7-19 about 6:30-40PM I parked at the Bailey Ave "T", got my gear ready and having not seen the lake in a LONG time, I figured that with every one telling me the lake was low, I'd have a little walk ahead of me. When I got to the other side of the street, I didn't see any water so I thought "Oh, well just a little longer than I thought". I walked and walked and saw water in the distance. I thought "Jeez, How low is it?" Well the answer is very low! Lower than I've seen it in a long time, probably since the late 80's but I'm guessing. Anyways, I finally get to the channel where the pumped in water flows and I get in to cross at a safe area and to cool off because I'm hiking in my Waders. I think to myself "Why walk when I can float?" So I floated probably the last 1/4 Mile to the lake.
When I got to where the flow goes into the lake I started pitching Benkos (Generic Senkos) on my light rod into likely looking spots. 5 Flips later I get a chunky 13"er for a nice start to the evening. 6 casts later I get a twin to the first, but spunkier. I guess his spunky fight alerted the others to my presence, because the fish right in that area shut-off.
At about that time I saw a big swirl tight against some standing weeds a little further out. I had bought 2 of the Chart. Frogzilla's on clearance at Coyote B&T the day before, So I put one on my heavy rod and heaved it 10' further down the line of weeds, but a gust of wind put it into them. I hauled back and the frog came loose and shot to about 5' my side of the swirl. I figured I'd fish the cast through so I reeled up the slack and after all the ripples disappeared I gave it a 1' pull and waited. The mouth top that came out of the water behind it was HUGE. It closed and went down in a surrealistic slow motion. I reeled down to pressure and SWUNG, the rejected lure through the air and into my hat. Ugh!!!! The lure hit me hard enough to hurt. It was like adding injury to insult, or vice-versa. The PART of the mouth that I saw was big enough to surpass the entire mouth of my PB.
After that things pretty well shut down for a while. I started throwing the Benko again to no avail. Then I kicked over to the weeds on the other side of the bay/channel, where I had heard some smaller type activity. I saw something chasing smaller baitfish in some of the open water so I changed ouit the Benko for a black Buzzbait. 3 Casts later it's a swing and a miss, I was too amped and set too soon. I decided to wait and calm down, while watching the Bats catch insects. After about 5 min. I tossed the Buzzer out near some activity and 5' into the retrieve I get a solid hook-up, them the line brakes. I reel-up and the knot's still there but it broke around the shaft. Then the doomed bass jumps, it was probably close to 3#.
I'm bummed and thinking of leaving when a Bullfrog gets eaten mid Brrrruuum. It jolted me out of me stupor. I picked up the heavy rod and thought "Where should I throw this if that bass has a mouth full?" As if in answer, there is a huge swirl at the far weedline and a big bait fish jumps over the 1+' tall weeds to get away. I threw the frog as close as I could and something rushed over to look at it and rushed away. Then I remembered the black 7" Tora Tubes I had bought with the Frogzillas. I didn't have any hooks suitable for them but I got a 3/0 EWG to work, sorta, and smoothered it in PowerBait juice. 2 casts later it disappears in a fairly calm swirl like a Trout sucking down Mayflies. I set as hard as I could and met solid resistance for about 5 seconds, then the bait came back to the surface. The hookpoint was pushed back through 2 folds of plastic in the bait.
It was time to go home after one of the best and worst fishing trips I've ever had. The next morning I went back at 6am hoping for a repeat. After 4 hours I got 5 in 7 casts on the Benko, with the biggest going 3#. I fished for an hour more with no luck. Sorry about the small novel I wrote but I thought you guys could relate.

Tight lines,
Wade

Tight lines,
Wade