April 26, 2012

Had some great fishing last week. Two customers reported >40 fish days. Several sightings of big fish, none locked on beds. One fish spotted that was “the biggest bass I ever saw”. No small statement from my friend who has landed a 10.75# bass and has been in the boat with a 12.25# bass. I had a nice guide trip Friday, followed by the passage of a cold front that knocked things back a bit. I really thought the fish would have recovered by Tues evening when my next group came in. 4 new AP customers who drove a long way to catch a very few fish yesterday. I went out to see what was going on, and found that there were some marked differences in water clarity; caught a few once I found the clear water and felt like it was a matter of time till the bite got hot again. Not sure why, but the new clients decided they had seen enough after fishing for about the same amount of time that they spent driving round trip; so they packed up and headed home last night. I tried my best to keep them here and begged them not to pay for the fishing since they were obviously not “satisfied”. This morning I had to go see for myself and spent about 45 minutes before I caught my first fish, but then it was full-on. 10 fish in the boat over the next 2.25 hrs and lost two that I REALLY wanted to see. The bed that had a 3-4lb male on it yesterday now had an 8lb female hanging around; still not quite ready to bite, maybe this afternoon. Still mulling over what I did wrong w/ these new clients. I know it’s about expectations, but as usual, I had tried my best to undersell the fishing.