Bass Fishing with my Buddy, Jeff

Yesterday I had the pleasure to fish with a buddy of mine that I had never fished with before.  I've known Jeff for a few months now and when both of our schedules allowed for it, we decided to hit some local water to chase some largemouth bass.  We got on the water at about 9 and things did not start off well.

It had been a while since Jeff had fished and he had some rust to knock off.  As for myself, my old tricks just weren't working.  I landed two bluegill on jigs and that was about it.  With both of us struggling, I decided to set the fly rod down and simplify things for both of us.  A local fisherman told recently told me that the bass in this lake would suspend in the middle of the lake during July and August.  It felt like trolling for these fish might get a reaction bite so we tied on some crankbaits and turned the trolling motor to high!  We didn't get a sniff.  This was not going well.  

I felt bad that Jeff wasn't catching anything.  I was getting frustrated with my inability to make the right moves.  Confidence for both of us was starting to wane and the writing on the wall said "This just isn't a good day to fish boys."  As a last ditch effort, I decided to start hitting the shallows and what little shade there was with a soft plastic worm.  That's when the first bite came...and the second...and the third!  After a few more fish for me and some bites for Jeff, we started to crack the code.  The bass were shallow and near rocks.  They didn't seem to care for moss or vegetative cover or even logs for that matter.  Once we started focusing on the rocks, our entire morning changed.

I ended up landing about 10 bass total but Jeff was struggling to get the hang of worm fishing.  This was a new technique for him and like anything new, there was a learning curve.  He missed some bites and had a few fish on the line but just couldn't get anything to the boat.  I wanted him to land one probably about as much as he wanted to land one himself but we were running out of spots and time.  He had to take off around noon and it was a little after 11:30 when I started to get nervous.  However, just like our luck had turned earlier in the morning, it was about to take a similar turn for Jeff.

I watched him make a cast to a rocky bank and the next thing I saw was him reeling in line that was headed toward the middle of the lake.  The anxiety and excitement that he was feeling could be seen on his face and heard in his voice.  He eventually got the fish to the side of the boat and I applied the force of a vice grip on the bass.  It was all smiles and pictures next followed by literal sighs of relief from both of us.  Jeff didn't get skunked, I landed a few bass, and what started off looking like a rough morning turned out to be pretty darn good.  The icing on the cake was when Jeff asked, "So do you go fishing every Monday and Tuesday?"  I have a feeling that this won't be the last time you hear about Jeff reeling in fish!