It was an early launch and the temperature was in the 40's, but it was forecasted to warm up nicely by midday. The fall had been relatively mild, and I figured I could find a few stragglers left in shallow water. As I suspected, I was marking some schools in 40-50 feet of water as I crossed the first couple of creek channels. But, there was a lot of bait still running shallow, so I was confident I could catch my first Carters Lake fish throwing my old reliable trick worms. Word has it, there are only two colors you need to throw on Carters - green pumpkin and green pumpkin.
A little backstory on Carters... This was my third time on the lake, and I had been skunked twice the previous winter - once on a day trip to fish for fun, and once in my first kayak bass tournament on a day when the ramp was iced over. And fishing "shallow" in Carters is a relative term if there ever was one. It's a deep, clear impoundment - one of the deepest in the eastern United States. It's not uncommon to be sitting in a boat 20 yards from the bank, and be in 50+ feet deep water. The depths top 300' near the dam itself.
Within the first hour, I was able to break my drought, and landed a 15" largemouth on a (gasp) green pumpkin worm. An hour or so later, I landed a 12.5" spot on the opposite side of the same creek mouth. I paddled all the way back in the creek and didn't get another bite, throwing the worm as well as a chatterbait and a jig. By this time, my time on the lake was getting short. But there was one main lake point I wanted to paddle up and try before I had to leave.
I made it around the point where the main river channel swings close to the rocky bank, positioned my Amigo over about 17 feet of water and casted into the current and parallel to the bank. As soon as my shakey head hit the bottom, BANG. Before I could even engage the reel, I had a bite. I thumbed the spool immediately and set the hook, as my paddle was in my right hand. I rested my paddle and finally engaged the reel and could tell the fish was still on, but swimming toward me. It actually spit the lure once on the way back, but the heartbreak was short-lived as I felt the dead weight a second time. This time, I drove the hook home and played the fish another 10 seconds or so before I netted my personal best spot. It was a chunk, just over 18 inches and just over 4 lbs on the Boga Grip. After a couple of selfies and a Hawg Trough pic, I released the fish to let her grow some more.
As soon as I released that fish, it was time to paddle back to the ramp and head to Jasper for Thanksgiving with family. I won't soon forget that one. Best 3 (and only 3) fish totaled 45.5". These were also the first three fish caught on the shakey heads I had powder-painted myself.
