Fast and furious - shad it's whats for dinner!!

Planned a last minute trip after realizing I wasn't going to be able to fish this weekend, bummer.  So I did my normal stay-at-home dad routine...get the kids feed, dressed, and to school on time.  Being extra careful to not suffer from a fish brain moment.  Making sure they were wearing actual jackets and not life jacket's, I dropped them off and made my way to the refuge.  It's 8:30 am and I'm ready to start paddling out.  But before I get gone, I decided to try my gear, since it had been a few weeks since my last bass trek.  Standing at the ramp I made my first cast of the morning and wouldn't you know it....fish on, 8:24 am!!

Still at the ramp - gonna be a good day!!

I'm not superstitious, not worried about the first cast/fish stuff.  Actually it was the exact opposite, on the drive I had decided to try a shad type bait (crankbait, swimbait, or spinnerbait) and this bass made the decision easy - swimbait.  

Tree lined flat was looknfishy.  Not today.  Should have taken a selfie to show where the fish were hang'n.

Around 9 am, I was trying to decide if I should fish the tree line along the edge of some flooded flats or hit the timber towards the middle.  I made a cast towards the shallow flat with no success.  When I looked behind me I saw a gleaming spiderweb, and remembered a tip I read or heard somewhere, about breaking webs.  The idea is that no one has fished that spot or the web would be broken.  So I made a cast behind me, slightly awkward in a kayak, but I managed to stay in the kayak and hooked into my 2nd fish.  Broken web = 2nd fish of the day.

Decided to stay put and work the timber harder with the swimbait.  2 minutes later and fish number 3 was smiling for my camera phone!!  He absolutely killed the swimbait, if it wasn't for my kung fu grip I may have lost a rod/reel today.  But luck was on my side today and the bite continued and even got hotter.

Not the biggest but this little guy was a good example of how the bass were responding to swimbaits.  Choked it!!

Same fish just showing the choke hold

Kept hitting the timber with success.  The strategy was to keep moving and cover water while the fish were feeding. I knew it wasn't going to last all morning.   The biggest bass of the day, a solid 4lbr was caught at 9:21 am.

But his buddy wasn't far behind at 9:33 am.

3lb, choked again

It went like this from 10 - 11 am...but the average size went way down.  A few pics to represent how the bite ended.

Had lunch at 11:30 and started my paddle back.  Off the water at 1:30 pm.

Today's fish hang out!!

From 8:30-11 am, I caught 10-12 bass.  I packed 3 rod/reels but never reached for anything else.  It's that time of year when the bass are on the feed.  Any time is my favorite time to fish....but fall fish'n is my favorite'est!!!