I took a vacation day on my birthday to fish in the morning and then have family time later in the day. On such summer days, I get up around 3:30am to finish a few pieces of preparation with the aim of reaching the water right around sunrise. I get a solid morning of fishing and return home by about 1:00pm to take a nap and enjoy family time in the evening.
Stats
Date: July 23
Location: Knox County public strip pits (two lakes)
Time: 5:40am-11:45am
Totals: 15 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy to sunny/windy, 74-89F
Lures: 7″ Berkley Power Worm (tequila sunrise) on an Owner 3/16 oz. Shaky Head – 10 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 5 bass
Top Bass: 3-6 Frog
Top 5 Weight: 10-6 (3-6,2-4,2-3,1-5,1-4)
Starting Lineup
Tune of the Trip
Iron Man – Black Sabbath (1971)
“Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all
Or if he moves will he fall?”
As expected, there was a spate of songs on the radio in tribute to Ozzy Osbourne considering his passing the previous day. The first line above applied to being out in the heat and nearly undertaking a lengthy portage before coming to my senses. The last two lines hit home at the end of the trip after dragging the boat back to the truck. A nap was in order once I returned home.
6:05am – First bass at 2-4 (16.5″) on a Spro frog
Notes and Nonsense
Ten-Pound Top 5 – My top goal when I hit the water is to post a double-digit Top 5 (five heaviest bass weighing ten pounds or better). I had hit the mark on an April 19 trip (10-4) but otherwise it had been close but no cigar on May 16 (9-15) and July 12 (9-11). For this trip I was able to reach the mark again with a birthday creel weighing 10-6. Which just so happens to be the heaviest bag landed on July 23.
8:21am – Top Bass at 3-6 (20″) on a Spro frog and the all-time birthday bass runner-up
Top Birthday Bass – These days, I like to get on the water for a while on my birthday to just kind of get away from it all. And, because I just like to fish, I guess my birthday is a day like any other day in that regard. Several years, Dad and I would hit the creek chasing catfish, carp, or whatever else would bite a dew worm. In more recent years, the birthday trip has been strictly bass fishing. Anyway, I have birthday fishing data dating back to a July 23, 1985 bass landed at Lake Bracken. Among those birthday bass, the 3-6 fish landed this year represents the Top Birthday Bass runner-up to a 3-8 caught at Little John’s Moose/Elk Lake on July 23, 2017.
Winning lures
Top 5 Update
The 3-6 culls a 3-4 from what I call Discovery Lake bumping the all-time Top 5 on the water to an impressive 19-8.
Shaking Things Up – I tried a new presentation called a “Shaky Head” worm and it was my top producer of the day. Now, I am a creature of habit so time will tell if this approach gets further use on the strip pits, but it seemed like a good fit on paper and did not disappoint when put into practice.
Birthday bass thumb means it was a successful morning on the water
More to come with another strip mine report from the following day but I will conclude with a thought that was running through my head at one point on this outing. I had visions of significant portage to reach a remote lake, and I scouted it out at one hundred and thirty-six steps through tall grass, uneven terrain, and a stand of shoreline reeds. Throw in full sun and temperatures pushing ninety degrees and I wavered a bit. After roughly thirty steps of dragging the boat and gear, I wised up and turned back around. As I eased the boat back into the main lake, I heard Nemo’s dad, Marlin, chiding me, “You think you can do these things, but you just can’t, Nemo.” Granted, it was a little hard to take but solid advice on a hot, July day. Perhaps another time, perhaps not.
Here’s to another trip around the sun. Talk to you later, Troy