I planned on an all-day trip to Yates Place on Wednesday, July 23rd for my first club trip. I went alone, and got to the lake about 30 minutes before dawn…..but I couldn't get in, for I didn't know the gate combo ended with a "#". Luckily, the owner drove his mule to the gate and let me in, and then I followed him to the launch ramp. What a nice guy he is! I loaded up my Bass Hunter, launched it, and started fishing around 6:30. I caught fish all day, never going more than 30 minutes without boating one. Caught lots of bass <16", and took home 22 of them. Caught two 16.5", 1 18.5", and 1 17.5" in the first 2 hours. The largest hit a purple-skirted buzz bait, and the other 3 fell for a wacky-rigged green pumpkin w/ black flake 5" Senko. Then I hit a short period when I couldn't buy a strike. Just before 9, bass started busting shad all around me. I tied on an old, original balsa-wood #11 Rapala (4.5" long) in rainbow trout color, and started catching them on almost every cast for a while. They weren't all dinks, either. Caught 3 just uner 16". After lunch, I got into a school and caught them on chartreuse/chrome Rattletraps (4 in 4 casts that were all between 15 and 16"). Almost all of the bass I caught were in 4 feet of water or shallower. I never caught a PB, but I might have had my chances. I fought 2 big ones that hit traps that I couldn't boat. After fighting them for 15-20 seconds, they simply opened their mouths and out came the lure. I also had one that broke me off - couldn't turn that one at all. Right before I got too tired to fish anymore, around 3:45, I caught a 20.75" on an old Bomber Deep Model A - chrome on one side, bone on the other where the paint had worn off.  It hit in 11 feet of water and almost swallowed the whole crankbait. Other than that one fish and the one that hit the buzz bait, all were caught on the Rattletrap, the Rapala, and wacky-rigged Senkos. I simply could not believe how hard those fish hit and fought for their size. Even the little ones fooled me into thinking they were bigger than they were. All-in-all, it was a really good day on the water for me, although I had to cut it short due to fatigue (I'm recovering from surgery). Even so, I thoroughly enjoyed my first PWF trip. Now to plan my next one…..

And yes, Mr. Yates, I'll be back! My thanks to Seth for setting this trip up for me on such short notice.

Tom Dillon

Posted By: Thomas E. (Tom) Dillon