Sweet Tater Pie

One of  Forty Two

I learned one of the lessons of success a long time ago. Showing up when it is cold, hot, rainy, early or late often produces the best results. A key to success in hunting and fishing is simply showing up. I can't even begin to count the times when I almost talked myself out of going. Yet, the vast amount of times that I decided to go, has produced tremendous payoffs. This was once again that same ole scenario.

We were experiencing an intense heat wave in Illinois in the middle of July. The heat index had been over one hundred for a solid week. I had just gotten off the road from traveling for the past ten days. My good friend Mike Roux invited me to go fishing at one of our favorite fishing holes. He told me that we would be off the water by eight a.m. because of the extreme heat. I took him up on his offer and we met at five a.m. the next morning.

When we arrived it was about 80 degrees air temperature. The lake that we fish is about 30 acres and next to a major highway. There is practically no shade around the edge but it does have many small willow trees surrounding the banks which provides shade for the fish. The edges have good cover and plays right into the hands of a bass fisherman.

It did not take long before I caught my first bass. I started the morning using a deep running chartreuse crankbait . My friend used his usual top water moto-lure. The fish were biting and we had not reached daylight yet. This particular lake had nearly shut out my buddy Mike just six hours earlier. He comes to town on business so usually he fishes this lake later in the evening and early mornings.

We both caught a handful of fish before day light. As soon as the sun began to peak, Mike switched his program to a Strike King Shim-e-stick. The color the bass like the most is Sweet Tater Pie. He switched simply to try something  different. As Mike began to cast, the fish were blowing his line up. Fish after fish I netted for him. It got me thinking real quick so I made the move to join his party.

It was at that time when I switched over to the Strike King lure. We caught forty two fish in that short three hours. I had never been fishing where every spot was a good spot. We fished the entire perimeter of the thirty acre lake and never stopped catching fish. The length and weight varied. Mike caught a 3 pound 11 ounce bass. The one pictured about was 3 pounds 6 ounces.

As we started to load up, Mike repeated something he has said to me a thousand times. "Ninety percent is showing up." If you desire to catch the big one or hook the big haul, remember that it will never talk place while you are sleeping.

Sweet Tater Pie