Weather this year is nutts... Yesterday the temp hovered a few degrees above freezing all day, but today was another story as temps soared into the upper 60s by late afternoon. As a result I just had to get out and do some fishing. However, with the wacky weather of late I have no idea what pattern the bass are in these days and decided to stick close to home. I began by spending about two hours fishing a large pond that had been infested by zebra mussels and as a result if incredibly weedy year around and very clear. Upon reaching my destination I found that the lake was getting pounded by the wind and everyone and their mother was out attempting to enjoy the warm weather. I began by fishing the wind battered shoreline hoping that the bass would be feeding. However, the wind was so strong my casting was severely limited and couldn't draw a strike. I then fished an adjacent river which is known to have smallmouth in it but couldn't muster so much as a follow there either. Not wanting to call it a day without catching a fish went home, regrouped, and decided to hit some nearby retaining ponds. I thought that because of the recent heavy rains the fish might be stacked up around the pipes. However, upon arrival I tossed a shallow crayfish crank, swimbait, and even threw some homemade crappy dough on a hook and bobber all to no avail. Out of desperation I went to a bait that worked for me last season in tough conditions. A purple with silver specks 3" grub on a roadrunner 1/8oz jig.
Sure enough on my first cast I pulled this feisty little 14" largemouth from in front of the pipe.
On my next three casts I proceeded to catch two more fish of comparable size.
Then the bite went dead and I decided it was time to hop to the next pond. Upon arriving I noticed that there was very little flow coming through the pipe, but I decided to give it a go anyways. A few casts in and I land a nice 12 incher, then a couple later a small but fat as heck 7 incher. A few later I landed my biggest of the day which was a healthy 15" with a belly. I then proceeded to catch two more right around 12" but in the middle of all this a fish slammed my little grub and when I set the hook and felt the fight I knew instantly this was no bass. As I drew him closer I realized it was a beautiful crappie. Later I missed what felt like another very nice crappie and had a few other nudges. All in all it was a very successful trip and sure helped to rebuild what was my waning confidence. Attached is a photo of the grub I caught everything on. I worked it very slowly with very slight twitches of the rod and, other than the crappie, the bass very gently picked up the lure and did not move. Other than the slightly heavier weight at the end of the line there were no other noticeable signs of a hit. In all I caught 8 largemouth in a little less than 2hrs.
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