The 2011 fishing season has been slower for me than years past. It has not slowed my effort, contrarily it has fueled
a desire to become a better and more diverse angler. I am sure that I am not alone when I describe my current situation
and I do not feel as though the struggle that I am enduring is in vain.
I have always been a slower fisherman. In that I mean that I primarily use soft plastics and jigs. I have never been the
angler to stand all day and burn crankbaits or other lures where you can cover a large body of water in a short period
of time. I do not dislike using crankbaits, I just don't have the confidence in them that I do in plastics.
I started consistantly fishing this year in February and chalked the lack of bites up to the fish being slow and me
being out of practice. This theory was fine until the water warmed up and I have witnessed several 20 plus pounds bags
weighed in at tournaments. The climax to my lull came this past Saturday when I took my wife crappie fishing and converted
to a bass fishing trip when I could not catch any crappie. I had bass busting the water, chasing shad all around me and I
could not even muster a bite. Not only is it embarassing for someone to witness an event like this but to live it is more
humbling. After this event, I cranked the motor and headed back home to do some "soul searching."
I sat at home and gave my situation a lot of thought and tried to think of things that I could do different. I decided
that I was going to change up the way that I fish no matter how painful. Primarily, this meant I was going to have to dust
off the crankbaits and limber up the throwing arm. I decided that I was going to get back in the saddle the following day
at Wheeler Lake. I have fished Wheeler several times but never with any success. I called up a friend of mine, Calloway,
and we settled on blasting off at daylight.
We could not have picked a better morning to fish. The lake was like a sheet of glass and the temperature was very
comfortable for this time of year. The water is still stained due to the amount of rain that has fallen over the past
two weeks but it is clearing. We pulled up on our first stop and I had a modified Rayburn Red rattle trap tied on. I
tried several different retrieves on the crankbait and after changing it up, I got bit. I felt pretty good about landing
the half-pound wheeler special. When you are used to not catching fish, catching a dink in the first ten casts is great.
A dozen casts later, using the same retrieve, I caught a five pounder. Besides being overwhelmed with joy, all I could
think about was "this never happens when I am in a tournament." We stayed on that spot for thirty more minutes and boated
a few more pounders before we left.
I do not know many promising spots on Wheeler but I decided I would try to go with something similar to the original spot,
which was 1-3 feet of water. We cruised over to a near-by bank that was the same depth and continued fishing the same baits
with no success. At one point, I looked down and saw three shad swimming by the boat. They had blue backs and shiny sides.
I asked Calloway if he had any rattle traps that were that color and he had an exact match. He started throwing that trap
and after several casts had a fish on. I immediately switched to that pattern and we simultaneously boated fish. It was the
best day I have ever experienced on Wheeler and hope that it is a trend that will continue the rest of the season.
I cannot say that I am a better fisherman after today but I can say that not being stubborn and hard-headed with the lures
that I use will be a benefit in days to come. I am on a mission to continue to experiment and learn more about these "small
brained" aquatic creatures that we love to catch.