Date: June 19, 2016
Body of Water: Farm Pond, Rural Northwest Missouri
Weather: Mostly sunny with little to no wind.
Air Temperature: 60’s at sunrise with a high in the 90's
Water Condition: Pretty clear with water levels dropping.
Wind Speed & Direction: South but hardly a breeze at all
Moon Phase: Full Moon or really close to one.
Fishing Equipment: 9 foot Echo 5 weight with floating line and medium heavy action spinning combo.
Flies/Lures/Bait: John Deere under a float, Powerbait Chigger Craw- dark green, Powerbait worm- pumpkin body and chartreuse tail, and a 10 inch Powerbait worm- pumpkin with red flake.
Hatches or Fish Behavior Observed: Bluegill sparatically feeding. Some activity in the shallows in thick cover.
Species Targeted: Bass and Bluegill
# of Fish Hooked: 35
# of Fish Landed: 28
# of Fish Released: 22
# of Fish Kept: 0
Largest Fish Description: A bluegill that MIGHT have gone 10 inches.
What Happened:
For Father's Day, my wife gave me a gift that is always appreciated and means a lot- an early morning of fishing by myself on a body of water that holds a lot of quality fish. I don't get to have too many mornings like this anymore due to having a young family and other responsibilities so it was greatly appreciated.
I got up at 4:00 AM and headed toward the farm pond that Jordan and I fished a while back. There is rumors of an 8 pound bass in this particular pond and I wanted to go after her with all I had and alone. I figured I might have a good chance catching her if I was dialed in and able to focus. I also thought it would have made an excellent Father's Day present.
On the way, I stopped at a convenience store on the way to pick up something caffeinated. Before walking into the store, I saw a man walk in ahead of me with his shirt off. I thought it was weird that a guy was doing some shirtless shopping at 4:30 in the morning, and also thought that this guy hadn't been to bed yet. On my way out of the store, I saw the same guy (shirt on now) talking to his assumed girlfriend and telling her to not get out of the car and that he was "not trippin". Another bystander also noticed the commotion and went over to make sure everything was alright. I watched for a while to see if I needed to step in and keep the young lady out of harm's way or possibly call the police. Everything appeared to get smoothed over so I decided to drive off while still keeping an eye on things. As I drove away, the man made eye contact with me and I didn't look away because I wanted him to know that others were watching and interested in what he was doing. At this point, something happened that hasn't happened to me since college. The man yelled at me, "What the (blank) are you looking at? I'll kick your..." You get the idea. At this point, without even really thinking, I just started to laugh out loud. I couldn't help it. I thought about stopping the truck but decided that there were many different things that could happen if I exited the vehicle and that none of them were good. As I drove away, still giggling, I was glad that at least the attention was on me rather the the girl and that this guy knew folks were watching him make a scene. I know this has nothing to do with fishing but it was too funny to keep to myself. Alright, back to the fishing.
The only way for me to get on the water was to use my float tube. I couldn't get my small boat to the water because it was too heavy for me to pull and the crops between the truck and pond are getting tall. I stepped in the water at about 5:30 and started fishing with a spinning rod and a worm. The plan was to fish the entire pond with a worm and try to catch the 8 pounder, then get the fly rod out to catch some big bluegill, and then fish a craw or worm one more time around the pond. On my second cast I caught a bass that was close to 3 pounds which was a great start. He pulled me around in my tube for a while and I felt like a little kid getting pulled through the water by their dad. The only thing I could do was to hold on and wait for the fish to tire. I landed him and got back to fishing some thick cover (laydowns and stumps). It was at this point that I learned a valuable lesson. Fishing with a worm, out of a tube, almost at water level, in thick cover, is not like fishing out of a boat and being 3 feet above the surface of the water. A worm doesn't hop over branches and twigs but rather has to be crawled over them. The made things more difficult because it felt different and provided more hang-ups. I landed a few more bass and one big bluegill before I switched to the fly rod.
I picked up some small females at first but it didn't take long to find the "boys club" and caught a number of "bull" bluegill that went at least 9 inches long with one being almost 10 inches. They varied in color but they all fought hard and were beautiful. Some were dark and others bright, but all were appreciated. In all, I probably caught 10 bluegill that hit the 9 inch mark or bigger and all came on a John Deere under a float. I also landed a 2 pound bass that put a heck of a bend in my 5 weight and was a lot of fun to catch. Eventually I picked up the spinning combo and went back after the big one.
