So I took the boat out for the first time of the year today. Went to Pot #1 and started a little after 7. After about 15 minutes of NOTHING while fishing the shoreline, I noticed some shad being spooked by bass. I tossed a crankbait a couple of times near the bait...NOTHING. Then I looked down to see another ball of shad. I got a pretty good look at them and realized the jerkbait I had already tied on matched the hatch perfectly. Prior to today I had only caught one bass on a jerkbait, so I had very little confidence in the technique. The water temp was 51 degrees. I picked up the jerkbait and threw to the next ball of shad I could see. Bam- 3 lber. Next cast- 3 lber. For the next 45 minutes I followed the balls of shad and caught fish. Then I backed off from the bank and made long casts towards the bank as I lapped the lake catching fish along the way. Then it dawned on me that the fish that were not chasing the shad were suspended. I began throwing open water stuff...more fish and some nice ones. I was able to quickly determine what the fish wanted and relied on a fishing show from a few weeks ago to help me with my presentation. Before too long, I had an understanding of how the fish wanted the lure to be retrieved. At 1pm my day was over, even though the fish were still biting. I caught 32 bass ranging from 6 inches to 6 lb 5 oz and just about everything in between (most in the 2-3 lb range). My best five went right at 19 lbs. Today was probably one of the best days I have had fishing and definitely my best in Kansas. I tried offering a spinnerbait, jig, worm, crank, and even a dropshot. The only way to get these fish to bite was by throwing the BPS XPS 5 inch hard jerkbait in a sort of Grey/Purple/Olive Shad color. The trip today went far better than I had expected and I attribute that to paying attention to the water, adapting to the fish, maybe the moon, and lessons learned from a fishing show. Thank you Bill Dance. I hope you enjoyed my long story. I had a fun time and thought I would share.
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