Started off this morning on the bad side, sort of. My intention was not to catch fish but rather take the new baitcaster out for a whirl. It wasn't until i noticed jumps in the water and shadows are large bass swimming rather close to the shore that i decided to grab the spinning reels and give it a shot to land some good fish. They ignored pretty much everything that i casted their way. After about an hours of trying and the wind picking up, i called it a day and went over to Cabelas to take a look around and pick up some new gear (new spinnerbait, slip-line bobbers and jig heads).

With the wind picking up around noon, i shot over to Wehrspan lake took a new swimbait i got out for a test drive on the baitcaster, i took the treble hook since i was going through a lot weeds, i managed to get the spool so backlashed that i had to cut the line. So once again i contemplated about going to Cabelas for another spool of line, preferably mono, but i changed my mind and went back home to straighten out the tackle box. Headed out again around 4pm to the Offutt Lake to squeeze some more fishing, and boy was it packed. I first tried on the west side of the lake but the wind was a major problem, so i opted to the south side of the lake where the wind was not too bad.

After an hour of jerking the spinnerbaits on the southern shore, i found a sweet spot on a rock overshooting a pretty good dropoff in the water, figured some bass could be lurking down there. I was right, there was a good deal of them, some were swimming in pairs making rounds in the same spot over and over again. But yet they weren't interested in the spinnerbaits. So i opted to change to crankbaits, this got their attention not enough to bit. There was one particular bass that kept very close to the shore, i could almost reach out and grab him if i wanted to, I went to get the biggest minnow stickbait i had and plopped it a few feet from him, he looked at but didn't go after it until after i jerked it a few times and paused it for 30 seconds, he finally grabbed it and i pulled him up. As i stepped onto the higher ledge to grab the camera from my car, my foot slipped and the rod fell out of my hands, I quickly grabbed the rod before it landed in the water. I guess the sudden drop of the fishing and my upward grab of the pole was too much for the 10 lb braided line. It broke and the bass, plus my $10 Rapala X-Rap lure, got away.

I quickly rigged up another crankbait with the same colors, just slightly smaller and whipped that thing in all directions trying to see if i could catch him again (despite the astronomical odds of landing the same fish twice). After an hour of trying with several lures, i called it quits of ever catching him again. Another bass came to the same spot, but smaller, i tried to catch that one but he was uninterested altogether.

So today, I will mark it down and the day the big one got away.

ATTENTION NEBRASKA ANGLERS!
IF YOU CATCH A LARGEMOUTH BASS IN THE OFFUTT LAKE WITH A BLACK/ORANGE 4" STICKBAIT STUCK IN ITS MOUTH, PLEASE CONTACT ME. YOU CAN KEEP THE FISH, I JUST WANT THE LURE BACK.