Sunday morning. He had a new assortment of new swimbaits that he wanted to try so that is what he had on to start. I of course had on a trusty 1/4 ounce Booyah spinnerbait with a golden shiner skirt. The  G/S skirt due to the clarity of the water in Monticello. I wanted something that the fish couldn’t see so well and determine it was a bait rather than something to eat.  The starting water temp was 55 degrees but in the shallower areas during the day it was 65. Due to the unseasonable warm weather the lily pads have grown a little thicker than normal. The Booyah connected with a small one but was having problems going through the pads. Jackson had some bites on a variety of swimbaits so I changed to a Basspro speed shad swimbait. We caught fish in the shallow areas but none were of much size. They were probably all male fish that were in preparation for the spawn. Only two of the fish we caught all day had a protruding belly and were probably females and they were the co-FODs at around 2 1/2 pounds each.  Hal emailed me that on March 9th 2006 when I caught a 9 1/2 in Monticello on my first trip there, according to his records the water temp was 55 degrees. Armed with that info we headed for the very log that the big one came from. When the bait came over the limb and started to sink, I felt a “tic” just like on the 9 1/2. I set the hook but only another small one came out. That “tic” really had the adrenaline flowing for a split second. Some of Jackson’s swimbaits were large which started the discussion of were they too large. The question was answered by a small fish that was caught on my swimbait. The bait was over half as long as the fish. I really like the speed shads. They do not have the “thump” of the Bass Magic swimbaits but have a good swimming motion and have hook slots bottom and top. Their hookup ratio is very good. We quit at 4:30 with 15 bass, all released of course.