About 9 months ago, I wrote a post about fishing with a young man named Jordan. I have had the pleasure of knowing Jordan since he was eleven years old and to his credit, he recently graduated from high school and is starting the next chapter of his life. He is a studious and hard working young man with a passion for bass fishing. After attending his graduation party, we made it a point to fish together before he heads off to college. When I got the opportunity to head up to my hunting/fishing cabin, I saw the chance to take Jordan along and follow through on that fishing trip that we had discussed. I did not want this to be one of those trips that gets talked about but never actually happens.
As I mentioned, Jordan has a passion for fishing and is an incredible fishermen. Regardless of his age, I would bet that he can hold his own against much older folks in terms of knowledge of bass fishing as well as applying different techniques and strategies. Jordan can throw a frog with precision, skip a wacky worm into tight cover, crank a square billed crankbait like a pro, and work a jig like a...well, a jig.
Jordan's versatile techniques were put on display on this particular trip. He caught fish on all the lures mentioned above and caught some really nice fish as well. We fished some farm ponds that were known to have some nice bass and large bluegill and they did not disappoint. We caught the bass on baitcasters and spinning tackle, and the bluegill were landed on a fly rod.
There were a couple of stories that were noteworthy and unique on this particular trip.
1. I caught some HUGE bluegill on nothing more than small jigs under a strike indicator. I honestly can't remember the last time that I caught bluegill that were 9 inches long, and yes, I indeed measured them. They were legit 9 inches, were male, and fought hard. They varied greatly in terms of color and were A LOT of fun to catch. I landed them on a five weight fly rod with the jigs placed about 18 inches under an indicator. I also landed a 1 and 1/2 pound bass using this technique as well. He put up a great fight and put a heck of a bend in a fly rod.
2. As the morning of the final day went on, most of the fish that were being caught were biting on soft plastics around cover and in the shade of the morning sun. Jordan and I were both catching fish in the 2-3 pound range and were having a great time. However, we knew that there were bigger fish in this particular pond. Rumors of a bass exceeding 8 pounds pushed us to keep fishing and changing our techniques until we hit on something that would trigger a bigger bite. This was Jordan's time to shine.
We only had about a half hour left to fish before Jordan needed to be back home to go to work. When he told me that he as putting on a 10 inch worm, I knew he was going to catch something bigger or strike out. He caught something bigger. In one of the last pockets that we were going to fish, Jordan got bit and got bit hard. We saw the fish jump and our eyes looked like dinner plates. Jordan played it perfectly and boated the bass with the tact of someone that is wiser than he age would imply. It was only then that we noticed that this fish was unique aside from sheer length and girth.
Jordan exclaimed, "He's got a frog in his mouth." Now Jordan had been throwing a frog in this pond and landing fish so I took this to mean that this particular fish had one of his frog lures that might have broken off at some point. But what he really meant was this bass had a REAL frog in his throat. To my shock and amazement, there was a 6 inch leg of a bullfrog sticking out of the throat of this leviathan with the rest of the frog already being digested in the distended belly of the beast. Now I have seen bass with crawfish feelers sticking out of their throats as well as bluegill tails showing, and even a baby turtle struggling for air once, but I have never seen a fish with such a large meal in the middle of digestion while still pursuing a 10 INCH WORM! This was a very special fish that was caught by a heck of a young man. I was glad to see Jordan catch the biggest fish of the trip, and one that he will remember for a long time to come. After all, one of the best parts of fishing is making memories with those that you care about. Congratulations Jordan and thanks for fishing with me. Keep up the good work!
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