lake murray - my new nemesis

if i had a nemesis lake, it'd be murray. hands down, with out a question, this lake has frustrated me to no end. i used to live maybe 10 minutes away from this lake, and have tried my luck here before. every single time, probably 4 or 5 outings now, i have come out of that place smelling like skunk. i've thrown my whole tackle box out there, spinners/worms/cranks/topwater/etc. with nothign to show for.

now, seeing that the boards have been flooded, and i mean flooded with new personal bests from murray, i had to give it another try. so, off i went with my gf.

started off tossing some worms out into some of the lakes nearby arms. bleh, the lake was just breaming with weeds, EVERYWHERE. the bait could not settle down, unless you found a pocket in that huge mess. i decided to move on to different waters, looking for some tules or open water. i made my way to the power lines, and spotted a few tules. started flipping my weightless senko right into or near the tules. did the same to some other bunches of tules, until i made it just past the power lines. threw in my senko once again to slack line. this time tho, once my line dropped in, it kept dropping. there was no way the water was more than 2 ft deep, but it seemed like my line kept on dropping. at that instant, and started reeling, and what do you know, fish on!

so thats why they say to watch your line for anything "different".

well, murray's still my nemesis lake, but i've got 1 fish out fo here! stoked, and can't wait to get back out there.

PB in the Fresh!!! - 6/6

i had written up a long report, sprawled with my epic story of catching this beast. but, decided to cut it out, as most people only like looking at pictures. and i also started rambling off topic....

well without further adieu, my personal best LMB caught in our fine SD lakes!

caught on a brown 4.5" roboworm using my 7'6" ML/MF shimano compre on 6lb test! finesse style ftw! i was trying out some new rigs and decided to throw this finesse rig, and started jigging it around some points. hooked up to a smaller one at first, and thought, man this thing works! then after a few more cast, thought i got stuck on some rocks. gave it a tug, and it started tugging back! started reeling it in a bit, and it surfaced and jumped out of the water! once i saw it out of the water, MAN! my heart started pumpin! i fought her real nice and slow, knowing that i only had 6lb test line on. she kept giving some good hard runs, almost like my PB hali (33 incher). what got me more afraid was when she buried herself in some grass. on my ML setup, i thought for sure she was a gonner...but she came out and i surfaced her and eased her in. lipped and landed her! i took the hook out with ease, and damn lucky she didn't do another aerial show as for sure she wouldve shooken the hook out. took a few pics and set her free. she splashed her way back and swam away strong. man, she was a beast!!! i could literally fit my whole fist in her mouth.

SD Lake Lunker - 5/10

welp, decided to change things up and fish the fresh, so hit up one of the  inland lakes in sd county. made it out at around 1:00 pm, arrived to very little wind conditions, and many a jumping fish! threw the entire tacklebox at them. swimbaits, jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, worms, jigs, everything. did hook up to a nice bass on the lipless crank, early on, but still had many fish jumping around.

then, my buddy goes back to what he had tied on when we arrived. big hammer swimbait. someone told me that those wouldn't work in the fresh, but he was immediately on some fish! nice crappies to boot!

so i decided to tie my salt stuff back on and gave it a whirl. got a few taps, so remade with the mini big hammer. still getting taps but no takers, as my buddy hooks into his 3rd crappie on the swimmie. i then toss to a point, and get immediately slammed! fish is taking some crazy drag. pull her in as she comes to color, my personal best largemouth!

she was quite the lunker, and my forearms hurt after that. bass on the bh swimbait? i know, didn't believe it myself. after that i finally got into some crappie with the same bait.

my very first crappie!

crappie are like the surfperch of the freshwater. fun suckers on light tackle. ended the session with 2 bass and multiple crappies. all in all, good day on the fresh!

hanapa'a!