Weather was dry. Decided to brave the crowds and get some fishing time in. Only planned on a couple of hours for the morning.

Fishing started off slow. Caught 3 dinks in 2 hours. 1 on swimbait, 2 on DS. It was very cool, overcast and breezy. Went along with the wind, no point in fighting it. Water temp is down 7 degrees from a few days ago.

Tried a little bit deeper but wasn't finding anything. Started going shallower, really shallow for me. Pitch my DS at a high percentage spot and instantly see my line swim away. Set the hook and woot, feels like a decent fish finally. Pulls a bit of drag and it turns around a piling. Then it self releases. Bummer.

Continue on with same technique and woot, another fish on and this one feels decent too. Stays hooked and net it! 2.57lbs SMB. Not bad.

Keep with the same pattern thinking maybe I'm onto something. Then another dink. Doh

It slowed down again, so I started mixing it up. Tried some spinnerbaits, jerks and cranks. Running a shallow running crank, I get a nice strike. I see it's barely hooked, but managed to scoop it in. Didn't measure, but guessing 1.5#.

A couple more 1.5-1.75#ers.

Moved to the other side of the lake. Continued the same pattern. Bam, another 15-16"er.

I tossed a crankbait and tube past the same spot a couple of times each, nothing. I toss out the DS and instantly, I see my line swimming away. Another one of those 15-16".

Whatever reason, the DS is the ticket now.

Landed 3 17"ers in a row, with the DS. Weighed one and it was 2.5#. Looks like I finished with 4 of those 17"ers.

If I veered off my pattern slightly, I would get a dink. Otherwise, it was at least a 1.5# or bigger. I was calling my shots for a while there. Didn't bother using the other rods once the DS heated up. I could pull up to a new spot and get a fish with the first or 2nd cast. It was pretty awesome.

Best fish of the day was at 3.15lbs. Same pattern, on DS. It was money today.

Before I knew it, I've been fishing for 7 hours! LOL. If counting the dinks(10-12"), I had close to 20 SMB, if not over, and 1 perch on a crank.

Only 1 over 3 pounds. 4 at the 2.5 pound range. The rest were in the 1.5-1.75 range. I think I only landed 5 dinks.

Made freezing my butt off worth it. Almost went home early too.

---