NOVEMBER 2010

Report by George:

27th Joyce and Bill Dunwell: Brother and sister Joyce and Bill were celebrating birthdays with one of their favorite pastimes. Following recommendations of wild shiners and Lake J would bring them their most successful day of fishing yet in both numbers and size. Again as with previous trips the shiners lured bass after bass out of their weedy cover. Free lined shiners were the method and all 72 shiners that we took to the lake successfully did their job. Bill and Joyce did a spectacular job hooking up as did the previous customers this month.

Hooking up with shiners is not the lay-down approach many think it is and everyone this month did very well with the timing and technique.

Well over 500 bass were caught for November and everyone went home with worn thumbs and big smiles. Biggest bass was the 9.5 pound in the boat with an even bigger gal coming unbuttoned at the side of the boat. With the windy weather that was provided these results were nothing short of spectacular. Thanks to all for great fishing, great camaraderie and lots of laughs.

Report by George:

22,23,24th Crawford Moore: Day one for Crawford and Brad started with disaster for me as I discovered the right rear tire or the boat trailer leaning at a very rakish angle. I had gone to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items prior to meeting up with the guys and discovered that my right rear hub had disintegrated. A quick call to friend Don Willis was enough to make arrangements to get the guys on the water and gave me the day to get needed repairs made. Of course, as could be expected, parts weren't just around the corner, but by 2 PM everything was back together.

The guys opted to give artificial a try but catching was extremely slow as only 5 bass decided to play that day.

Day two I met Crawford who would be fishing alone and we headed to Lake J. armed with a tank full of wild golden shiners. The plan was to free-line these guys along the edge of lily pad fields and lure the fish out of under their protective cover. By noon Crawford had boated 80 bass with a 9.5 pound lady being the big fish of the day.

Day three Crawford and Brad were with me again and ready to repeat yesterday's catching. Success was pretty much guaranteed as we hit the same location again with wild shiners. Both Crawford and Brad caught the most bass they ever had, and both caught the biggest bass of their fishing career on this three day venture.

Report by George:

The month has continued with phenomenal catches to report. On the 13th is was Mike Martin and Bekin Youngblood ready to try their had at hooking up using native golden shiners. A quick stop at Middleton's and we were off armed with 6-dozen of Joe's best.

The morning was mild as the sun peeked over the cypress that surround the lake. Picking our spot and placing two shiners along the edge of the grass produced bass within the first two minutes of anchoring. Throughout the morning correct placement of the shiners produced bass after bass. Hookup ratio was outstanding and as the morning ended so did our stock of shiners. Seventy two shiners produced 67 bass, and let me tell you that is an outstanding hookup record. Usually the hookup ratio is less than 60%, but these guys had the technique needed to get the job done. I'm waiting for pictures from them and will post them on the photo gallery as soon as I get them.

On the 15th Joe O'Brien and friend Karen Franzese were on deck. Joe and Karen have fished many times with me and are both very experienced fishers. Usually Joe works the artificial and Karen works shiners, but after hearing the earlier reports the days selections was wild golden shiners. Again and connection with Middleton's and we were on our way with 6-dozen. Another day of fantastic greeted us and we launched and I decided to try a previous location. A cold fronts arrival preceded these trips and lingered so the bass were buried under grass and pads. The idea was to lure them out from the grass and today as with the preceding trip it worked like a charm. Again the shiners were consumed by late morning producing a catch of 63 bass. Once the anchors were up we proceeded with artificial baits for a bit but 3 bass later and a long distance covered brought us to the end of today's trip with smiles all around.

On the 16th Joe and Karen again made the trip with me but this time we were armed with wild golden shiners gotten from Joe Middleton's tanks. We had another day of fantastic weather forecasted and expectations were high. As twelve o'clock rolled around we were out of shiners. Today's catch of 103 bass was the best yet. There are pictures of Joe and Karen's bass on my photo gallery.

The decision to use shiners was based on the arrival of our first cold front for this season and so far it was by far the correct decision. When cold fronts drop water temperatures by 10 or more degrees these Florida bass head for cover and warmth and become very closed mouth.

Hope to see you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance.

Report by George:

November started off with a bang as  the bass fell for the allure of the topwater charms of a Sebile Splasher 3 1/2" 5/8 oz. (floating) chugger. This bait performed flawlessly, producing a lot of bass as well as the big fish for the morning. Of equal production the long standing allure of the Storm Chug Bug also performed well.

Eben Huston and friend Ron hit the water with me for a beautiful day of topwater action on 11/1 at Farm 13. Chug Bugs were the bait of choice for the entire day of successful fishing with some really nice bass finding their way over the rail. By days end we logged 2 eight pound ladies and a 6.5 to add emphasis to our success.

On the 5th, 6th, and 7th we had our returning clients for what would turn our to be phenomenal success with wild golden shiners. Day one found us working in winds of 35 MPH but that didn't hamper our efforts as we finished out the day with 28 bass in the boat.

Day two with temperatures in the low 40's and winds to 30 MPH we moved to Lake Jackson as the weed growth would help to calm the wave action.  Being a two boat trip with friend Don Willis pitching in on boat two we set up in two different spots looking for the action. First on the fish was Don. A phone call, and a short move put both boats 20' apart and the catching was on. With 10-doz. shiners the count by days end was 93 bass caught and released.

Day three we returned to the same location and the catching was again strong in spite of cold temps and strong winds. 97 bass liked the offering of wild shiners.

For pictures of some of this phenomenal fishing go to my photo gallery. So far this month the fishing has been great as you can readily see.

Thanks to our clients, the assist from Don, and the spectacular cooperation of the bass in some very tough conditions.