Fishin' in the Rain

Type: Nontidal
Region: Southern
Location: St. Mary's Lake

I went fishing this morning in the rain, like my grandson says, �the fish don�t care�. At any rate, I did a quick stop down at the actually the gas dock near the fishing pier in my subdivision on the way out to St. Mary�s Lake. I made a few casts for some rock fish without any luck. I then noticed what I thought were baitfish breaking the surface near a channel marker in Back River. So I rushed over and took a cast, well my line shot off and away from me as soon as my 1 oz vertical jig hit the water, I tried to turn the fish but it dug in and broke my 20 lb monofilament leader. I then replaced that, I directly tied a 1/4 oz swim bait to the braided 20 lb line. Took one cast and the fight was on. Brought the fish up to 8 foot from the bank, they were Skate. Ugh! He got spooked, took a run and snap, off he went. Fun times though.

Then off to the lake, I upsized my swim bait to keep the smaller bass and those pesky yellow perch and crappie off my line. I caught 6 largemouth bass and 5 pickerel. Although the bigger bait did not deter some pickerel with a Napoleon complex from taking my bait, and destroying them!