4th of July weekend fishing Part 1

So today (Saturday) i wanted to head out to Louisville SRA just one county south of me at about 7am. Instead i woke up late and lazed my way out the door around 10am, thank goodness i had already rigged everything the night before. Its been a good 15 years since i was even out there so i didn't know what expect the conditions to be, so i went with a newly bought Rat-trap Fire-tiger (which i still don't know if i rigged it correctly), Texas rigged worm with a 1/2oz weight, and a 1/2oz bass jig black/blue.

First started out with the rat-trap just to test the waters. Found a lot of small bass in the lake, probably a mix of wipers and smallmouths. They seemed to be pretty attracted to the bait but not enough to nab at it, like i wanted that anyway. I switched to the bass jig to try and figure out how it functions in the water and it reacts during certain movement, since the water was very clear. A very mossy and weedy bottom didn't help as i could hardly see where the jig was half the time as it sank into the heavy cover where i knew no fish would be able to find. So i put that way. The next rod was going to the the texas rigged worm but after what i saw happen to the jig, i changed my mind and went back to the rat-trap for a little bit. I then switched to the smallest crankbait i had, a little x-rap size 5. Fished it around and it really made those schools of small fish really act out, in fact they seem to jump out of the water when I jerked it past them. I worked my up to the largest crankbait i had, size 11 and thats when i got my first hit with a hybrid bass, probably a pound and a quarter. As i threw him back i casted to the opposite side that i caught the first one at and hooked another, but while i was reeling him in, another grabbed the crankbait from the front and i ended up hooking two smallmouths on the same crankbait. Both were under a pound, smaller than the first.

All in all, i caught 6 fish. 2 hybrids, 3 smallmouths, and 1 largemouth today.

The second part of the trip i went back to what i will call my favorite texas rigging pond, despite no catches. I know what the bottom is and i know the area and what fish are there. Despite the fact i caught nothing at Halleck pond again, doesn't mean i came away empty handed. I learned quite bit about the baitcaster reel, and i have found my favorite setup for it. The Nanofil line cast smoothly through the stainless steel guides, it doesn't appear to dig into the guides while setting the hook. I had no backlashes from it at all, i could definitely feel the difference between the weight hitting the bottom, a fish (or turtle) nabbing at the worm, or just my hopping action to make it dance a little, just by having my finger underneath the line i could really tell the difference. I'm really looking forward to using at a lake or pond that actually has some fish in it, lol.