April 21st trip report

 got a rare day on the lake by myself today. i kinda missed having my son with me, sometimes it's the simple things in life that add the most to any experience. anyway made an extra effort to get out at first light. its hard to do now that the sun is up by 6 am and the gates to the freshwater park open at 6 am. i managed to time it right though and got out on the water the first boat exactly at 6:10 am. beautiful morning, nice clear skies and the promise of a great day of fishing. water temp was 74 degrees at launch and warmed upto 76 by noon with 77 in some areas of the lake. partly cloudy most of the day with just a light sprinkle here and there in the morning. wind was calm till about 9 am when it ramped up and became 15-25mph  for the rest of the day. water clarity was great and was about 2-3 ft from the ramp up into most of south fork and averaged 2 ft all along the main basin with spots in the 3ft range common.north fork was a bit murkier with 2 ft the norm but some less than that. moon phase was a new moon. barometer was 30.11 and rising.the water depth at the dam gauge read 78.6 ft . and the astro table for the day was 77. i started my day working the ironwoods right off the tip of the ramp and followed them up around the corner up into south fork. i was throwing a terminator spinnerbait 1/2 oz in clown color with a turtle shell gold blade. alternating with a crankbait and soft plastic creature bait. no luck today in the ironwoods in this area. i worked up into south fork and picked up a lot of trash as i went. no fish i worked the bluff side of that first straight away and the grass beds using a strike king wake shad and the same spinnerbait and got nothing. working my way along i finally got my first fish a nice 17 in 2.2 lb lmb on the rocky corner just in between grass beds, he really slammed it as it ran just under the surface. nice start to the day as it was only 7:30 am or so but it was to be a fluke. from there on out i fished my usual south fork spots but got skunked and threw all manner of baits including the secret frog lure for clear water. but nothing after that first fish. went all the way up to the old military bridge but got nothing. by 9 am i turned around and headed back. fished the opposite side of the bank across from the ramp just to satisfy my curiosity, after all i had caught 4 there a few weeks back, but nothing this morning.lots of trailers in the lot this morning, looked like it was gonna be a busy day on the water. made the run down to robbies tree and fished that whole bank all the way down past the retirement home i used the spinnerbait and a soft plastic creature bait but got nothing, not even a bite. saddled up and ran down to boy scout island, stopped at the main lake point across from the masons lodge i noticed quite a few suspended shad pods and bass or tucs underneath them on my graph. i fished crank baits dragged a jig drop shotted and slow rolled a spinnerbait but nothing. things were beginning to look desperate. continued down to boy scout island and more shad pods appeared on the graph with more suspended fish around them. i fished the middle of the lake with a soft plastic jerk bait but nothing i tried drop shotting boy scout island point but nothing. dragged the jig but nothing. ran down to kemo'o island and fished the saddle and my secret secondary points but got nothing. i was alternating all 7 poles i had on the boat and no lure was producing for me. made the run up into north fork and worked morgans point and randals point but got nothing. finally started down the bluff bank and got one that tail danced his way to freedom on a jig. in the clear water i should have switch to pork but i had neglected to bring any. i was using a pumpkin 3/8 oz jig with a pumpkin zoom chunk trailer with the tips of the trailer dipped in a chartreuse scent that colored the tips. fished the whole length of the bluff bank with this jig and managed to get 2 more bass both inn the 14-15in range maybe 1.6 -1.8 lb range. ran along up into south fork kinda hitting steep bluff banks with ironwoods although i had no real pattern i was kinda in a this is where i think they are mode so i was basically pounding water and lucking into whatever i caught. as i came back down the other side of kinkaids i ran into jeff and marc who informed me they were doing great with 17 fish between them working grass with his patent agent utah bait, basically a small soft plastic jerk bait. for whatever reason i didn't head the grass part of the  story. i continued to pound steep banks and points to no avail. eventually working my way back to the ramp after hitting many areas. 5 fish for the day and a nice 2.2 lber for my anchor, not a bad day just not the stellar days i have had recently. as i looked back on the day later i thought to myself jeff was wowing em in the grass and i caught my first and best fish in the grass, why didn't i start trying to develop a grass pattern???!!! i was so caught up in where they had been i failed to look where they had moved to!! its a trap even KVD fell into just recently on bull shoals. i got caught up in the baits i had used to knock them dead in recent weeks and the locations they had been in and when that didn't work panic started and clouded my ability to find something that was working and make a rational switch in technique and lures! i read KVDs online article on the B.A.S.S. website and it was spot on with how i had run my day also. he ended up in 45th place for the tournament i ended up with 5 fish instead of the 20 or so jeff and marc acrewed by end of day. i guess to sum it up in a cliche like KVD did, I'm gonna say i failed to let the fish tell me what they wanted and where they were. instead i went in using old info and no game plan and was lucky to get the fish i did. i will have to use less of a preconceived notion next time and use it more as a starting point instead of trying to force a pattern that no longer exists.