Sometimes It Doesn’t Hurt to Pick Up a Spinning Rod

A little over a week ago, I had a day off from work but my boys still had to go to school.  With these circumstances aligning, it produced a window for me to head up to our family farm and do a little fishing.  The forecast called for enough wind that I chose to leave my fly rod at home.  My goal was to cover a lot of water with a spinnerbait and hit a lot of ponds.  Some ponds contained fish that were hungry and active.  Other ponds contained fish that for, whatever reason, contained fish that were more tight-lipped and lethargic.  And one pond in particular, appeared to have lost it's entire population of largemouth bass.  

This was particularly sad to be because of the history that I had with this pond.  On one particular day, my dad and I caught approximately six bass out of the pond that were 4-5 pounds.  To see this pond "die" was sad, but it was a reminder that nothing ever stays the same.  One of the only constants in life is change.  And while this pond was a goner, there are other ponds that are experiencing changes for the better.

One pond in particular has produced some especially special fish this year and was also productive on this outing.  The bass were eager to take down a spinnerbait and were right where I thought they would be most of the time.  They were located along structure, but not so much cover.  I fished around vegetation without many takes but once I started focusing on trees that were near the bank and tree laydowns in the water, I started catching a lot more fish.  

No, chucking the spinnerbait wasn't as fun as casting a fly.  No, the takes and hooksets didn't require much skill or thought.  Yes, I missed those things but I found pleasure in the simplicity of using a spinning rod.  I didn't have to fight the wind.  Bad casts were fixed easily.  And if I'm being honest, I enjoyed not having to think about my techniques and all of the little details that one must focus on when using a fly rod.  I always prefer to have a fly rod in my hand over any other sort of fishing method, but every once in a while, it's nice to get back to basics and enjoy some simplicity especially when fishing conditions call for it.