Thursday night was an awesome numbers night for me. I took 19 bass, but nothing over 2.5, and I will trade numbers for weight any day. It was still a good time though and I took a couple on cranks but most fell pray to a Shaky head again. The crank bait is an Academy Sports H2O in Shell Cracker. The water is high enough in there that it is keeping from getting snagged, but alas you give up bottom contact to protect your lures.
I tried sneaking around the rocks to a less pressured cove but all I found was snakes. The browns are hard to tell apart from moccasins as the sun slips away and I can't see my feet in spots, so I thought it best to turn around. This garter snake didn't hide well enough, so I was able to extract him from the rocks. Check out the blue/green underside, it reminds me of the hue on a Rebel Gill.
Brian wrapped up Thursday night with the weight and I gave up my search for something big on number 19. It just wasn't going to happen, but Friday is another day, and while the bite wasn't as frantic and the crank bite could not be found, we did manage some weight.
Friday was still a finesse day, and I took the majority of my fish on a Shaky, same for Justin and Brian. Justin did show up with a Shaky head jig sporting a built in rattle though, and it was given to him by a rep to try out so there was none to pass around. Brian and I were admittedly envious, but it is the kind of innovation we enjoy seeing put to practice. Above and below are some of the baits I employed, but I think my favorite find yesterday was the Zoom Finesse in Water melon Slice. It is a dark watermelon top with a clear watermelon, red flake bottom, quite seductive. I know because I was immediately seduced into buying a pack when I saw it. Fortunately, the bass were equally as impressed with the color as I was. The other lure pictured below is a Mister Twister Pockit Paddle in Black with red flake. I modified mine by simply splitting the tail and then rigged to a EWG followed by a bead then a 1/8 ounce bullet.