Today, solo mission. I got to the lake very late and wasn't on the water until 7pm. I threw the Castaic gizzard shad and the black/chrome speed trap in the marina cove for zilch, nada, no nothing. Saw some small shad in the very back of the cove. The lake is down and continues to drop approx 6 inches a week on the "how far my boat is from the water" scale. At 7:40 I drove the boat down to Jackass canyon to try something different. I started by jigging a 1oz hopkins spoon on the main point towards the marina. Metered only a few fish there and had no bites in about 10 minutes of fishing the same area. <BR>Now comes the interesting part. I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about two things. <BR>1. Where are all of the big bass in Margarita during the summertime? This winter and early spring I landed fish of 5-9, 5-3, and 5-1 on the ac plug and minnow, but this summer my largest has only been 3-12. <BR>2. What lure could I possibly use to catch the big ones during the summer? I have had great luck on the 1/4 oz chrome speed traps and the Castaic gizzard shad, but even on that bait I have yet to land any lunkers. <BR>So last night when I rigged up for today I tied a 5 inch olive big hammer on a 1oz head on my flipping stick. <BR>Working into Jackass Canyon I decided what the heck and fired out a couple casts. 5 minutes later and wham about 10 feet from the boat in 25 feet of water and a good 70-80 feet from the bank a nice 3lb 4oz bass inhales the thing. Well no it wasn't a 5 pounder but it was interesting. I fished the rest of the cove for the next 30 minutes and had 3 more huge bites but missed them all. I was pissed that I had tied the bait on my flipping stick because as most saltwater guys will know, a stiff tip is not what you want when you are fishing plastics. So next time the 9'-6" inch sabre 190 is coming to the lake with me and we're going to see if this swimbait bite is for real.<BR>Something to think about.