Fish Presaged a Tough Outing

We trolled the edge of the flat and some of the sweep, then turned left towards Face Rock. I cut the electric motor when we got close. On the second retrieve of my jig and Z-Man paddletail, a dark form came from behind. I saw it was a pickerel of about 20 inches, which directly engulfed the jig a half second later. I set the hook, the fish thrashed powerfully, cutting the line. 

So I connected 15-pound Power Pro to my four-pound test, by way of barrel swivel.

Brian cast a lipless crankbait and soon another pickerel hit that. I measured it for him. Twenty-two inches. A chunky fish that must have weighed nearly three pounds. 

We trolled and cast. When I saw that first pickerel, I felt chances were I'd never see another. One of those easy starts--except that I lost the fish!--that somehow presage a tough day.

And it was. I'm tired tonight and felt tired on the lake. I could hardly focus at the end of the outing. But Brian did little better, catching a couple of little smallmouths besides. I got a 15-incher on a Baby Torpedo. Great surface smash. Besides that bass, a little one no bigger than Brian's bigger of those two little ones I photographed. That second bass of mine came on the jig.

Not a single largemouth from the reservoir yet this year.