Ounces Count

Norm joined me once again today, back in pursuit of that 5-pound smallie. He previously had finally broken his personal best and was looking for an even larger one. Would today be the day? The weather warmed to a mild 55 degrees throughout the day but the winds were the biggest problem. They were blowing at 15 to 25 K from the W with even stronger gusts of 35 K at times. With bluebird skies like we had this isn’t uncommon, just uncomfortable. Water temps were also on the rise and eventually hit the 50-degree mark in some areas during the day. I knew the morning bite was going to be a little tougher than the afternoon and informed Norm of this as we casted jigs to the areas holding bass. It wasn’t until I had covered a lot of water and fished through the usual areas that I stumbled upon a place that finally had a concentration of smallmouth bass. Although we had picked up plenty of fish, it was one here & there that had me on the move. This place produced about 20 bass in a pretty small area, right on a deep edge. Norm landed several good fish in the 4 pound range, but nothing around five. During all of this, I had to take a break out of the action to tow a boat back to shore. Apparently he had run out of gas or something, but he definitely was in need of help as he drifted down the current. I was hoping that after this, the gods would shine on us, but instead they just increased the winds, making fishing that much more difficult. We continued catching fish here & there and Norm landed some real good ones, but not the lunker he was after. It wasn’t until the last half hour in the day that he finally brought one to the boat that was a contender. I know that this was Halloween and all, but this bass was a real pumpkin! It wasn’t really long, but it was incredibly fat and that made it look huge. I had to weigh this fish and was actually disappointed to see that it topped the scale at 4 pounds 15 ounces. A mere 1-ounce shy of that elusive 5-pound mark Norm had been shooting for. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be today as we were to find out. Norm managed to land several more 3 to 4 pounders before we called it a day, but still is in search of his five. Regardless of this outcome, he did manage to break his personal best once again by 3 ounces and is officially closer to finding that “Holy Grail”! Oh well, there’s always next time!