I decided to brave the wind and early morning cold to fish Yates Place one more time before winter really sets in.  I don't know what was wrong, but it didn't work out for me at all.  I suppose it could have been the full moon, or the discolored water after the rain earlier this week, or perhaps the bass were just too full of shad to care…but whatever the reason, after fishing Friday afternoon from 1:30 until 6:30 and again all day yesterday, all I had to show for it were the 7 little ones that I harvested and 7 more over 16". The biggest bass I caught was under 3 pounds. I caught  one dink on a buzz bait, but boated all the rest of them on my two "go-to" baits: a wacky-rigged black/blue flake Senko and a silver 4.5" balsa Rapala.  Some hit the Rapala as I twitched it on top, including one about 4-5 pounds that threw it back at me after I fought the fish for about a minute. Others hit it on a fast retrieve. Not action on T- or C-rigged worms or creature baits, jig & pork, craws, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, squarebills, deep-divers, Fork flutter spoons, or anything else I threw. Nothing from any of the brushpiles or humps where I normally catch fish at Yates. The deepest bass I caught was along the dam at 9', and most of the smaller fish hit along the shoreline where they were feeding in the "new" water.

The lake was up about 2 feet, which means it was just about brim-full, and visibility was only about a foot. Water temp at trolling motor depth was 62° Friday afternoon, but fell to 58° Saturday morning. When I stopped fishing at 5:30 yesterday, it had climbed back to 60°. There were still a few bass busting shad on the surface, but they were few and far between.

Mr. Yates was a big help by loaning me a charged battery when I discovered that my backup was absolutely dead. Thanks, Dewane.

 I still had fun, and since I was fishing for that "one bite" fish, I wasn't terribly disappointed. It might happen next trip, or it might not, but that's fishing - even on PWF waters.