Friday, we launched out of Russo's Marina at around 7:00 am. This past week has been the first warm stable week of the spring. There was a couple ours left until the bottom of the tide, so we focused on offshore grass in Franks Tract. Throwing LV 500's and spinnerbaits, we catch a couple small bass (maybe keepers). We move south and fish a couple spot off Old River but have no luck. At the bottom of the tide we stop at Cruiser Haven and look for bed fish. After 10 minutes of frustrating a male on a nest, Chris catches the three-pound bass. We find a few more beds with a couple of the fish being 6 or 7 pounds, but none of them seemed to be locked on very well. The tide started to come in and the bite became quite tough for us. We fished Rivers End Marina, Coney Island and Victoria Canal without any luck. The tide started to push back out and we made a move to Middle River. The bank we started on had rock, wood, and weeds. We fished a hundred stretch that I typically do quite well on this time of year, but caught nothing. Right before we were about to leave I cast a red BDS 3 crankbait on the tip of a weed point with current running directly into it. A bass just over 3 pounds smashes it. The next hour, we hit three more similar spots, tulle bearms with weed points and current. Bob catches one almost 6 pounds on a blue-char-white spinnerbait with gold blades. By the end of the hour we catch a few other 3-4 pound largemouth and a 5 pound striper. Saturday, we get on the water around 8:00 am. Our first stop is Holland Riverside Marina. We fish the deeper weed points, and only get a few little guys. We waited for the tide to bottom out and went looking for bed fish. Back in Rock Slough, I spot a bed with a 3,4, and 8 pounder. From a distance, Rita casts in and catches the male (3 pounder) on a Senko. Right away the other two lock up. Dave cast in a heavy white jig and the big one swipes at it a couple times, then he hooks it for a couple seconds, but it comes off. After that the bass tripped out and left the bed. The male that Rita caught was in the livewell, so we release that bass hoping he will bring the female back to the nest. We spend half an hour looking for other beds, but only find little guys. We then check back on the bed with the 8 pounder. The tide is a bit higher, but we barely could make out the big female on the bed. Dave blindly casts out the jig and she grabs it on his fourth or so cast. She weighed 8.2 pounds and was Dave's personal best. We get a few pictures and let her go. The rest of the day was extremely tough. We head over to Discovery Bay, hoping to find a few bed fish there, but find only a couple cruisers, no nests. Once the tide started pushing out we focused on outside weed lines with current around Orowood, Rock Slough, and the outside of Mandaville, but catch nothing. It was dead calm all day, which made in good for bed fishing, but made the rest of the bass pretty inactive. Monday, we launch out of Russo's and head to Widow Island. With the combination of the warm overnight lows due to the cloud cover, and full moon I figured more bass would be moving up to spawn. The tide just peeked and started to push out. We first fish around the mouth without any bites, then move in through the opening. Ron hooks a 2 pounder on a Zoom Fluke, but looses it right at the boat. We work both up shallow and the deeper weed beds out in the middle without another bite. We then find a shallow bed and Ron catches one almost 3 pounds. Our next stop was Middle River. The tide was halfway out, so we fished outside weedlines with crankbaits and I catch a 2 pounder. Once the tide bottomed out we ran to the back of Italian Slough. Using a 3/8 black and blue jig a hook into a monster 9.2 pounder. The big female was all beaten up and only had half its tail. The tide just started pushing back in and we catch a few more 1-2 pounders on crankbaits. It was only about three feet deep where we were fishing. A couple other boats came in the area and it was looking to get a bit crowded so we left and went to Rock Slough. Unfortunately we could not duplicate the pattern there. At 3:00 pm I drop off Ron and head back out. The wind started blowing pretty good and you could tell a storm was coming. I fished a protected bank in Franks Tract. There was two hours or so until the top of the tide. Using a swimbait on an outside tulle point, I have a 5 pounder chase my lure back to the boat. Then a little ways down the bank on a similar tulle point a big one smashes it. After a 30 second battle with the big bass making me run in circles around my boat, the monster rushes for the tulles and comes unbuttoned. It was definitely bigger than the one I hooked earlier that day, probably around 10-11 pounds. Oh well, it happens. Looks like the big ones are moving up!
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