Now the fishing report with a little background. Last fall Kari and I got a new dog (his name is George)… We got him while I was working with my dad on a northern reserve close to Hudson Bay. He was a stray dog that was pretty much starving to death so we would give him a little food now and then. Up on the reserve they have a “dog day” twice a year. That is when the go around town and shoot all of the stray dogs… So when it was time leave we loaded up George and another dog that my parents ended up keeping. They are awesome dogs but the have some of the strangest mannerisms. Anyway, we think George is a Husky/Wolf mix with probably something else in there too.
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I think George hates Florida… He is constantly panting like crazy and every morning he comes into our room around 5:30 am, sits by the bed so his head is close to my ear and pants until Kari or I get out of bed. George can’t swim but he has found refuge from the Florida heat by sitting on the steps of the pool. He sits on the steps because he can’t swim very well. I think he has fallen in the pool about 5 times now.
Today I woke up (after George panted in my ear for 10 minuets) and it was pretty ugly outside. The wind was blowing and the sky was Grey but I hadn’t been on the water in over a month and I was going through withdraws. Since the sun wasn’t blazing hot I figured I would take George along for his first fishing trip to Lake Istapokga. After George was done peeing on every boat trailer at the launch we hopped in the boat and headed out. I had talked to a few friends who said that the height of the spawn was already over but there were still fish on beds (just my luck, I missed the best time to catch my 7lber). I started the morning by flipping and pitching in reeds and bull-rushes in the areas that I had been catching good fish prior to the road trip. About 10 min George and I came across a couple of guys who were shiner fishing. They said that they had caught a few fish early in the morning closer too the hydrilla. After a short conversation, George and I continued on fishing the reed line. A few minutes later I heard a big splash and looked back just in time to see George’s tale disappear into gator infested water. When his head popped his eyes here as big as basketballs and he immediately started thrashing around. I threw down my rod and grabbed George and tried to hoist him into the boat. After a little struggle I managed to get him back in the boat. Once George was done rolling around on the carpet and drying off we headed across the lake to a hydrill patch. Within the firs few casts I caught my first bass of the day. George was pretty interested in the fish and kept nipping at its fins. A few casts later I lost a big bass that wrapped me up in the weeds… I’m not sure if it was 7 lber but it was definitely the biggest one I’ve had on in Florida… I had a little freak out (that probably looked like I was trying to stomp out a fire in the front of the boat) I went back to fishing. The rest of the day I caught a few more in the hydrilla but around 2pm the sun came out and it got a little hot for George so we headed in.
All of the fish I boated and had on came on a 10” Zoom speed worm Texas rigged with a ¼ oz bullet sinker. The think I like about the Zoom speed worm is that it goes through the weeds good and it has a crazy kick tale on it that disrupts a lot of water. All of the strikes I got were while I running it fast along the surface, above the hydrilla, like a swim bate. I picked up this trick from a guy I met down here and this is a really good way to run this bate. I think the 7” peed worm ran this way will be a deadly little rig for Smallies and something that I’m for sure give a shot when I get back.
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