Storm clouds swelled in the western sky as fishing friend Mike McCoy and I collected our thoughts about how to proceed with the balance of our Tuesday.

We had been shellacking largemouth bass in the warming shallow water of Mosquito Lake as the morning sun played dodge ball with the clouds. But a bolt of lightning north of us put an exclamation point on our decision. Vamoose!

At the dock in the marina we waited for the pesky weather to roll east and decided to return to the schools of bass we’d located once the storm clouds cleared.

McCoy had driven from his home in Mentor to meet up with me at Mosquito on Tuesday so he could deliver a truckload of product he’d secured from his bass fishing sponsors for the upcoming 20th annual Muransky Companies Bass Classic. Like several other Bass Classic pro competitors, McCoy generously rounded up neat stuff for the fundraiser tournament benefiting the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.

Of course, Mosquito was more than a product-swap rendezvous. We agreed it would be a good idea to check out the fishing.

So after we transferred hundreds of sample packs of Z-man soft plastic lures, Flambeau tackle bags, an Ego landing net and boxes stuffed with Sunsect sunscreen and insect repellent, we launched the BassCat and ran up the lake a mile or so to a stretch of shallow cover that we guessed could produce some quality bass.

We guessed correctly.

We snatched a pair of bass from a willow bush on a point before Mike turned and fired a cast out toward the middle of the cove. I felt the boat lurch and turned to see a big bow in his rod. A chunky 2-pounder had eaten his white JackHammer Z-man ChatterBait and it jumped a couple of times in protest as McCoy reeled the bass to the boat.

It didn’t take much convincing for me to turn my back to the bank and chuck my own ChatterBait in the same direction. Again we guessed correctly and for the next 45 minutes, we hooked and battled dozens of bass that were congregating in the aquatic weeds growing in the cove.

By any measure, the day had already been a big success when the storm got our attention. But anglers have an inner drive — one more cast, one more bass — that must be heeded. So back we went when we felt it was safe to resume fishing.

We’d caught so many fish at the initial location that we decided to try a similar spot where the vegetation was starting to sprout. It took only a few minutes of casting there to again hit the mother lode.

Bingo. Fish after fish attacked our lures. Most were bigger than 2 pounds and many exceeded 3. Several pushed past the 4-pound mark and the biggest of the day pulled the scale to 5 pounds 10 ounces.

Mike and I could hardly believe the bounty of our day. Mosquito is famous as a quality springtime lake for walleyes, bass and crappies. But our day was beyond good. You could call it exceptional, but even that word seems to understate what we’d experienced.

We hit four spots that day and all produced big time. We finished the day with more than 60 plus-sized largemouth bass between us, all carefully unhooked and returned to play again another day.

It was a day that will live in our memories for as long as we can still appreciate the thrill of casting a line and catching a fish.

Jack Wollitz is a lifelong angler who loves to write about fishing in Northeast Ohio. He appreciates emails from readers. He also can put you to work if you wish to volunteer as a scorekeeper judge for the June 1 Muransky Companies Bass Classic. Email him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.