S-L-O-W

Given a bit of time on a Saturday afternoon, Nathaniel and I decided to head for the pond for a couple of hours. It was late in the day, though, and cloudy, and the water was quite cold from a few recent nights in the teens. I really didn't know if we'd catch anything, but I figured slow had to be the way to go.

I started with a finesse worm on a Buckeye Lures Spot Remover, which is designed for shaky-head fishing, and worked the little worm slowly across the bottom with jiggles and distinct pauses. Nathaniel started with a small bright-colored BOOYAH spinnerbait. No fish in the first 1/2 hour or so, although Nathaniel had one spinnerbait strike.

I traded my worm for a green pumpkin YUM Craw Papi in the smallest size and stuck with the same jighead, and that turned out to be the winning combination. None of my fish were large, but I caught three on that combo, and Nathaniel lost one boatside after he switched to a shaky-head matched with a Gene Larew Baby HooDaddy. All the bites came when the lures were moving very slowly, right on the bottom, or were sitting motionless, and I never felt my first two fish hit. The only clue about the first one was the line cutting through the water slightly faster than I was reeling. On the second one, I actually saw a couple of flashes right where I knew my lure was, so I set the hook, and sure enough the fish had my lure.

We considered three catches and one "almost" a great success and had fun seeing how the fish's behavior lined up with conditions. They actually did what they "were supposed to" yesterday.