NumenOn the Water
Date: 5-24-15
Date: 5-24-15
Body of Water: Reeds Lake
Boat: Numenon
With: Alone
Target: Largemouth Bass
Time: 6 AM - Noon
Conditions: Overcast and calm; very clear water; 64-65 F; tail end of pre-spawn (?)
One of the more famous of Zeno's set of Paradoxes is a cornerstone of The Calculus and the study of limits; his Paradox of Dichotomy. Simple enough, to get somewhere, one must first go half way. And yet, when the halves get infinitely small, you're not getting anywhere!
I must have been a bit nervous before my trip today; I awoke a seemingly infinite number of times during the night, with increasing frequency; and uncannily with about half of my remaining sleep time left. In a way, Zeno was right; my alarm never went off. Instead, I got out of bed a few minutes early, disgusted and wondering if I'd actually slept all, and turned my alarm off.
I was on the water before 6 AM and confronted with late pre-spawn conditions. It was still too dark to see into the water, so I fished blindly for a while; with no success. What I did notice was that filamentous snot covered the shallow milfoil; and the water seemed pretty darn clear. Things were too quiet; I knew it wouldn't be easy.
As dawn broke, I could see into the water; up to 10 feet or so down in certain areas. There were a few beds in the shallows, but these were occupied by pip-squeaks and crappies; and as I started focusing on the deeper weed edge, I started to see more cruising (and in some cases, bruiser) bass. They seemed reluctant to hit anything I threw, though; jerk baits, slow-rolled spinnerbaits and swimming jigs were all ignored.
After a couple of shoreline areas, I hit the lake's main hump; I'd taken a couple of very nice bass from the spine of this hump early last summer. The weed growth here wasn't as lush, but it looked as if another year of thick ice had scraped much of the soft bottom from the spine's ridge; and there was a lot of hard bottom here. The visible bass here weren't quite as dense, but they were sizable; and a couple of smallish keepers and a little guy ate my Ned Rig as I swam it through openings. The bigger guys were still an unfocused, tough sell.
I relocated to another, more remote hump and found more of the same; only bigger bass, and more visible rejections of my offerings. They were interested... but couldn't commit.
I now focused on the shallow milfoil and inside edges with flukes and a popper. The popper was fun because it would collect a group of lookers on most casts; but no bites.
Just to make sure I was alive, I pitched a senko down a weed-edge. It took a hundred yards or so, but another small keeper-sized bass ate; I can always go back to that.
But the bass I really wanted to catch were those cruisers in 4 to 8 feet of water or so; the one holding tight to the edges, waiting to make their move shallow. I dedicated some time to cranking the edge with a DT3 (a DT4 or 6 would have been even better), and it did pay off with my bass of the day, a solid 4-pounder.
Subsequent flaking around heavy cover resulted in another nice keeper (released, off course) for a 5-fish virtual limit of about 12 pounds or so.
One of the more famous of Zeno's set of Paradoxes is a cornerstone of The Calculus and the study of limits; his Paradox of Dichotomy. Simple enough, to get somewhere, one must first go half way. And yet, when the halves get infinitely small, you're not getting anywhere!
I must have been a bit nervous before my trip today; I awoke a seemingly infinite number of times during the night, with increasing frequency; and uncannily with about half of my remaining sleep time left. In a way, Zeno was right; my alarm never went off. Instead, I got out of bed a few minutes early, disgusted and wondering if I'd actually slept all, and turned my alarm off.
I was on the water before 6 AM and confronted with late pre-spawn conditions. It was still too dark to see into the water, so I fished blindly for a while; with no success. What I did notice was that filamentous snot covered the shallow milfoil; and the water seemed pretty darn clear. Things were too quiet; I knew it wouldn't be easy.
As dawn broke, I could see into the water; up to 10 feet or so down in certain areas. There were a few beds in the shallows, but these were occupied by pip-squeaks and crappies; and as I started focusing on the deeper weed edge, I started to see more cruising (and in some cases, bruiser) bass. They seemed reluctant to hit anything I threw, though; jerk baits, slow-rolled spinnerbaits and swimming jigs were all ignored.
After a couple of shoreline areas, I hit the lake's main hump; I'd taken a couple of very nice bass from the spine of this hump early last summer. The weed growth here wasn't as lush, but it looked as if another year of thick ice had scraped much of the soft bottom from the spine's ridge; and there was a lot of hard bottom here. The visible bass here weren't quite as dense, but they were sizable; and a couple of smallish keepers and a little guy ate my Ned Rig as I swam it through openings. The bigger guys were still an unfocused, tough sell.
I relocated to another, more remote hump and found more of the same; only bigger bass, and more visible rejections of my offerings. They were interested... but couldn't commit.
I now focused on the shallow milfoil and inside edges with flukes and a popper. The popper was fun because it would collect a group of lookers on most casts; but no bites.
Just to make sure I was alive, I pitched a senko down a weed-edge. It took a hundred yards or so, but another small keeper-sized bass ate; I can always go back to that.
But the bass I really wanted to catch were those cruisers in 4 to 8 feet of water or so; the one holding tight to the edges, waiting to make their move shallow. I dedicated some time to cranking the edge with a DT3 (a DT4 or 6 would have been even better), and it did pay off with my bass of the day, a solid 4-pounder.
 |
| DT3 Strikes Again! |
 |
| Sunday Selfie |
Subsequent flaking around heavy cover resulted in another nice keeper (released, off course) for a 5-fish virtual limit of about 12 pounds or so.
 |
| There she goes; maybe I'll see her again when she's a 6. |
What do I have to say about this?
Along with Zeno, I was accompanied this day by Tantalus and Tiresius. Tantalus showed me more nice-to-big bass this day than ever before on this lake; and I found them in just about every place I looked, so I must be looking in at least some of the right places. But for the most part, I could see them, but not have them. And Tiresius was a prophet, a seer; I can see many fine, future catches for me and my partners on this lake.
All in all, it ended up being a familiar Reeds Lake outing; kind of tough, but with some pleasant happenings.
Along with Zeno, I was accompanied this day by Tantalus and Tiresius. Tantalus showed me more nice-to-big bass this day than ever before on this lake; and I found them in just about every place I looked, so I must be looking in at least some of the right places. But for the most part, I could see them, but not have them. And Tiresius was a prophet, a seer; I can see many fine, future catches for me and my partners on this lake.
All in all, it ended up being a familiar Reeds Lake outing; kind of tough, but with some pleasant happenings.
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