Fish Before the Storm

I'm out of sequence with reports from recent fishing days because I got behind on blog posts, but a few days ago, Asher and I enjoyed a quick afternoon outing and had fun catching some bass and bluegills before a big evening rain and thunder not far from us pushed us off the pond.

Late in the afternoon, we decided to slip out after dinner, if it wasn't already raining. From the radar, I had my doubts, but I planned as if we would go and gathered a bit of gear when I had the chance. It was one of those patchy summer systems that was hard to gauge, so even as we got in the car, I wondered whether we'd have to turn around when we got to the pond, which is only four miles from our house.

No raindrops when we arrived, to we grabbed our junk and launched the johnboat. The pond is pretty small, so it's reasonable to retreat when needed. We only got in about 2/3 of a lap before the rain hit, and when it came, it came hard in a hurry, and we had to scurry. In an hour or so of fishing, though, we caught several bass and bluegills, including a bass of a couple of pounds that Asher spotted cruising and cast a few feet ahead of to draw the strike.

We were across the pond when the rain came, so it got up pretty wet. We returned home soggy but smiling.

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.

All Dressed Up & No Place to Go

Photo by Nathaniel Samsel

I guess it was a foolish notion, but when I finished a project with only a bit of afternoon remaining, Nathaniel and I started looking at the snow and thinking how pretty the pond would be. If we could get even a fish or two to take a vertical presentation during the final hour of daylight, it would be well worth the quick trip. In fact, it would be fun and the photos would be nice even if the fish wouldn't bite.

So Nathaniel gathered junk while I wrapped up work stuff and turned on the truck so it could begin to warm, and then we began piling on layers. My outer layer was waterproof so the snow wouldn't get me wet, and I had GoPros and my waterproof point-and-shoot in my pocket, gloves on my hands and a beanie on my head. All seemed perfect.

Perfect, that is, until I tried to back out and made my tires spin a faster than the truck was going backward. Turned out there was more ice under the snow than I expected. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten out, had I persisted, but I decided pretty quickly that if I was sliding that much in front of the house I probably shouldn't test four miles of road to go somewhere I didn't really need to go. Not even to go fishing.

Given reports I've heard from all over the South, I sort of think it was the right call. That was yesterday afternoon. This morning I resolved to just stay home and write fish stories today. Roads will thaw eventually, and there's nowhere I really need to go.

Brisk Autumn Morning

Gloves would have felt good on the pond yesterday morning. It was pretty cold for early November in Georgia, and the chill in the air was magnified by the fog settled over the pond. I'm not complaining, though. We were there because we wanted to be there, and I certainly could have worn gloves.

The pond was beautiful, as things around here tend to be this time of year, especially in the early morning sunshine. The fish also bit pretty well. We didn't count our fish, but Nathaniel and I caught quite a few bream and bass in just a couple of laps around the pond. The bass were all small, but the bream were decent sized, and we mostly fished with panfish tackle.

We called it quits relatively early because of other Saturday plans, but neither of us really minded that because the chill sort of dug deeper as we fished. The warm truck and hot coffee at home were both nice after a brisk but fun morning outing.

Pontoon Back in Action

My little inflatable pontoon couldn't stand it any longer. Having been pulled out, cleaned up and inflated a week or so ago, it was eager to get its feet wet. Good opportunity simply hadn't presented itself. Yesterday, finally, we slipped the pontoon into the back of my Expedition and shot over to the beaver pond. Nathaniel and Asher fished out of Nathaniel's johnboat while I cruised around the pond in my one-man inflatable craft.

The boat's greatest utility won't shine again until we get it's blue buddy fully back in order and can tote them places where it's not practical to take the johnboat. Hopefully, that will be soon. The nice thing is that deflated we could carry them both either in the back of the Expedition or on top of it. In the meantime, I'm glad to have one working, and it was every bit as comfortable and easy to fish from as I remembered. The bass weren't tearing it up, but we did manage to catch a few. Just enough to make the pontoon boat happy, I'm pretty sure.

Sunday Evening Suprise Bass

Autumn, 6, got called to camera duty yesterday evening when the fish that slurped down my Rebel Crickhopper Popper turned out to be far bigger than what normally shows up in the pond where we were fishing. Although, she'd never used the camera that was around my neck when the fish hit, I think she did a fine job of taking the canoe transfer, figuring out which buttons do what and composing a nice photo of me and my catch.

Autumn and I had determined to make a quick lap around the pond before it got dark. She had only fished from the bank before, so just casting from a canoe was a new experience for her. She caught one bass on a 3-inch YUM Dinger and had a few other strikes. Unfortunately, the one Autumn caught slipped away before I could return the photo favor.

Nathaniel looked at the photos after Autumn and I got back home, and we believe it's the same fish he's caught two other times from the same pond. We call her Melody, after his big, goofy dog. Most bass in the pond, which only covers a couple of acres, weigh 1 1/2 pounds or less, and we've fished it enough over the years that we think we'd know it if there was more than one extra big fish. Assuming it is the same fish, she's notably thinner than either time Nathaniel has caught her before. However, our spring came so late and our water has been so high that I think she might have the post-spawn sort of look a bass normally has in around May around here. She didn't look unhealthy. Just much more slender than in previous photos.

Melody or not, that fish, which I landed on an ultralight outfit and 4-pound test line, provided a big surprise and a fun bonus for our Sunday evening outing.

Small Water Surpise

Nathaniel and I spend a fair amount of time fishing a few little ponds on some friends' property. We spend the most time on the upper pond, both due to convenience and because we catch fish there pretty consistently and know it really well. Our favorite pond, though, is the beaver pond, which is tucked in the woods and a little more remote than the others. The beaver pond is shallow, full of stumps, has grown up banks and is really pretty, and it seems the frogs are always singing around the edges. We sometimes do quite well there, but we had never caught a fish that weighed more than about 2 pounds from it's waters. That is until yesterday, when Nathaniel threw an XCalibur Square Lip crankbait in the right place. See for yourself.