Bass Opener 2016

The eagerly anticipated morning finally arrived, I had been prepping here and there for a couple of weeks and had my starting line-up all ready.
The big switch for this year was:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...3f6d32c41f.jpg

Same line capacity, slightly faster gear ratio and half the size, was hoping it would reduce wrist fatigue while walking frogs.

I was targeting large mouth for the most part so my lineup was:
Frog
1/4oz Title shot with sweet beaver
1/2 Title shot dressed up as a black flippin jig tipped with a chigger craw
5" senko watermelon seed
Diawa Jerkbait

Headed out to my first spot and was surprised to see another boat fishing, picked a spot on the other side of the bay and picked up my frog rod with the new Ardent reel... I was expecting a bit of adjustment time as I got it set right but birds nest after birds nest, finally was able to make a few decent casts by heavily thumbing the spool and was rewarded with my first fish of the season:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...625_101438.jpg
Scrappy little duce :)

Spotted a few following the frog so I switched to the sweet beaver.
First couple of photo worthy fish:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...l/IMG_0245.jpg

Bigger one swam at and around my beaver a few times and it wasn't until the second or third pass that I noticed that he was mouthing something just past where my bait had been.. Hookset!

By the time I pulled up and got to my second spot, passing two more fishing boats, I had realized a couple things: 1 there was a little club tourney on the lake and 2: I had forgotten about the centrifugal brake system on my new baitcaster lol :ashamed:. Once I got the weights set properly the reel was a dream. As I worked my way into a shallow, flat, weedy bay the lack of wind and clear water allowed me great visibility; and I was seeing nothing... I worked the edges, thicker cover and a beaver lodge and stick pile. Nothing. As I was contemplating whether it was worth continuing into the rest of the bay I had something follow my texas rigged senko which I like to fish like a soft glide bait. The twopee wouldn't hit so I had to follow up with the beave and that got him into the boat.

This got me thinking that maybe the fish were relating more to the more open water in the middle, with so much area to cover I reached for my frog and cast it a country mile.

To be continued... :fish:

...

As I started to work the frog through the sparse cover a movement half way back to the boat and slightly off to the left caught my eye. A big largie was lazily cruising through. I sped up my retrieve and when the frog was within about a dozen feet she started to drift its way. The bass circled and I sped up to make sure I got the frog out in front because hookups are always better when they hit from behind. A quick pause with a few twitches to allow her to close in and then a quick escape attempt to trigger the hit. As my frog skittered past stringy white lilly pads, a subtle slurp was all that it took for my frog to disappear :scream:. Well that just made my day :fish:. Big fish on the frog on opening day :D

There were a few other bass cruising the same area but the battle had them all a little cagey so I moved along into the bay.

One more area held fish and after a couple twop's I got another solid fish on the jig:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...l/IMG_0246.jpg
Frog fish on the left, jiggy on the right.

That was it for this bay so I headed out to the main lake to fish some lumber.

Took awhile to find anyone willing to play but as my stretch of lumber was transitioning to deeper water my sweet beaver found it's mark in another healthy bucket. As the stretch of lumber finishes there is a nice little shoal poking out that often attracts smallies. First cast with the jerkbait and there was nothing subtle about the take this time! Nice smallie hooked by the back treble with another smaller one trying to steal the bait out of it's mouth all the way back to the boat.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...629-WA0002.jpg
This picture was very badly over exposed but I sent it to my cell, passed it along to a buddy and with a photo app he was. surprisingly quickly, able to turn it into a pretty good shot. Too bad my arms were too tired to hold the fish up all the way lol :cool:

After this I headed back to where the little tourney was weighing in just out of curiosity, they were kind enough to let me know that the winning weight was 17+ lbs and big fish was 4.5lbs. Nobody bothered to ask how I did, but I think I won :p .

Got out the next day as well, started out trying to map out some spots for ice lakers while I waited to hear if a friend was going to join me and then explored some new water. I don't know if the bite was off or the spots just weren't the best but only managed one good fish on Sunday, out of a similar shallow weedy bay and again relating to the sparse middle this one fell to the frog:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...626_124247.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...626_124507.jpg

It was a goooood opener :thumbup:

Great report! Thanks for sharing...

Thanks Seabast! :D

Nice fish!

Wonderful read!

Nice report Rugger!

Nice fish amigo, gotta love frog fishing!

Thanks lady and gents! And yes, I do love frog fishing :fish:

Love froggin too when the walleye bite is slow its time for some live target action the best artificial frog out there ...if its not in your arsenal run out and get some there deadly , never hang up!!