Looking Up

Nathaniel and I began yesterday afrernoon's pond outing with typical spring stuff, including squarebill crankbaits and weightless soft-plastic baits. The pond looked beautiful and we saw fish cruising, but they didn't seem eager to bite.

 

About 1/3 around the pond I  tied a Rebel Crickhopper onto my ultralight and fired it toward the bank. The response was immediate, and while the first hits were from bluegills that didn't get hooked, it showed me that the fish might be interested in surface offerings. 

 

Halfway around the pond we beached the boat and walked down to the middle pond to fish it from the bank (something we often do). I managed two bass and missed another on a frog while the fish completely ignored a YUM Dinger.

 

When we got back to the upper pond, Nathaniel tied on a Zara Puppy, and I stuck with the surface hopper on my little rod, and we managed to catch three bass and a bluegill before we finished the lap.

 

Seems the fish were looking up and had no interest in offerings presented beneath the surface.