I put on a craw this time thinking that a bigger lure and different critter might trigger the might that I hadn't got on the first trip around the lake. I landed one fish on the craw and had a few other bites that I missed. I decided to go around the edge one more time with a 10 inch worm to see if a big, fat meal might get the job done. I missed a few more but landed a few as well with one of the fish being a 9 inch bass. It still baffles me that a bass will try and eat something that is larger than it's own overall length. The trip ended with I broke off on a fish that was close to my take-out spot. This story is not over and one day, I will get this lunker and you better believe that I will be writing about it when it happens.
I got up at 4:00 AM and headed toward the farm pond that Jordan and I fished a while back. There is rumors of an 8 pound bass in this particular pond and I wanted to go after her with all I had and alone. I figured I might have a good chance catching her if I was dialed in and able to focus. I also thought it would have made an excellent Father's Day present.
On the way, I stopped at a convenience store on the way to pick up something caffeinated. Before walking into the store, I saw a man walk in ahead of me with his shirt off. I thought it was weird that a guy was doing some shirtless shopping at 4:30 in the morning, and also thought that this guy hadn't been to bed yet. On my way out of the store, I saw the same guy (shirt on now) talking to his assumed girlfriend and telling her to not get out of the car and that he was "not trippin". Another bystander also noticed the commotion and went over to make sure everything was alright. I watched for a while to see if I needed to step in and keep the young lady out of harm's way or possibly call the police. Everything appeared to get smoothed over so I decided to drive off while still keeping an eye on things. As I drove away, the man made eye contact with me and I didn't look away because I wanted him to know that others were watching and interested in what he was doing. At this point, something happened that hasn't happened to me since college. The man yelled at me, "What the (blank) are you looking at? I'll kick your..." You get the idea. At this point, without even really thinking, I just started to laugh out loud. I couldn't help it. I thought about stopping the truck but decided that there were many different things that could happen if I exited the vehicle and that none of them were good. As I drove away, still giggling, I was glad that at least the attention was on me rather the the girl and that this guy knew folks were watching him make a scene. I know this has nothing to do with fishing but it was too funny to keep to myself. Alright, back to the fishing.
The only way for me to get on the water was to use my float tube. I couldn't get my small boat to the water because it was too heavy for me to pull and the crops between the truck and pond are getting tall. I stepped in the water at about 5:30 and started fishing with a spinning rod and a worm. The plan was to fish the entire pond with a worm and try to catch the 8 pounder, then get the fly rod out to catch some big bluegill, and then fish a craw or worm one more time around the pond. On my second cast I caught a bass that was close to 3 pounds which was a great start. He pulled me around in my tube for a while and I felt like a little kid getting pulled through the water by their dad. The only thing I could do was to hold on and wait for the fish to tire. I landed him and got back to fishing some thick cover (laydowns and stumps). It was at this point that I learned a valuable lesson. Fishing with a worm, out of a tube, almost at water level, in thick cover, is not like fishing out of a boat and being 3 feet above the surface of the water. A worm doesn't hop over branches and twigs but rather has to be crawled over them. The made things more difficult because it felt different and provided more hang-ups. I landed a few more bass and one big bluegill before I switched to the fly rod.
I picked up some small females at first but it didn't take long to find the "boys club" and caught a number of "bull" bluegill that went at least 9 inches long with one being almost 10 inches. They varied in color but they all fought hard and were beautiful. Some were dark and others bright, but all were appreciated. In all, I probably caught 10 bluegill that hit the 9 inch mark or bigger and all came on a John Deere under a float. I also landed a 2 pound bass that put a heck of a bend in my 5 weight and was a lot of fun to catch. Eventually I picked up the spinning combo and went back after the big one.
I put on a craw this time thinking that a bigger lure and different critter might trigger the might that I hadn't got on the first trip around the lake. I landed one fish on the craw and had a few other bites that I missed. I decided to go around the edge one more time with a 10 inch worm to see if a big, fat meal might get the job done. I missed a few more but landed a few as well with one of the fish being a 9 inch bass. It still baffles me that a bass will try and eat something that is larger than it's own overall length. The trip ended with I broke off on a fish that was close to my take-out spot. This story is not over and one day, I will get this lunker and you better believe that I will be writing about it when it happens.
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