Saturday – MN Bass opener.
Went out onto Centerville today. Fished from shore. Fish we’re active & agressive. Dozens of baby bass nipped at jigs, plastics and crankbaits. I even caught a 5 inch sunfish on a crankbait. 
The northeast shore had wind blowing into it this morning. From 6:30-10:00AM I fished in 2-4 feet of water that was very clear. The weeded bottom had patches of sand where abandoned beds we’re. The buds on the weeds we’re tight & still blooming. I started with a spinnerbait on a not so good reel. After 30 cast to a small area, I switched to a better rod, rigged with a Brovarney Swim Jig with a dual tail Chomper trailer. 10 cast later I had a keeper. Hit hard & went airborne. Didn’t need much of a hookset cause the Brovarney jigs on set themselves. (Yes, I’m plugging the Brovarney Jigs) I had this thought in the back of my head to re-tie my floro line. I ignored the thought & 10 casts later… the jig broke off & is laying 50 feet from shore on the bottom of the lake. 
It was my last Brovarney white gringo.. I loved that jig. Moment of silence 
I should have used power-pro 
A car pulled up, he casted a topwater buzzbait for 20 minutes then left. No takers.
For no other reason then to work on feeling a bite with weightless worms, I threw a senko on 3/0 hook into lighter areas of sandy bottoms. Small fish played with the worm and I could feel it transmitting to the rod.. mission accomplished on the feeling..but no takers.
I switched over to a crankbait on a fiberglass rod. Last week, I’d been having trouble casting on the rod & needed to tweak. Turns out it was just me. Trying to muscle my cast too far..several birdsnests last week. I little less shoulder & a little more wrist did the trick today. No nests & consistently long, good casts. On a Manns Baby minus – shad imitation hooked 2 largemouth that would have been keepers on a 14″ tournaments.
A boat hovered into the area after seeing me land 2 fish. 
They threw live bait rigs. No takers.
One thing that was pretty cool is I casted from a dirt/rock platform that was 6 feet above the water line. When I hooked onto the larger of the 2 fish (about 2 lbs) I looked for a good place to land him.. no such luck. So I played him as close as I could to the shore, then bent the rod & pulled him right up in a spectacular display even ESPNs’ cameraman would have been proud. 
(I know.. I know.. I’m a legend in my own mind ) I did have witnesses. It was a good show, just ask the couple walking their dog behind me.
I threw the crank for about an hour more. No takers. I covered about 150 feet of shoreline throughout the morning.
Towards the end of the outing, the cotton trees really hindered casting. Little pufts of cottom we’re everywhere in the water. Sometimes you can feel the line getting loose on your baitcaster, so you get a nice long cast & pinch line between your fingers as you reel to tighten up the spool. The cotton can really make this tough because it accumulates at the entrance to your reel & snugs up better then any other bobber stop on the market. Every 30 casts, I had to pinch-reel the line in all the way. Cut my lure, pull off the clump of cottom I accumulated & retie. This went on for an hour before I decided too much work & time to go in. Was absolutely worth it. Time spent on water.
Before heading home for the day, I collected some bottle bass into a bag for the recycling. About a dozen bottles of Leiny Honeyvise with about 1/4 left in almost all of them.. Bunch of rookies. They don’t know how to finish their beer & can’t seem to collect the bottles before they go. 
Todays lessons learned, slow down, feel the rod load before you fire one off, feel the bite, slower presentations work on the beds so long as it’s a good presentation, cover lot’s of water, retie often, practice, practice, practice…
If anyone is heading out to Centerville on their boat.. let’s go get my swimjig ?
Fish on ! Enjoy.
John
