[Amish Ed]

Did a solo trip to MB this morning. Launched at 6:45 from the Ski Beach launch ramp. Skies were cloudy and there was a light offshore breeze. Never did look at the water temp on my FF, but it was warm and clear with patches that had a lot of floating eel grass. South wind kicked up about 8:30 and blew pretty good off and on until I got off the water at 11:00.

Started in the channel between the bridges, but had no bites until I drifted back to the Ingram St bridge. Then I got 5 bass in 15min, doing 2 passes under the bridge. A few more drifts over the same patch yielded nothing so I just kept drifting. Drifted along the buoy line a few times for a couple more fish. worked the point off Fiesta for a couple more. Tried the channel that goes from there past Sea World, but there was a lot of floating grass and opted to try off the launch ramp at Ski Beach. But, there was too much debris in the water. So, I started working out deeper, between Ski Beach and Fiesta and really started picking away. At one point I was just off Fiesta (by the fences that run into the water) and these guys in a bass boat pull up between me and the shore right in my drift line. Paddled back out and drifted back and after a bit they took off. This area was by far the most productive area for me as I got 4 keepers in about 1/2hr, plus some shorts. Eventually I paddled back to the ramp for one last cast and then called it a day. Finished with 24 bass, mostly spotties and mostly in the 12-13.5" range.

All fish were caught on 1/2oz Coolbaits underspins (plain with silver blades) and Paddlerz. Hot baits were 4" Bad Shad and Rootbeer/Gold flake. 5" Smoking Shad got me my legals and the rest of the fish in the area. I probably could have kept picking away with that bait, but I was tired and ready to get home. Hot Sauce didn't seem to make a difference, so I didn't use it much.

One nice thing about fishing on a Thursday is the boat traffic was mellow with only a few boats taking advantage of the no speed limit zone. A few skiffs were bass fishing and when I came in I had brief chat with a nice guy in a Pro Angler who had just launched and he started catching right away.

Finally, I was stoked to get home in good time as there was a lot of cars on the road, but we rarely got below 40mph. Except at the check point at Sano. They must have had a tip off as they were questioning people in blue SUVs.