[JasonN]

Beautiful evening to be out! Light variable winds; lots of sunshine; temps in the mid 70's. Fished from 6:30pm-8:40pm.

Got out of the car at lagoon#6 and loaded up with Cutter Heavy Duty spray. Walked the path, found a spot, and was swarmed by mosquitos. They were relentless. Managed a couple of dozen casts but the bugs were out of control and the Cutter wasn't cuttin' it. Figured I needed some DEET spray. Headed out to go home. On the way down Forest Way, stopped at the Willow dam to have a look around. It looked too good to pass up so got my rig (and also found some 30% DEET in my trunk). Probably 2 dozen others were there, but all were the bobber brigade - still room for me though. Found a good spot and on the 3rd cast hammered a 17.5" largemouth bass. This this was a fighter and did a majestic leap a good 2 feet out of the water. The brigade all let out a collective "aaaahhhhhh". Kinda cool. Of course, my camera batteries were dead and phone was in the car. Oh well, felt great to get on a nice fish. Unfortunately that would be it for the evening but I was happy the outing was salvaged. Got a great fish and enjoyed a beautiful evening.

 

[Brandon]

nice! bummer about the camera but still....must have felt good.

 

[piker84]

Cool, good job! What did ya get him on?

 

[Basshead]

glad someone had some luck out there today, jason!

The mosquitos were really out of control. Alright in the blistering sun, but a few minutes in the shade, or in the bushes, and i was eating them almost as much as they were eating me. Even with the Deet was no match around 6:30PM, had to pack up and leave.

 

[FishinMatt]

Congrats on the quality fish Jay. I took a walk on the river trail in N. Aurora this weekend and the skeeters were chomping at 11A in the sun. All that rain must of made for some huge hatches.

 

[twoglasseyes]

Very nice Jason. I had a similar experience yesterday. I fished Beck for a couple hours catching only two 6"ers, then around 7:15 I got a little too close to the shore. Once the mosquitos were on me I couldn't shake them. No bug spray, and two m.p.h. just isnt enough to lose them. But I just couldnt pass up hitting the end of the island again. So I got out in the wind for a min and shooed all the mosquitos out of the boat with the lifejacket. Caught a 15"er a foot off the east end of the isle. And maybe I caught west nile too, we'll have to wait and see.

 

[JasonN]

I had been afraid with the record rains this spring/summer that the mosquitos would become a big problem. Sure enough. This is gonna make for some uncomfortable outings this summer. :evil:

Caught the bass on a 6.8" Flick Shake.

 

[FishinMatt]

I just ordered some of those Jay. One size down though If only I had seen this yesterday!!

 

[ClancyWiggum]

Way to make the bobber-brigade jealous.

Matt, it isn't the size that matters. Really though. I have caught 20"+ largemouth on the 4.8". Hell, I have caught 20"+ largemouth and 30" pike on a 4" finesse drop shot worm. It's funny how you can catch big largemouth on everything from a 3-4" bait to a 10" bait. I would think it nearly impossible to cover all of those bases all of the time.

 

[FishinMatt]

I hear ya Matt. I rarely throw anything senko-like bigger then 4'' and have caught some of my biggest fish on the 3''. I'm new to the whole "flick-shake" scene though. Its good to hear that the smaller sizes still produce. I'm also going to reinvest some more time to the dropshot, so I'll have plenty of questions when I start experimenting.