Motored down to the outfall pipe at Strickland Arm to locate postspawn bass coming back and forth between the main lake and the isolated bay. I cut the big motor about 400 yards before I got to where I wanted to finally wind up. Put the trolling motor down and started working the edges and holes in the pads along the narrow boat run with a white zoom horny toad. Came upon a couple of irregular spots with pads, fanwort, and intermixed areas of pennywart. Worked the horny toad across the area from one side with no results. Switched to a junebug senko, working of the edges of the pads and letting it fall in the holes. Nada.
I eased further toward the inlet while working the backside of the little vegetative sweetspot. I had noticed some baitfish skittering around while on the far side and noticed why when I got a little closer to the area. The fanwart was about 4-5 inches below the water surface providing an ideal area for the baitfish to dart and hide in.
As I was feverishly working the horny toad acoss this submerged fanwart, all heck broke loose. A sure 'nuff bucket mouth came a callin'. One second the bait was flapping its little legs across the tops of the weeds and the next it was gone. A black cavernous hole formed beneath it. However, the fish short struck and only slightly pulled it under. However, the little lady from the deep was not about to give up. She struck again at the bait and proceed to take of with it. I let her take it for a couple of seconds, reeled up the slack and tried to set the hook. Alas, I only pulled water.
I finally reached the inlet pipe, but the lake is down about 8-10" over a couple of months ago and there was only about a 1.5 feet of water in the pipe. Not exactly what I was looking for. So I worked my way out, not getting another strike on the horny toad or the senko. I did notice some topwater action as the sun was setting, but it was deeper in the pad areas than I wanted to venture that late in the day. Motored back to the landing and was greeted by the resident great Blue Heron who seemed to be having better luck than I on the day. All in all, a very nice way to spend 3 hours on a weekday evening.
