I can’t call the trip a disappointing one to Yates Place because there’s no such thing.  The trees, the lake, Sassy Dog’s companionship….  All of it was top notch.  My wife loved the place and got a glimpse of what I have planned for our retirement.  Now she’s motivated so my mission was accomplished.  The fishing on the other hand was tough.  There were bait balls everywhere as well as fish, but I had trouble locating hungry ones.  My opinion is that the fish were so loaded up on bait that I had trouble convincing them to hit my artificials.  Also, there was a cold snap that came through and that seemed to affect my results.  We arrived to Sassy’s wagging nub on Friday evening and I fished pretty hard all day Saturday, only coming in to check football scores.  I boated nine fish with a 4.8 being the largest.  All of the fish looked like footballs and obviously have the feed sacks strapped on.  That hump opposite the cabin was where most of the fish came from on shallow running crankbaits and ten inch Power Worms.  I fished every brush pile, hump, ridge, channel, etc, and I just couldn’t find a big girl that was ready to eat.  I was using large baits of every variety because let’s face it, you don’t go out there to catch small ones.  Sunday was the same story…..  Jennifer rode around with me and read her book while I struggled to put five more fish in the boat, all small.  We visited with the Yates’ quite a bit….  They are such nice people! 

I recorded my sonar logs while I was out there so I have a contour map available for you guys to take a look at.  I also grabbed a cool screen shot that many of you that have been there will recognize.  The trip was exactly what Jen and I were looking for - relaxing time away in the beauty of the east Texas pine forest.  I will go back to catch a big girl this spring.

Tight lines,
Jackson