MDR - 4/23/17 - Skunk be gone!

[goldenglory18]

I decided to finally put some of the BWE knowledge that's been so graciously shared to work and boy did it pay off.

Hit the water at safe light and paddled straight to the last boat slip on the west side (start of the rock wall.) I wanted to force myself to slow down and picked natural/blue/green/clear colored plastics. First up was the drop shot w/18" leader and dark colored 4" shad. As soon as the rocks got sunlight and the tide peaked, the bite opened up. First sliming of the new Ride and skunk be gone! In just over two hours I landed multiple Spotties and Sandies in a 50yd stretch of rock. The sizes were small, but I knew I had whatever they were looking for: low, slow, and natural.





Around 11am the bite started to slow a bit and I was getting a lot of other paddler traffic so I decided to cross the channel and hit the east side wall. The bite was slow on that side as well so I switched presentations to a shakeyhead type jig with the same plastic bait and with the hook tip buried to avoid the vegetation. Using the current and wind to my favor, I let the conditions push me back into the marina and I made casts behind me to every piece of cover and structure I could find. Lots of good/strong bites, but nothing landed (I was fishing much faster at this point and can contribute the misses to this.) The size was getting bigger, but I wasn't getting hooked up.

Just after I passed the Lifeguard slip I decided to switch one more time and put a lighter color bait on of the same size and leave the hook open as risk of hangups. BOOM! I landed a two more with the size finally starting to get better. After passing the bait dock I make my way into the open slips and that move got me my best two of the day...



...The last which being a beautiful spot that felt a solid 2-3lbs. The final and best fish of the day!



I know its not much, and I know they aren't the biggest and baddest bass out there, but I'm REALLY stoked that I finally broke through the saltwater bass funk. Next task is to get consistent, and then to get consistently bigger sizes.

Rig of the day:
Okuma Helios MH rod with Quantum Smoke Inshore reel
10lbs test dropshot w/18" leader and a shakeyhead screw-on jighead
Damiki ishad in various natural colors (dark in the AM, lighter in the afternoon)

Thanks again to my BWE brethren that have been so great in helping me get on the right track in the salt!