Although I have discovered new ponds in the area that have produced decent fishing trips, I have missed fishing one of my favorites this spring. I began fishing this particular pond four years ago. This year, though, it had become quite overgrown with vegetation and difficult to fish. I noticed a few days ago that one side had been cleared just enough to reach the water. Knowing that it was also hard for others to fish, I figured the fish would be ready to bite something artificial. After dinner last night, I decided to give it a try while there was a little bit of daylight left.
Within 15 minutes, I had missed three bites on my Stanley Ribbit topwater frog bait. Realizing these fish were not in an aggressive enough mood to go for the kill shot, I decided to add a treble hook as a trailer. I still missed a couple of additional short-strikers, but I did land three bass before it was too dark to see where I was casting.
As any fisherman knows, one topwater bite is worth two or three beneath the surface. There is just nothing comparable to seeing and hearing a bass break the surface to inhale a lure as it skates along the top of the water. After getting home, I could not get get those strikes out of my head. I repacked my small box of lures (I only take a handful of options to each pond trip) and three rods. I set my alarm to wake me up extra early to try to recreate those feeding explosions.
I arrived back at the pond about 6:45 a.m. this morning. As I pulled my rods out of the back of the truck, I was startled by the sight and sound of a skein of geese quickly descending upon my location. I was concerned they would land directly where I was standing, but they missed me by a few yards. I still don't know why they chose that spot as a place of rest, but they did hang out for a while before taking off again. I had forgotten how large a goose actually is. It reminded me of the time my roommate in college killed a goose on a hunting trip and surprised me with the giant bird spread out on our porch.
The geese encounter was interesting, but I sacrificed sleep for another reason. I was there to catch bass. I started right away casting the frog to the same areas where I had caught fish less than 11 hours before. After dozens of casts, I realized the frog might not be the key player this day. I had brought a few other options for such an occasion. After just a few casts with a Zoom Fluke, I had my first bass of the day.
I missed a couple on the buzzbait, but the treble hook dangling from the back helped snag some of the lesser aggressive strikes. My total count for the day was now at four, but the strikes suddenly stopped.
Before heading home, I figured I would try one more attempt to land another fish. My thought was that they might want a slower approach since the buzzbait is a quick-moving target. I threw an XPS Z-Pop (Bass Pro Shop version of the Pop-R). I was experimenting with different speeds and popping cadences when POW! The calm water exploded and my lure was gone. I set the hook and brought in the last bass of the day. It wasn't the monster that I first thought it might be, but it was still enough to make the trip fun. My scale said it was 2.46 lbs.
I was back home early enough to have eggs and biscuits fixed for Jennifer before she even got out of bed. Overall the day started off nice. It was a good escape from the other things on my mind lately.
