Launched at 9am, it was very cloudy and the wind was out of the s.e. at a fairly steady 5-7mph, water temps were 48.5 degrees and the ambient temp had to be in the upper 40's. I started off the day flipping a 1/4oz black and blue jig in the cove the launch is in (just south of the launch). Worked the docks there, rocks, some laydown logs and even threw a crankbait into the wind out across the point that leads out into the main lake, nothing happening. So, I motored back across north past the launch and started working the docks on the west side of the lake. My thinking was that with the cold front, the bass (if they were still up) would be tight to cover, so I made it a point to flip to every piling on both sides of every dock, hopefully until I hooked one and could determine a more specific depth, but that didn't pan out. I decided to head across the lake to the east shore in search of a little warmer water, but it was the same there 48.5*. I fished my way north throwing 1/4oz jigs, crankbaits, a carolina rigged power worm, and shakey heads out to 15 feet, still blank! I was marking alot of fish suspended in 10' of water over about 15-18', I dropped offerings down and let the wind move me along as I watched on my Lowrance the lure move up and down from 12-8 feet right past the fish I was marking without so much as one slapping it out of their face!

By this time I decided to run to the far south end and hit the shallow water cove, and once there found the water one whole degree warmer. Fished around in there for about 30-45 minutes, but didn't like being out of the wind, so I decided to head all the way back north and fish the shallows where the wind had been blowing in on the docks all morning, unfortunately the only thing I caught were a few sticks, and a 1/4 chunk of an old tire LOL.....thought for just a second I had a giant??? but tires don't headshake, so it was back to reality really quick.

By now it was about Noon, and I was actually pondering heading home, but the sun was starting to peak throught the clouds more and more, and I knew that was supposed to continue as the day wore on, so I figured I would stay a bit longer to see how and if the bass reacted?. I cut off my crankbait, and tied on a Strike King "Red-Eyed Shad" lipless crankbait in kind of a gold color? thinking I would try something new for a while, and knowing that was a bait I could keep near or on the bottom. So with that done, I ran over to an area I know has large scattered rocks out to about 10' and made a cast up towards shore, I would sweep the rod tip back sideways from about 3-10 o'clock letting the bait swim slightly up off and along the bottom and then sink back down..."worming the bait".....I could feel it clanging on the rocks then coming to rest, if it picked up any weeds I would snap the rod tip back hard to clear the bait and continue the process. Cast #3, after snagging a rock on cast #2, my rod bowed up again, and I thought I snagged another rock, but wag wag and it was that unmistakable headshake!! Woohoo! Then he jumped! A nice one!! I fought him out to the boat and grabbed him as quick as I could as he only had one hook in him!! 4.5lbs on the scale, photographed and released.

Thought I had something figured out, but that would be the only fish of the day for me, only strike too! Tried repeating the process everywhere, even retraced my steps with a jig once the water warmed up to 50*, but I could not find another fish.

I motored back throught the rocky area before leaving, and saw what had to be the bass I released in the same spot and two more of his buddies in the same area, they were very spooky, and didn't want to play.

One beats a skunk any day, so no complaints here! The sun finally won the battle, and it was nice the rest of the day! Should hopefully set things up well for tomorrow?? We'll see.....

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