This particular spot isn't easily accessible, nor is it visible from public roads. Because of this it doesn't get a lot of fishing pressure. Because of THAT, the fishing there is pretty decent. There's a healthy population of largemouths, as well as pickerel, perch, and various sunfish. Its probably one of my favorite fishing spots.
My son is 9 months old this week, and currently sleeps what seems like 2 hours a night total. This means very late nights and very early mornings for all of us, but especially for my wife, as she is often the only one who can soothe our little howler monkey at 4 AM. I do my best to get up with him in the early mornings so my wife can get a LITTLE more sleep; however this cuts into my opportunities to go fishing a substantial amount. Imagine my surprise the previous night when my wife told me I should go fishing in the morning! I think I peed a little...
My son started to get noisy around 5:00AM, so we all pretty much got up and started our day. I got to the spot around 5:30; there's a ten minute hike and some mild bushwhacking involved, but once you get out of the woods its nice and clear. The water isn't overly weedy like most spots this time of year, and while I love throwing topwater frogs, I was STOKED to be able to change it up a bit.
I had no time to prep my gear, which was scattered between my car, my wife's car, our shed, and my drawing desk. My spinning reel was running on empty, so all I had was a pair of bait casting reels spooled with 20 pound Fireline Crystal braid. I brought my Cabelas Tourney Trail spinning rod and a heavy saltwater jigging rod, my temporary replacement for my broken Bass Pro casting rod. I brought my big swim baits, my soft plastics tote, some frogs, and a few crank baits.
I started with my standby, the KVD Strike King Swim'n Caffeine Shad. I left my newly purchased bag of green and whites in my car, so I stuck with the unused silver ones I'd bought months ago. I always opted for the green over the silver for fear of finding the latter useless compared to the former. Usually I fish them with little or no weight as I prefer to dead twitch them on the fall and the retrieve. In spite of this my heavy rod was already rigged with a 3/8 oz weight from my last fishing trip, and I didn't feel like retying my setup, so I said fuck it and started casting.
Fishing with the braid was nice because, while the weeds here are minimal, there are plenty of rocks and logs to get hooked on. The braid allowed me to rip through most hangups as well as feel the lightest of taps. Two or three casts in I had a solid hit from a 1.5 pound bass. With no fear of the braid snapping I horsed him, unhooked him, weighed him, and threw him back. I got three more hits on the KVDs, all under two pounds, before I snapped my line off on a cast and decided to try something else for a change.
Tried a few cranks and frogs before I eventually switched to a Rapala DT series in brown and yellow. After dredging up weeds from the bottom on the first two casts I got a hit from another 1.5 pound bass, then another hit me but jumped the hook about halfway in.
My time was running short and I wanted to get a few more fish before I headed home. I tied on another hook and weight but this time I used a black and red senko worm, only to have a fish take it and somehow slip the knot and get away. I replaced the hook and put on another KVD which got me two more hits before my trip was over.
Once again, the KVD comes through, albeit with an assist from Rapala. I feel kind of bad throwing the same stuff over and over again, like I should switch it up more, but my trips are so infrequent and sporadic now that I really want to make the best of my time out and catch as many fish as I possibly can. In spite of this Sharkey and I have talked about doing a trip out and a post about buying weirdo budget shit lures from clearance racks and my local gas station in order to keep things lively. That will probably happen sometime in the near future. Until then or when the fish stop biting them, the KVDs will remain my default.
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