I took a few seniors fishing for smallmouth bass in the canal area last Friday. Things looked promising in the beginning.

I started out with a husky jerk (per initial gut feeling) and set up the seniors with their weapon of choice, live night crawlers.

It has been a really long time since I last went fishing for bass so I had to shake the rust and dust off of everything. Forgot to set the cast control on the first cast and nearly created a birds nest but my fast acting thumb saved the day. Whew!!!

Sparked up a conversation with a passer by and her dog with my back to the water and bam!!! A good hit. I pull back and set the hook and nothing. I forgot to set the drag. DOH!

The fish was on long enough to see it just under the surface of the water before it shrugged the husky jerk off. It was a nice 2.5 pound smallie.

It left a bitter taste for sure. No other hits all day with the husky jerk. I tried other lures but none of them produced. Switched to the drop shot but could only manage teeny tiny nibbles and snag ups.

The only other consolation was that I got to meet Dress Code. He has some nice set ups. It was cool meeting you! Hope to see you out there again.

Two of the seniors didn't get any bites and another went 0 for 4 with the worms. One of them was probably a bigger smallmouth, the way the her rod was bent, but she couldn't seal the deal. :(

Although we didn't catch any fish, the trip was relaxing and fun. For one of them, it was the first time she had gone fishing in over 20 years.

Action on Union should start to heat up soon.

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