I decided to go to where it all started. Well, I should say re-started I guess. 1st trip this year to Lake Meridian. Just too far now. :(

Anyways, fought morning traffic and got to Lake Meridian by about 8:30 or so. Even though forecast said it was suppose to be dry, I noticed some sprinkles on the windshield and the parking lot was wet...

Started fishing with a lipless lure and soft plastic. Only got 2 bites in the 1st 30 mins. I was hitting all the spots from the previous year with no luck or sign of fish. Then it was NOTHING for 1.5hrs. No bites. No follows. No nips from perch. Tried changing colors. Went out a little bit deeper. Drop shot. Went in the pads. Nada.

I get farther down the lake and I toss my lure behind a boat lift. Felt 2 quick nips. I lifted my rod but didn't feel anything. Then I felt another bite and see my line jump and starts swimming away. Lift up and reel in a little bit of slack. Felt the weight and set the hook. FISH ON! OOOO, feels like a nice fish and then I saw the flash. Yep, quality SMB. It was only in about 3' of water. Into the net it goes.
18.5" SMB @ 3lb 5oz


I continue on. I accidently made a bad cast, but I still worked the lure. Thunk and see my line jump. Set the hook and fish on! Can't see what it is quite yet. Too far away. It jumps and I see it's a decent LMB ~16". I get it halfway to the boat and it jumps again and throws the hook. FFFUUUUU


Onwards we go. I ran a shallow crank along a side of a dock. Nada. Then I followed behind it with a soft plastic. Tick, set the hook and it feels tiny. It flew out of the water when I set the hook. :o ~9-10" SMB. Didn't bother with a pic. Just released it quickly.

I'm working along this bank and casted towards nothing actually. It just looked fishy to me.... Anyways thunk and set the hook. Fish on! It stays down but I get it close. I see it's a decent chunky LMB. Into the net it goes.
~16.5"@ 2lb 15oz


I see a swirl along the backside of some lilly pads. I take a closer look and see it's a decent SMB hiding back there. I pitched a worm slightly to the left of it. I see the SMB turns towards it and gets closer.... I see the fish open it's mouth and my worm disappears and see my line jump. I set the hook and fish on! It instantly digs down. The pads aren't thick. You clearly see through them. It wraps me up around 1 pad at first. I'm thinking no big deal. This 12# line should handle it. Now I have to get it through the next row of pads.... The fish zooms around and wraps me up on a small cluster of lilly roots. Maybe 5-6 of them. I still have full tension on the fish and pads. Then all of a sudden, I see the fish swim away freely.... while I'm still tangled up in the pads, LOL. :(

I land another SMB that was about 15". A handful of little SMB ~8" or smaller. Didn't set the hooks of those, they kept popping out. So I was just drag them to the side of the boat.


I was trying to head back in but the launch got busy with slow-pokes. So I turned around and tried trolling for a little bit. Shook off a 9" trout at boat side. Had 2 take downs but didn't stick.

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