Centerville Lake Action – as if Saturdays 3 hours of fun wasn’t enough.. I had a chance to spend another several hours on Centerville today.
Once again, getting settled & comfortable with a new/rod reel combination specific for cranks. Sometimes settling into the right brand and test of line can make all the difference in the world. This past Jan & Feb was a heavy investment into the world of Crankbaits. It’s not my fault, I think I’ll send Rapala a letter letting them know it’s David Fritts’ fault. 
He pep talked about 300 of us at this years Bass Master University back when it was 20 below. It’s a fact that when David Fritts won the Bassmaster Classic in 1993, he pre-fished Lake Logan Martin in a 1976 boat and a 50 horse motor. The interview says he was trying to remain anonymous. Maybe he was trying to stay away from people like me. I’ve got a 1976 boat & 40 hp motor in my garage. Great minds think alike.. If anyone wants to buy it.. see my other posts. 
So.. todays task…1000 casts…Tune the cranks.. catch fish in the process.. Follow up with a swim jig…establish some confidence with the 6 Manns swimjigs I had… I miss my Brovarneys.. Lost 1 broke 2.. 
When your stuck on a log, lack of patience, lot’s of tugging & 30lb power pro can really ruin a swim jig. 
Next time, I’ll just cut the line… tie on another.. fish out that area and go retrieve it once I’ve caught all the big ones. 
Centerville lake is about 500 acres with a heavy bluegill & perch population. The sleeper of the lake is Largemouth. Catch & Release has really made this a nice lake to hone your skills on. The lake was crowded in a big way. Jet skis, water skiing & tubers created quite a wake.
I was standing in the water on a NE sand flat. It was 1-3 feet deep. The flat was 100 yards or more along the shoreline & at least 100 feet out. Guessing I was ¾ of the way through the spawn..I initially ignored the 1-3 feet of water & concentrated more on the 4-6 feet depth. By fan casting cross-wind into 4-5 feet of water, I used cranks that ran a foot down & tipped the tops of the weeds. I made several casts every few feet as I moved along. There we’re tips of branches from fallen trees peeking out above the wake.. If I really concentrated on a good long cast, I could land my crank about 10 feet past it. I was able to hit it on the retrieve triggering a strike. Over the next 2 hours I landed 6 out of 8 largemouths. All appeared at least 11, yet under 12 inches. It’s hard to measure in the water with a leatherman in waves. They we’re hitting the bait on the front treble hook which seems to me is a very good thing. The rear trebles made it to the other side solidifying the hookset. Zero backlashes. It’s a good day.
After covering 100 feet or more of shoreline, I turned around & headed back.. This time, I used the swimjig to cover the shallower water I ignored earlier. Another 200 plus casts over the 100 foot walk back resulted nothing but a wicked backlash when I tried to get fancy & skip cast under a tree branch..I think I missed a hookset on the Manns.. I have no confidence on this jig yet. 
I pulled out the crank again & 1 largemouth.much smaller & whiter in color then the rest.. Anyone know why this is ?? No clue. 
So that’s my story. The sunscreen was needed as there was NO cover from the sun. The ski’ers and the water toys had no effect on the fish because nobody could run in 2 feet of shallows water skiing with fancy boats like that.
Fun.. Next week.. I work on skipcasting…I think I’ll try it on a spinning outfit. 
Fish on !!
I thought it was a hammerhandle