October the 12th is a great day, but this morning I was apprehensive because there was a Northeast wind. The lake was at 15 feet and fishing started a little after 10. The apprehensiveness soon disappeared when a Carolina rig came up with the 5-5 FOD.

Shortly thereafter, it caught a 4-1 and a little after that, a 3-2. Destruction followed because two Carolina rigs were sacrificed to the gars. The lake is rising and I noticed some fish following the water and beginning to hit groups of shad. I followed using a red eye shad and caught 2 about 3 pounds each but some ran from the bait in the very shallow water. The fish were feeding pretty good but the water was not deep enough for the boat. I figured a top water would work so I put on a Whopper Plopper. It was just the ticket. Caught some but some missed the bait some too. With the long casts getting a good hook set was a problem also but it was fun. One just blasted it about 15 feet from the boat and made me jump. The action was going on 360 degrees around the boat. I was looking behind me while reeling it and heard another hit and said out loud “where did that one hit” and looked around and it had my bait. It got to where the fish were missing a lot but I’m such a sap, if they’re hitting at it, I’ll sit there and try to catch some. Usually fish doing that in shallow water are extremely small but most of these were between 3 1/4 and 2 pounds. When it got too slow, I went back to the starting point but caught nothing. Another spot yielded another 3 pound fish on the Carolina rig. I had more places in mind but by this time the clouds were gathering and looking dark so it was time to leave. Good thing, it rained a little on me on the Broadway Loop. There were 17 total bass most of substantial size. 11 were caught on the Whopper Plopper which really added to the fun. I finally figured out how to set my phone camera on “wide Selfie” after 4 years or so which makes taking a photo of a fish when you’re by yourself a little easier. Almost got the whole fish in the picture. I still have to practice some.