Some bodies of water are just special. They can be special because of the location, the scenery, or sentimental reasons. Or maybe the lake is special because of the species of fish present, the size of the fish, or the number of fish in the lake. Many times, a body of water can hold a special place in someone's heart for a combination of reasons. For my friend, Eric, he considers a certain lake to be special because of memories and the size of fish present. For that very reason, I have chosen to withhold the name of the lake out of respect for him and his spot. The last thing I want is for his little slice of heaven to be inundated with anglers, and thus, make him regret sharing the lake with me. In other words, I don't want to ruin his spot and I hope you can understand and respect that. I'm not trying to be a jerk to readers of this blog but rather, I'm not trying to be a jerk to Eric.
I arrived at Lake X for the first time last Monday morning. Eric arrived right after me as well as Greg and Anthony. I've known Eric and Greg for a few years but I had never had the chance to fish with them. I had never met Anthony before but he brought a fly rod so I figured that he couldn't be that bad of a dude. Eric and I shared my boat while Greg and Anthony saddled up in Eric's two man boat. We launched from the smallest boat ramp that I have ever launched from and were on the water by 6:30.
I had heard Eric and Greg talk about this lake for a few years. When he talked about it, he always mentioned that the bluegill are routinely caught in the 9 inch range with a small number of them reaching 10 inches. My personal best was probably a hare over 8 inches so this got me pretty excited. On this particular morning, he also informed me that there were some nice sized bass as well as a decent crappie population and even drum. The drum was what surprised me because this lake looked like so many other reservoirs that I have fished but they all lacked the drum component. I thought drum only lived in bigger lakes and some ozark streams. I would learn a lesson later that morning.
It took a little while to find the fish but we eventually catching along windswept banks and near rock that lined some of the shore of the lake. They weren't hiding in the vegetation and didn't seem to be located in large numbers in the main channel. Once we started catching fish, it was a consistent bite and a mixed bag and that. We started off by catching some 8 inch bluegill, which was a lot of fun on a 3 weight. Then we got into an occasional 9 inch bluegill and I finally believed everything that my friend had told me over the years. I guess I just had to see it to believe it. I was born and raised in the Show Me State after all.
About 20 minutes after we started our bluegill catching extravaganza, I hooked into a fish that behaved differently and I knew it was something other than a bluegill. It hugged the bottom of the lake which made me jump to the conclusion that it was a catfish. The headshakes and strong runs made me think largemouth. Those behaviors, combined, confused me and I didn't know what I had on the end of my line. After a fight that lasted about 4 minutes that put a heck of a bend in my 3 weight, the fish started to come to the boat. I didn't see the wide head of a catfish or the green of a bass. Instead, I saw white and gray with an elongated but wide body. I had a drum and I couldn't have been happier.
I have caught a few drum in the past and always enjoyed their fight and honestly, their appearance. If you've ever seen redfish that are caught in The South, that is just a cousin of the drum. If you ever look carefully at a drum, you will see the commonalities that they share. Our midwest drum lack the coloring but from the gills forward, they look similar. Anyway, back to the catch.
Eric did a heck of a job netting the fish and shared in my excitement. I gave a few yells of excitement as well as a "Woo" that Ric Flair would have been proud of. High fives were also exchanged and we both grinned from ear to ear. Eric, acting like a professional fishing guide, snapped some pictures for me and helped me measure my catch. The tail of the tape was 20 inches long and about 3 and 1/2 pounds. The beast was released and we got back to fishing because we still had a lot of morning left.
We continued to catch 8-9 inch bluegill but caught other species as well. I caught a 14 inch crappie as well as a couple of largemouth that were in the 2 pound range. Eric caught some crappie, a bunch of big bluegill, and landed a nice largemouth himself. At about 9:00, the bite started to slow but we still picked up the occasional 8-9 inch bluegill which kept us interested. We caught some fish further off the bank and a few around some structure but nothing was as productive as the pattern that we found earlier in the day.
We headed to the boat ramp around 10 and started to load up the boats. Greg and Anthony had enjoyed a productive morning as well and we all swapped stories around the loaded boats. I attempted to express my appreciation for the lake that they routinely frequent. I wanted to make sure that they knew that I had enjoyed my experience as much as they said that I would. I also tried to express my most sincere gratitude for the generosity that they extended to me by sharing this place with me. I referred to it as "Jurassic Lake" more than once because of the quality of the fish in the fishery. Eric and Greg, if you're reading this, please know that your secret is safe with me...but don't be surprised if you run into a guy in a green jon boat that is accompanied by a bird dog on Lake X sometime. Like The Terminator, I will be back!
No comments:
Post a Comment