hex and bass update

Hex fishing last night with Charlie was a little disappointing....as Hex fishing can be. A couple wrong turns and about 45 minutes late to the river already had me frustrated. Add to that the fact that I was hitting Hex with my truck driving through town and that Charlie was on the phone telling me that fish were already rising and it was maddening. There were a decent number of bugs on the water and fish were eating them. That is until we got to where we wanted to be. Charlie hooked a smallish fish on one of his first casts and I didn't make a cast to a rising fish all night. Just like that, they were done. There were bugs in the air, just not enough on the water to justify standing in tall grass with the mosquitoes and coyotes. The drive home in torrential downpours capped it all off. Hey, if you didn't have tough nights like that, it wouldn't be any fun. Part of the experience is the adventure factor. Bass fishing last week was good, albeit a tad sporadic. There were a few days where we consistently caught fish all day. We didn't have any doubles or any banks where we caught a dozen fish, but we got fish all day and lots of popper fish. There were also a few days where the fishing was great up until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. On those days it seemed like you couldn't buy a fish after that time. Even the little pike shut down ...that's when you know it's tough. The river rose a bunch last week after two of the dams released some water but she's back down to near summer levels now. The usual suspects were producing, minnows and poppers. We had a great afternoon on Sunday with a fire tiger Wiggle Minnow worked slow near the banks. That thing drives fish nuts. I think a slower, more deliberate hook set is the trick. That quick, high hook set will almost always result in a lost fish. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can get out Hex fishing a couple more nights this week. It's good to finally see temps finally resembling summer.