7/12/15 Monkey Wrench

Well...the weather has once again thrown a monkey wrench in my fishing plans. All week I had been planning on fishing the White River for Smallmouth Bass. I tied some really nice streamers and was dreaming of smallies chasing them down. The river was dropping and was looking to be in great shape by the weekend. Larry and I made firm plans to meet and hit the water early Sunday morning. By the time Saturday evening rolled around, it was obvious that our plans were in jeopardy. A massive storm front was rolling through Illinois and into Indiana...again. I contacted Larry and told him that we would have to check the gauges in the morning before making the final call to go to the river or not. Listening to the rain on the roof while I was in bed was giving me serious doubts for the following day. I woke the following morning to check the gauges and wouldn't you know it, the White was on the up and up with no signs of slowing down. I called Larry and after a bit of lollygagging we decided to head up North and fish a lake for Largemouth. Yes, you read that right: Largemouth. Those of you that know me are aware that Largemouth Bass are pretty close to the bottom of my list of things to fish for. After a bit of heel dragging, I went to pick up Larry and his kayak and head for a small, natural lake up North. Upon arriving at the lake we discovered that the water was slightly off color and the wind was much stronger than anticipated. We decided to make a go of it and got to fishing. I was having very little luck on a streamer with only two small fish to show for an hours worth of effort. I met back up with Larry to check in and see if he was onto anything. He had been having some luck throwing a popper to shoreline weeds. After hearing this, I made the switch and within 5 minutes I caught 2 pretty decent fish. I'm not much of a Largemouth fan but I have to admit watching them come up and whack a surface lure is still a ton of fun! We both had moderate success the rest of the day with several more fish each. I'd guess we both caught in the neighborhood of 10 fish or so. All in all not a terrible day but certainly not what I had in mind all week. Once again we made the best of a bad weather situation. I'm still praying for better weather the second half of summer. Maybe someday it'll come true.