Got the weekend chores done early and hit Newman around 4pm. I was in my 12' alum w/37lb electric and fought the wind most of the afternoon. I was hoping I'd have enough charge to get back to the launch after having to use the motor so much to fix and hold position. My anchor was in my big boat.

I headed south from the public launch and hit my first LMB under a dock near the SE corner drop-shotting a purple w/neon green claw crawdad. I had done a lot of reading about drop-shotting on this site and today was my first time trying it, so it was pretty exciting to land one first time out!

I worked that area for an hour or so, hitting & missing a few but getting nothing to the boat. I headed toward the middle of the south end of the lake along the pads and there I had better luck tossing a neon perch pattern Rapala. I had to rip it pretty fast to keep it above the weeds. Just about the time I'd be sick of pulling weeds off the hooks I'd get a fish and I'd decide to stick around a little longer. Hit 3 4 more bass and then ended up over a school of perch and couldn't keep them off. Funny thing though, they'd dive as soon as they'd hit, so more than a few times I pulled up this huge glob of weeds and you couldn't even see the fish in the middle.

I was hoping to bring home some perch and/or crappie for the table, but didn't catch any crappie and no perch of any size worth keeping. A day like today restored my faith in this lake. I hadn't had much luck the last couple of times out. I'll be back next time with my big boat so I can explore more of the lake and dropshot more docks.

I owe this day to the bunch of you guys sharing your knowledge, tips & tricks on this website! I'm a dropshot believer now! ;-)