Final-Hour Topwater Fun

 "I'm trying to keep it from popping," I told Nathaniel half jokingly. I had broken a backlashed line just above my reel and was hand-lining my Zell Pop back toward the boat. Apparently open-water skittering was too much for one bass to resist, though, because it attacked before I could get the bait back to me, and I ended up fighting the fish by grabbing loops with one hand and holding the rod with the other. I'm not complaining. It was fun and funny and capped off final-hour lap around the pond.

Well, it almost capped off the trip. Nathaniel did add one final bass with his Zara Pup after my broken-line popper bass.

Given yesterday's heat, we spent most of the day inside, so Nathaniel and I figured a quick lap around the pond at dark might be fun. Fun indeed. Of the nine we caught in about an hour of fishing time, all except two were on surface lures. We also missed a handful of fish, including a couple that hit really hard. We didn't catch any big fish, but that didn't matter.

Most of the fish were right on the bank, and they hit our baits almost as soon as the lures landed on the pond's calm surface. I wonder whether they'd laid low all day and were just gearing up for a night of hunting or whether all the activity is occuring at first and last light right now. Or maybe they fed all day, and we just weren't out there to find out about it!