April Fool's Day

Made it out today with good buddy, Dave Jordan.  I had two goals today on the water; first and foremost, testing out my new MinnKota Fortrex 101, the second, getting some Pine Lake bass to bite.

All anglers in the Marshalltown area have been fishing Rock Creek, Union Grove, and Hickory Grove Lakes, no one had any information on the Pine Lakes.  Well, this made me curious, so off we headed to the north.  Dave and I decided to start on Lower Pine Lake, and give it an hour or so and if nothing was cooperating, we would pack up and travel a mile north to Upper Pine Lake.  We never left Lower Pine Lake, we figured them out.  It wasn't automatic, that is for sure.  We wasted, or shall I say experimented for about an hour before we started getting consistent bites. 

Basically, if you have a slow bait in less than 4 feet of water, you would get bites.  We caught many fish, including the biggest of the day, a 3.75# bass in less than 1 foot of water.  Fish were holding tight to the bank, laydown logs, and overhanging bushes.  In all we caught 9 keepers (15 + inchers) and 6 smaller ones on this short trip.  All bass came on jigs with bright blue Hot Rod Baits jig chunks or Hot Rod Baits tubes.  A great day for the Pine Lakes Chain, that is for sure. 

Now on to goal #1 for the day.  The installation of the 36-volt MinnKota was easier than I expected and I was able to do all the work the past few weeks.  Today was the test.  As a teacher during the week, I often struggle with grades for students and their work, however I can only give this trolling motor an A!!!  What a machine, we used it for a solid 5 hours, it is a trolling motor lake only, so it never had a break.  One thing I did learn, when you turn the dial up to the maximum power...you better have yourself planted!  I love it.