1st Fishing Trip This Year

[senile1]

I started this year with high hopes for some Winter fishing but all of the lakes iced over and stayed that way until the first week of March.  By that time, I was involved in a network installation and implementation project and I didn't get to see the water until yesterday.  I went out to a 5 acre pond that I have permission to fish.  The wind was blowing 25 mph but I brought an anchor.  I still had to use a paddle with the owner's rickety aluminum boat.  The water temps here are around 40 - 43 degrees in our bigger lakes, so I estimate this pond was close to 50 degrees.  There are two creeks that feed the upper end of this pond and the wind was blowing straight up one of them.  I started off working the underwater channel banks of this creek with a Lucky Craft Pointer DD 100.  Within an hour I had boated 8 bass but none were more than 2 - 3 lbs.  I tried a flat off the creek that was protected from the wind and got no bites so I moved back up the creek and caught a couple more on the jerkbait.  The bite was getting slow so I switched to a chartreuse and white spinnerbait, slow-rolling it along the channel banks in about 10 feet of water but was not getting hit.  I switched to a jig and pig with no success either.  I moved further up where the creek went into a cove and the water was shallower and warmer.  Then I started nailing fish right and left with the spinnerbait.  By the time the bite died down I had boated 31 bass.  As the day was getting warmer the fish were moving up into the warm shallow water at the back of the creek and the wind was pushing the baitfish back up in this cove.  The bite died down so I switched to a Texas rigged watermelon tube and caught 3 more fish for a total of 34 fish.  I had never caught more than 15 - 20 out of this pond before.  While the numbers were fun, I'm a little disappointed.  According to the owner, he caught a 7 and and 8 lb'er out of here last year, which was the reason I started fishing it.  I'm wondering if there are too many bass in this pond.  I have caught some fish that were just shy of 5 lbs here last year but I was hoping this would be a place to catch a PB.  Anyway, I had fun and it was a good way to work out the rust from the Winter.

[Lightninrod]

Very detailed report and you caught the heck out of them.  It may be over-populated with small fish though......?

Dan

[BadKarma42]

Nice work