Fritz
Visits Georgia
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By Ronnie Garrison
Day four of Fritz's visit dawned windy, cloudy and warm, with a little rain. It was 60 degrees early but got colder all day, hitting the 30's by dark. Typical Georgia early spring cold front, high pressure coming in blowing out the clouds and giving the bass headaches, or so I thought.
We were going to West Point today because I had a tournament there in a little over a week. Fritz had some work to do early so I went to town and got some errands done. We left my house after 10:00 AM and got to West Point at about 12:30 PM. I decided to put in on the west side of the lake so we would have a protected ramp because the wind was getting bad.
As soon as we got in the boat I realized how cold it had gotten. We quickly dug out coats and stocking caps, and tried to bundle up. The wind felt like a used ice pick, stabbing right through my jacket with a cold sharp stab.
The first place we stopped was a main lake ridge but we did not stay long. The wind blew us past it fast and nothing hit our crankbaits. I went into a small creek and started fishing a deep bank with some rocks on it. I told Fritz I had caught a good 4 pounder in a tournament out of a tree toward the back of this creek ahead of us several years before.
We fished the tree but got no takers. Some rocks on the next point drew a cast from my brown Rattleback jig with a Yamamoto trailer, and I saw my line tighten up when it got to the bottom in about six feet of water. When I set the hook a chunky 14 inch bass quickly came to the boat. I was fishing the jig on the Steve Huber Signature Series Flipping Stick I had won last fall, and the heavy rod and 15 pound PLine subdued the bass fast.
We admired the throwback and I let it go. The very next cast to the same place drew another strike, this one a solid 3 pounder. I fought it to the boat and started to lip it. As I picked up the line, it came unbuttoned and slowly swam off. Fritz said I could count it since I had it so close. We could have netted it easily.
We fished that creek carefully but got no more bites. I told Fritz there was another similar creek across the lake and we headed there. The wind was even worse here, blowing right down the creek. We fished a blowdown and started around a point when I saw splashing further in the creek. Thinking it was schooling hybrids, we took off to it, only to find it was waves breaking on a rocky point.
Next page > Part B - I land a 7 pounder!
Coming Soon - The Rest of the Trip - Day One > Page 1, 2, 3, 4
