Culling early

I didn't arrive to Hugh Demby's house until about an hour after the rising sun had deemed it a new day. We would have been backing the boat in the water just as the eastern horizon began to lighten, under normal circumstances.

But the circumstances were not the norm, as the water level was low. In turn, standing timber, which usually lurked below the surface at safe depths, might prove somewhat of a danger under the present conditions. So we opted to wait until we could easily locate and navigate through the river channel.

Well, as it turned out, the water level was even lower than expected. In fact, something as simple as unloading and loading the boat became somewhat of a chore. Backing the boat into the water, the trailer dropped off of the backside of the ramp long before we reached water deep enough to slide the boat from the trailer. But I slowly continued backing into deeper water, until reaching a point where the boat would slide off of the trailer.

Carefully easing the trailer back onto the ramp, I parked the truck, and we were on our way. Although there were locations that were much more suitable for loading and unloading during low-water conditions, we purposely embarked upon the drive to Little Fir. Plans were to do some drop-shot fishing, which proved most effective on spotted bass. And it just so happened that there were a couple of spots practically within sight of the launching ramp where we had consistently caught this particular species throughout the years.

Well, to say we were disappointed at the first stop would prove an understatement. In fact, we never even got as much as a hit. And the second stop was equally as disappointing.

It was quickly growing evident that the steep and rocky points that we thought would prove most effective were a bust, but it was early and we still had the remainder of the day. That in mind, we chose to focus on a little different terrain.

Easing to a stop at a steep clay bank, I dropped my lure within inches of a tree protruding from the water. And within seconds, I was tied into the first fish of the day. Dropping the lure alongside the same tree, I detected yet another hit as the lure neared the bottom.

Hey, things were starting to look pretty promising. In fact, I managed to boat six bass without ever moving the boat. I'll be the first to admit that a couple of the fish were far too small to make their way into the live well, but that didn't matter. We had managed to find the type of water where the bass were congregating.

Easing to yet another clay point, I had high hopes as this location had also proven productive throughout the years, but no cigar, except for the one bass that Hugh managed to coax into biting.

But that was okay, as we had fitted together yet one more piece of the puzzle. It was obvious that we must do more than simply find clay points. They must also sport standing timber.

That in mind, we slowly motored to yet another location where there were several points fitting the exact description that we were searching for, and it didn't take long to figure out that we had solved the entire quiz. Of course, we still caught a few small fish here and there, but we were also coaxing our fair share of keepers into biting.

We had both of our limits in the live well shortly thereafter, and we were savoring the opportunity to cull throughout the remainder of the outing. As it turned out, the outing was cut somewhat short with the arrival of a stiff and consistent wind.

But we were enthused, in spite of the changing conditions that spurred us to call it a day. We had managed to boat 27 bass in a matter of a few hours. And although the excursion was all but behind us, we were more than excited. In fact, we were already planning our next outing with hopes of catching our limits while fellowshipping in the midst of the wonderful outdoors.

Sports on 10/16/2019

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