A couple of guys that do some work for me came by the house yesterday and asked to fish my pond. It is a pretty good size pond and covers a few acres. The property is new to me, and I'm not familiar at all with the pond stock. I let them fish and walked out with them to watch. They could run a rod pretty well, and they all seemed to be using similar spinner baits but each had a different color. The only guy to catch fish was running a red spinner bait, and he caught three bass in 30 minutes! I thought that was a pretty big deal. Two were less than 2 lbs, and he released them. He caught a 5 lb bass, and I let him take it home to feed his family. I had never seen a bass that size in person. It was huge.
Well, I got it in my mind that I could be a bass fisherman, too. So, I went down to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought a baitcast reel and rod combo. I picked out the closest thing to the lure that the guy was running and went back to the house to fish. I learned pretty well how to pull line on a baitcast reel. I can't begin to count the number of birds nests that I had. As time went by my cast got better, and I got the reel tuned for the lure. I probably spent an hour or more walking the dam and casting. Finally, I had some luck and a little 1-2 lb bass took the bait. He shook the hook before I could get him to shore. That would have been my first bass. I casted a few more times and gave up for the day.
I threw some casts this morning for about 15 minutes, and then I needed to get to work. I only had one cast nest up, so that was a serious improvement.
At about 4 pm this afternoon I went back out to practice and fish. I spent about 15 minutes walking the pond and casting, and I ended up in the same place where I lost the little bass. I cast 8 or 10 times in different directions. There isn't much structure to this pond at all. I was about to give up when I felt a different sensation on the bait. I gave a little slack thinking that maybe a fish was "mouthing" the bait. Then I felt the tension on the pole, and I knew that I had something on. It felt heavy! I reeled in some slack. I've never caught anything on this pole, so my drag was set all wrong. I was turning the reel, but no line was coming in. I had to set the drag on the fly. I'm reeling him in slowly and my heart is racing. I can't believe that I may land this one! It takes me a few minutes, but I finally get him to shore. I couldn't believe the size of this fish. It was HUGE. I grab the line and chase it down to the edge of the dam where I can get a hand on the fish. I grab it and pull it out of the water. Lord have mercy, I have never seen such a beautiful sight!
My first bass was caught around 4pm today. I weighed it and it came in at exactly 8 lb 8 oz. It was a true gift to have caught this fish as my first bass. I returned the gift and released him back into the pond for a second chance. This was the best fishing day of my life.
