Lake Monroe Spillway wipers, the bite is on!

Due to work, family obligations, and crappy weather, it took me 10 days from my last WDA to get back out fishing.  I was able to plan a little better this time though to try to target another wiper.  I respooled the reel on my Shakespeare medium-action Ugly Stik with 12 lb test line and had time to order some Extreme Shad swimbaits from Amazon.  I was set!

I went back to the spillway on Lake Monroe at 6 AM, put one of the Extreme Shads on my biggest jig head, and cast into the current.  And then did it again, and again, and again.  Nothing.  I think I got a few takes, but I could never set the hook.  To be honest, I don't think I had the right jig heads for the Extreme Shad, which are enormous swimbaits for a guy like me who's usually reeling in sunfish.

While I still had the spillway to myself, I decided to try another of the Goture swimbaits that I used to catch my first wiper.  In no time at all, I set the hook in a beast wiper and started to fight it toward the shore.  This was a different battle than the first wiper I fought on my ultralight, and I was definitely feeling more in control.  I got the fish close enough to see, and then it spit the hook...

I'm not going to lie.  I mutter some curses, threw some rocks, and plopped down on the ground like a defeated man.

Thankfully, my stubborn streak kicked in, and I started casting the swimbait again.  That was a good decision because all of a sudden, the bite was on!  I caught fish, after fish, after fish:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I look dazed and confused in these pictures, there's a good reason.  I have never, ever had a day of fishing go this well.  Not a single one of these fish was under 5 lb, and the biggest was a 7.5-lb, fat and sassy, 100% pure water donkey.  I think it was all the Goture swimbaits too.  Other folks had started to show up at the spillway, but I was the only one catching fish.  I saw them tossing out crank baits, flies, and even other swimbaits with similar coloring to mine, but no one was having any luck except me.  In fact, as soon as I got home, I ordered another pack.  If you're interested, check them out: https://amzn.to/3dNsY0x