I had originally planned on fishing in the morning but my buddy canceled due to the rain so I stayed home. He couldn't go in the evening but I found another buddy willing to go. He had only fished with me once before and it was mid November last year so it was cold and he only caught a couple small ones. I got to the launch just after 9 pm right as a bass tournament with about 15 boats were coming in.

I fished around the point waiting for my friend to show up. I tried the max rap and a couple other lures without any luck. I was guessing the point got hammered by the tournament anglers. I figured the fishing would be slow for about an hour until the lake calmed down. Finally picked up my friend at around 9:45.
I decided we should start in the SW bay since its a larger area where the fish maybe didn't have as much pressure. I gave my buddy my rod with the buzzbait to start with and I went with the black spinnerbait. After about 15 minutes I caught the first fish. It was 15.25 inches long. Only about 5 minutes later, at around 10:15 pm, I caught this 17 incher.

So I switched rods with my friend hoping he'd start catching some fish. It slowed down for us and he missed a bite he said. I switched out my buzzbait for a spinnerbait also. Eventually he caught a 15 incher. It was almost 11:30 when I decided to move us back to the point before we finished for the night. I switched back to a buzzbait. We got back to the point and after about 5 minutes he's telling me he's hooked up. Right after that the water exploded with big fish jumping, then jumping a second time right after the first, then my buddy saying the dreaded words of "He got off!" Neither one of us got a good enough glimpse of it to say what it was for sure. It was big no doubt, may have been a muskie but I'm leaning towards big smallmouth. Part of the mystery of night fishing and now he has a story of the big one that got away.
I still wasn't getting any action on the buzzbait but he did get another fish to bite the spinnerbait. It jumped and sounded pretty good but shrunk considerably when I netted it. Ended up being about a 14 inch smallmouth.
We were back to the ramp when he had it unhooked so we ended at just before midnight. There were plenty of fireworks around the lake for us to enjoy while fishing and the skies were clear with a partial moon shining and getting close to setting as we quit. The winds were low out of the WNW giving a nice ripple on the lake all night. There was some pontoon traffic out cruising the lake and for some reason one decided to drive by really close. Almost said something but didn't feel like getting into a verbal spat. Just dont understand peoples lack of respect sometimes. Was glad my buddy caught some decent fish but would really have liked to see him land that big fish. My father in law always seems to lose a big fish in the same area almost every trip too.
Oh, and, HAPPY JULY 4th EVERYBODY!
