Johnboat Outing Success

 

Although Nathaniel and I only caught two bass yesterday, I'd consider our short afternoon outing a definite success. We implemented Nathaniel's idea of toting the boat inside my Expedition, and for the first time since I traded in my F-150, we were able to tote his johnboat somewhere else and to fish together from it. Yesterday morning, Nathaniel bought a fairly thick plastic tarp, and it worked perfectly beneath the boat to keep the interior of the Expedition dry. The boat was plenty stable in the back, so it worked just fine.

We fished Lake Russell, a 70-acre lake on national forest land that's only about 10 miles from our house. It's a pretty little lake that reportedly has some big bass in it. I suspect that as winter begins giving way to spring, we'll start to tap some of Russell's bounties.

The fishing was slower than we both hoped. With strangely warm weather and falling pressure ahead of a big front, we both had envisioned that the fish might be feeding like crazy. Of course, maybe they were. We don't know the lake and its moods well, and we may have simply not fished the right lures in the right places. Yesterday's only two fish hit an XCalibur Rattle Bait. Both were on the same steep bank at the mouth of a major cove in the lake's lower end and were relating to downed trees.

Big rain coming today. Back to writing fish stories for me!