Fishing solo, I launched the Ol' Bass Tracker onto Horseshoe Lake for a bass try. I had fished and explored almost the entire shoreline without a strike. I had seen one nice bass about 3 pounds and had 3 little 5 inchers follow my Rapala back to the boat. Finally, with only about 50 yards of shoreline left, I cast my jig to the front of a dock. Felt a fish and reared back hard setting the hook. The fish hardly moved on the hook set, just shook her head for a few seconds and then took off with lots of power. I finally landed her and put her into my livewell. I was so satiated, I just sat and enjoyed the moment for a few minutes. I saw a shoreline resident and his dog come out on the next dock and asked him to take a photo. He was happy to do so and gave proper admiration of the fish. I weighed the fish in front of him and it was 7 pounds even. She was 22 3/4 inches long and had a huge pre-spawn belly. I was wondering if she was the big 6 1/2 pounder that Marc had caught last June. Anyway, she was treated gently and released back in front of the same dock she was caught.
There were 2 other boats on the lake and they were both fishing for trout. Beautiful sunny, warm day with only a little breeze. Pads just starting to surface. Very little spawning sign showing around the shoreline.

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