I fished Black Hat today from 6:45 until 10:30 and from 1:05 until 5:30. The lake was dead calm when I launched, so I decided to try topwater. I caught a 5-04 and a 3-14 and set the hook too soon on another big fish - all on a bone Magnum Yellow Magic - and that was it for topwater. I spent the rest of the day throwing creature baits, hollow body frogs, Senkos, Rat-L-Traps, buzz baits, single-spins, swim baits, chatterbaits, lizards, and crankbaits, but the only real action was on the Senkos and creature baits in and around the brushpiles. I did miss a couple of blowups on the frog. I picked up a 4-10 and an 8-00 on a black/blue flake Havoc 4" Pit Boss, but that's the only size and color they wanted today. The 8-pounder was the hardest fighting bass I've ever caught. Weightless, wacky-rigged Senkos also paid off in black/blue fleck. I ended the day with 10 good keeper-size bass, one dink, and 9 crappie that averaged over a pound each. Caught all of those on a Ned rig (PBJ). Visibility was less than a foot, and the water temp was 72^° when I started, 74^° when I left. I felt pretty good today about not gill-hooking any of the bass.

Posted By: Tom Dillon