The three youngest kids took my folks up on an overnight visit and we had nothing going at home so it was off to Iowa after work to chase bass across the river for the first time since late July.
Stats
Date: September 8, 2017
Location: Lost Grove Lake, IA
Time: 6:16pm-7:46pm
Weather: Sunny/calm to windy
Air Temp: 74-68F
Water Temp: no reading
Totals: 4 bass
Lures:
Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (sexy shad) – 4 bass
Weight (two bass at 12” or better): 3-0 (1-14,1-2)
6:32pm 13″ 1-2 Buzzbait crummy pic but solid start with two bass on the board just over 15 minutes into casting
Notes & Nonsense
Plan of Attack – Knowing I only had maybe an hour and a half to fish, there was no exploring or experimenting this time around. Nope, hit all the spots with fast moving baits – a couple crankbait spots, a few Senko pitches at specific targets and otherwise a steady dose of buzzbait on proven areas.
Crankbait Results – I hit my two best crankbait stretches and never got a strike. Weapons of choice were a Mann’s Baby 1- (copper) and Strike King KVD 2.5 Rattling Squarebill (natural pumpkinseed). Although no takers on this outing, I do look forward to nailing some over the next several weeks as fall cranking is a favorite, and successful approach.
Senko Results – I pitched the Senko into a handful of targets along with using it as a follow-up bait on a couple missed buzzbait strikes. My targets produced a pair of hookups but both threw the bait before reaching the boat, tough break but good to see the spots come through (neither was a “keeper” at least).
Actually a pic from last week’s outing after a bass knocked off my buzzbait skirt on a strike, the skirt pictured was the winner today
Buzzbait Results – Not quite 30 minutes in, I had three bass on the buzzbait and was feeling pretty good about my prospects for the rest of the short outing. All three of these bass came from banks that were sheltered from the direct sunlight and my home stretch would feature similar conditions once the sun descended behind a slight ridge. All in all, things were setting up pretty well.
Foiled Again – The 2017 weather on my Lost Grove outings has not fully cooperated ranging from too much sun to a scary storm showing up in a hurry. This time around I plucked a 1-14 from some partially submerged brush on the buzzbait as I began my run through several money spots on the homestretch. The photo below shows a light ripple on the water in the background, which was just about right for presentation and boat control. By the time I got this bass photographed and logged, the wind kicked up to near whitecap magnitude blowing me in the opposite direction of the ramp. Boat control was shot and buzzbait commotion was negated by the increased wave action. I got a couple missed strikes but no more hookups and wound up with a disappointing stretch run as the darned weather turned on me again.
7:16pm Top Bass 15″ 1-14 Buzzbait all was falling into place until the wind kicked up and ruined the topwater bite
Even so, I felt it was a decent sort of abbreviated outing, especially as I came very close to just staying home for a nap on the couch instead as I’d been beat all week. Can’t catch ‘em at home so glad I went, posting my third largest Lost Grove bass to date with the day’s Top Bass. Also got some GoPro footage as the camera seems to be back in working order after an odd hiccup (or operator error) and a shout out to an unnamed Good Samaritan who helped me lug my boat back to the truck at the end of my day. One more trip in the books from today so look to have a report and some other items from the outing on the way. Talk to you later. Troy