Met up with AMX and Jesusfish for a friendly fish off at Lake Meridian. I've never fished a "tournament" before, so it's a bit foreign to me. But I know how to catch some fish, even if they are small, so I have half the idea already, lol.

Introductions and fish talks, then off we went.

3 hours, 3 fish limit, 10" minimum.

I've never used my livewell before and I've had my boat for 4 years. I wasn't even sure if it would work, LOL. Found the plug inside and hoped for the best when I hit the switch. It's making noise.... and I see water spraying inside. Woot. Looks like it's holding water too and not leaking. Good start for the day.

It's chilly out this morning. A light layer of fog or mist on the water.

Too early to buzz across the lake with the main motor, so I figure I'll just start fishing right away near the launch.

Started off with a jerkbait. Why? Because I want to catch a jerkbait fish. No bass, but had numerous perch pecking at it near boat side. Tried a mid diving crank for a bit. Then switch to the dropshot. Had on a dink SMB and popped off when it jumped on the DS.

Tossed a wacky worm into the shallower areas hoping to see if anything would bit it, but blanking out.

I look around and see my side is in the shade. The Kent Kangley side is receiving sun. I'm thinking the water might be a little bit warmer over there and fish may be more active. So I putted across to the other side of the lake where the sun is.

Start tossing a swimbait ~4" swimbait. Didn't take long until I got a bite along some lilly pads. It was a small LMB that was barely bigger than the lure. Popped off jumping around. I weave in and out and see my sonar is lit up in 18-20' of water. I toss out my DS into it and got a bite right away. It's a dink SMB but I see a much larger LMB following it and it looks like it's trying to take the lure out of the SMB. Guessing a 15-16" LMB. Released the SMB and searched around for that LMB. Tried some deep diving cranks. DS everywhere around there. But just felt the pesky nips. Caught several undersized LMB and SMB.

Moved back to the shallow area and try working on the pads again. Caught more undersized fish on swimbait and DS.

It's almost 9AM and I don't have a keeper with 1hr left. I decided to cross the lake on my trolling motor. I sit back and have a snack while regrouping. As I get closer, I start seeing little bait fish jumping out of the water in about 25' of water. Interesting.

When I get close enough, I start tossing my swimbait around. Then shallow,mid and deep cranks. Then the DS. Almost instantly, get a bite. Undersized LMB. I've landed a handful of 9- 9.75" fish all morning. So close. I just want at least 1 keep. I guess set goals low, so I don't get disappointed? LOL.

Worked that 20-25' zone and fish kept getting smaller it seems. So I move into the shallower area and working the docks and pads. Tossed the wacky rig around. Had several tiny nips.

Get to an area where I found a dead raccoon floating in the water years ago. Tried the swimbait first without a bite. Tossed the DS in the deep end where it's about ~15' of water. After about 10 seconds of jigging, I felt a bite and set the hook. Rod bends over and I know it's a decent fish. It's not pulling a lot of drag, but without a doubt it's going to keep! It surfaces and I see it's a nice SMB. I don't see the hook so that's not a good sign. I'm just hoping it stays on. A few more digging around and I get it into the net. WOOT! Didn't weigh it. Took a quick length measurement and pic. Then tossed it into the livewell. Didn't weigh it, but my noob estimate was 3 and a half.

Continued working this little around and caught more fish. SMB and LMB in the mix. I get a keeper LMB that was about 11-12". I get a SMB that's barely 10". It may have been 9.98". I put that one in the livewell too, so I could verify it with a bumper stick later. So now I have 2 keepers and 1 maybe, all on DS in this little area. Caught about 10 fish there. 2 hours of dinks and now I have a limit, yay.

Started heading down the shoreline towards the launch. There's about 30 mins left. I pitch my DS right next to a cluster of pads and get a bite. Fish on! It doesn't feel like a big one, but it doesn't feel like a dink either. Woot, it's another 11-12" LMB. I've culled my first fish ever! LOL.

Started fishing faster because I wanted to hit this spot further up before I was done. There's also a dock nearby that I've had some good success with. As I get closer to that dock, I see a line fly out at the dock, from my angle, it looked like it was coming from shore.

As I get closer, I see it's AMX! He's tucked inbetween the 2 docks and I didn't even see or hear him. We had a little chuckle and I said, that's the dock I was heading towards. He tells me it's a lucky dock for him too, LOL.

So I skip the dock and work the area I was going to finish off at. No fish. Just little nips.

Times just about up and headed towards the dock. Don't know how the others guy did, since I didn't see them much at all. Even though it's a small lake. I was expecting us to cross paths a lot more. Or maybe I was just too concentrated on fishing, lol.

AMX helped me adjust my scale. I was having some problems with it and the instructions I found said to do one thing, but apparently it's must be for a different model because that's not it is. Thanks for that AMX.

Jesusfish tells us he hooked into a monster and felt larger than his 7# a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, didn't get to bring it into the boat. I would have loved to see what a bass that big looks like in person. I can't even imagine. Maybe some day, I will get to see one. I still remember my 4lb 6oz a couple weeks ago and that looked huge.

I weighed first. Hmmm, grabbing fish from a livewell isn't as easy as it seems, lol. Got a hold of the LMB first and I see little craw(??) antennas sticking out of it's throat. AMX jokes saying weigh it quickly before it spits it out, lol.

1.05# on DS LMB.

2nd LMB, looks a little bit skinner but weighs exactly the same.

1.05# on DS LMB.

Now trying to grab the SMB. Kept breaking free when I was try to lip it. Finally get a hold of it and I also see a pair of antennas sticking out of it's throat.

3.13# on DS SMB.

Total weight, 5.23#.

Now it's AMXs turn.

He had a feisty 11" LMB that wouldn't stay still. It kept slipping off the scale hook, LOL. Took a while, but it finally settled down.

.7X# on DS LMB.

Then he pulls out a big LMB. Quality fish. Had a big head, but skinny body. Late spawner?

3.28# on DS LMB.


2 keepers for AMX.

Jesusfish, no keepers on the boat, but if he got a hold of that fish he lost, he would have kicked our asses with 1 fish, LOL.

Great time out of the water as far as fun factor with the guys. Fishing, could have been a bit better if we caught more bigger fish. Lots of dinks for sure.

So I get bragging rights for biggest bag today. AMX gets bragging rights for biggest fish. Jesusfish gets bragging rights for potential biggest fish.

Will have to do this again.

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