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Date: August 4, 2018 Body of Water: Lake St. Clair Boat: Numenon With: Alone Target: Smallmouth Bass Time: 6:45 AM -1:45 PM (Fishing time; plenty of other travel time!) Conditions: Hot (90+), clear and calm. Water was 76 degrees F, green but very clear; more than 15 feet of visibility I returned to the Canadian side of Lake St. Clair, but this time for bass. Observations during previous trips, available intel and the results of recent tournaments all indicated that there are plenty of bass to be caught over there! I focused first on the Belle River Hump. I figured this structure could concentrate the bass, and it's a bit weedier than the surroundings. I almost immediately caught a rock bass on a Ned Rig in about 16 feet of water, but over the next several hours of scouring the Hump with jerks, cranks, Ned and a drop-shot, I only caught a small perch. Nobody within my visibility seemed to be doing much, either. By 10 AM or so, I was selecting features off my electronic mapping. Whether the water was just a little deeper, an inside turn more prominent, whatever; I figured this could lead me to something a little different that might concentrate, and therefore hold, some fish. Working a "hole" that was just a foot or so deeper than the surroundings with a DT16 crank, I finally saw a fish following my crank. A couple of casts later with Ned, I swung and hooked up! It was just a drum, but a fine one; and now, at least, I'd had a bit of fishing fun for the day! I selected my next spot off the map; a slightly deeper, irregular hole immediately off a "point" in the 15-foot contour. This spot pretty much looked and felt like most of the other areas I'd fished (the holes were slightly less weedy, though), and after a few preliminary casts with a jerk and a crank, I tossed Ned into about 18 feet of water. I got bit at the end of this long cast and set the hook. The bass was soon visible, and seemed to be pretty small. But I was fooled by the distance and the startling clarity; as I worked the fish closer, I knew it was better. By the time she was close, she was pulling hard! I was ultimately very pleased to slip the net under this feisty 18-incher! In the next half hour, a nearby boat caught a bass; and I caught another, smaller (14-inch) bass. This spot had something a little better to offer the bass; but I still don't know exactly what it was. With an hour or so left, I returned to the Dumping Grounds in Michigan; I'd caught a fine bass there during my last trip. I hoped to fire up an aggressive school of bass in this area with a jerk-bait; unfortunately, that just did not happen! What do I have to say about this? I found a couple of bass in new-to-me spots; and one of these bass was fine! I just never found the right concentration of fish this day. I'm not really sure how to either, other than to spend the time searching. Of course, the conditions were tough; flat and smooth, with bright skies and very clear water. I didn't see much else going on with other boats; so maybe it was just a slow bass day. So much to figure out! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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