The Trophy Pond

If you fish long enough, then you eventually find a secret spot.  This is a place where you catch a lot of fish, catch big fish, or a lot of big fish.  Regardless, you keep your spot to yourself and if you DO ever take someone to your spot, then they might be sworn to secrecy and there might even be blindfolds involved.  That's not a joke.  I know true stories that involve people being blindfolded on the way to a honey hole.

My spot is simply called, The Trophy Pond.  It resides in...oh come on, you didn't think I was going to tell did you?  Let me put it to you this way, you keep your spots to yourself, and I will keep this one to myself.  If you ever feel the need to exchange spots, email me.  I will not be holding my breathe for health reasons.

My dad.

Anyway, the pond is located somewhere in rural Missouri and sits in the middle of a field that sometimes grows soybeans and sometimes corn.  The landowners are some of the nicest folks you have ever met and they know they have a goldmine.  They know that they grow big fish and don't need to see pictures of my catches to prove it.  I first found the pond one day while prospecting with my dad and let me put it to you this way; I caught five fish in less than an hour, put them on a stringer, weighed the stringer, and the stringer weighed over 20 pounds.  All fish were returned to the water because this is a pretty small pond and killing those fish would probably have long-lasting effects.  Since then I have taken a few of my out of town friends to the pond.  I am confident that they could never find the pond again without my help, and if you ever mention the phrase "Trophy Pond" around them, they automatically recount the memories without any prodding.

A buddy of mine with a product of the Trophy Pond.

Aside from these VERY close friends, I have also taken my good buddy Pat.  Pat might just be the single nicest and most helpful guy I have ever met.  He is a very smart (literally, a genius IQ) and is always there when I need him.  When I have a toilet problem, I call Pat.  When I have small engine questions, I call Pat.  When I need a sprinkler system dug up because some moron installed it over a manhole cover in my front yard, I call Pat.  He's always there at a moment's notice and treats me like I was his son.  For all of those reasons and more, Pat is Trophy Pond worthy.

We have fished the Trophy Pond a couple of times and done fairly well both times.  Obviously, there are lots of big fish in the pond, but it is not without its limitations.  The bank of the pond is completely surrounded by trees which makes casting difficult.  When the water is up, there are about five spots to cast from without getting into water and mud up to your knees.  There is plenty of poison ivy intermingled between the trees and you have to cross a fairly large field to reach the pond.  Most of the time, I only fish the pond in the spring and the fall because of the crops and my desire to stay out of tick infested areas.

Last spring, while Pat and I were fishing the pond, we caught a number of bass in the 1 and 1/2 pound to 2 and 1/2 pound range.  They were healthy, parasite free, and had beautiful color.  Since I knew that the water level would be above normal due to recent rains, I decided to go to extreme measures.  I slapped on a pair of waders so I could get away from the bank so I could fish more spots and cast easier.  To make a long story short...it worked.  I think I caught more fish than I ever had at the trophy pond and hooked the biggest fish I have ever seen at the trophy pond.  By my estimations, it was well over 20 inches long and probably in the 6 pound range.  I lost the beast when she jumped and tossed my spinnerbait like a rag doll.  But I saw her and since it's a small pond, she isn't going anywhere!

So last Sunday, Pat and I headed back to the trophy pond in search for the bass that my son has helped name "Momo".  My buddy Luke from the Midwest Drift actually made me aware of the term in a post last spring so I adopted to term as a moniker for this behemoth.  Momo is an mythical beast that is believed to live in southern Missouri and is alleged to be very similar in form to Sasquatch a.k.a Bigfoot.  It's sort of an acronym that loosely translates to Missouri monster.  Get it?  If not, email me.  I will make a diagram for you.

Pat on his way to the Trophy Pond.

To make a long story longer, we arrived at the Trophy Pond with a new set of ordinance to deploy.  I bought my float tube with the sole intent to use it at this pond.  I figured that if I was able to position myself in the middle of the pond, then I could cast a fly to these big bass and maybe even land a five plus pounder on a fly rod.  To date, I have caught 2 bass that went 6 pounds with both of them coming during spring prespawn and both being landed on spinning tackle.  I have also caught 2 bass that tipped the scales at 4 pounds on flies, and both of them were more or less "accidentally" caught.  This time, I would be targeting one large bass on a fly rod while happily picking up some smaller bass as well.

Pumping up the float tube.

The last bass I caught for the day.

We started off hiking through a bean field.  Thankfully most of the plants were losing their leaves which made the walk easier.  Then I unpacked my float tube at the water's edge and pumped it up.  Before long I was kicking around the pond and casting a fly to some fishy looking places.  Pat was the first to score a bass using a rat-l-trap.  To be honest, I didn't get the reaction I was hoping for with a fly.  I thought it would be one of those "catch a fish every cast" situations with the water temperature dropping and the bass being on a fall pattern.  After about 10-15 casts, I got my first bite.  It was a very healthy bass in the 2 pound range.  I caught it on a brave and it put up a tremendous fight.  Pat picked up a few more from the bank and I ended up putting 5 or 6 more bass on my float tube apron.  After my arm got sore casting my 8 weight, I switched to a spinning rod and a spinnerbait.  My catch rate went WAY up and I caught 5 or 6 more bass in about half an hour. Out of the 10-12 bass I caught, only 2 of them were under 16 inches with a few bass being in the 18-19 inch range.  It was a beautiful day, the fish were biting, we were in the middle of nowhere, and it was a great day.  However, no Momo sightings.  But this story isn't over.  I still have time this fall and of course next spring to get Momo on a fly.  I haven't had a fish to obsess over in a while.  I now look forward to dreams about Momo.  I will probably tie flies that might get Momo to bite.  I also anticipate having my wive tell me that she is tired of hearing about Momo.  And of course, there will be more Momo posts...for the better or worse.

The ruler on the apron goes to 18 inches so this bass is a solid 17 inches.