Guided Bass Trip 7/21
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:25 pm
On Saturday 7/21 I had Bill Dittalo from Rochester on board for a guided bass trip on Black Lake. Bill actually came up by himself this time to fish with me. He and some friends were here in June but the others didn't want to make the drive this time just to fish. I picked him up at Lakeside Lodge north of the bridge. And soon discovered why he came alone. He's a good angler and loves to fish. He wanted to catch smallmouth this time, but I told him the largemouth were biting better right now. I did bring some crayfish to try for smallmouth in the afternoon. After trying a couple of largemouth spots with only some small ones, I finally got him on a spot that was working for bigger ones. He's good with a baitcasting rod so I set him up with a lizard and a creature bait. The bass were biting and he caught two bass that were around 5 lbs and two more 4 lbers and a few more around 3 lbs before the action slowed. It was the best spot this season so far for big largemouth, and alot of it had to do with his fishing ability. I set the boat so he could fish very slow and feel for each bite. Of course it was also calm which helps when on a spot like that. I still wanted to get him on some smallmouth. The first shoal I set on, a 3 lber ate it right away but jumped and threw the hook. Then I couldn't get him another bite there. I switched to another shoal and this time I had a spot that was working. He started hooking up with one after another this time, and despite breaking the line on a few, he finally began landing them. I use 8 lb mono on the crayfish rods and this was the first time I've had a customer break off that many. The zebra mussels can be a tough on line. I used flourocarbon when dragging tubes in tournaments for that reason and may need to switch. But that hadn't really been a problem when using the crayfish. It may have been the way I was set on that shoal. Other than that, Bill had a wonderful day of bass fishing on Black Lake. He did admit the smallmouth are still more fun than even those bigger largemouth were. All bass were released.