After church I headed out to one of my favorite ponds to fish, before the big game (GO PATS!!!). It has loads of fish and, the best part is, I’m one of the only ones who fishes or even knows that there are fish in it. At just under half an acre and with a max depth of 4 feet, it is surprising how many perch it has in it. While they are almost all small, some are microscopic and chock full of worms, it is a blast for C&R!
I started my day right next to a downed tree that I knew produced some bigger fish. After surrounding it with holes, I tied on a 3mm tungsten, tipped with a single spike and went to work. The bite was extremely slow for some reason. Usually, even the 3 inchers come out of nowhere and slam anything that I put down the hole, but this time they would meticulously inspect the bait before taking a nibble. I continued to move until I came across a hole, that was in about 14 inches of water, that started to produce a steadier stream of fish. I was catching a mixture of fish between 3 to 5 inches, when I set the hook into a mondo! This particular fish actually gave some head shakes before making the foot and a half long journey to the surface. It was the grandmother of all of the perch in the pond, with a massive sagging belly and distinct black and yellow markings, she was a sight to behold. I estimated her to be around 11.5 inches long. That’s about as big as they get in this little puddle of a pond and everytime I see there big heads come up the hole, my heart jumps out of my chest with adrenaline.
As the day moved on and the shallow bite died off I moved to a deeper spot in the pond, around 3.5 feet or so. Out here, the bite was practically non-existent. Lacking any action at all, my mind began to wonder towards thoughts of the ensuing football game. That’s when I noticed that something was wrong with my spring bobber. It had moved up ever so slightly and the line had gone slack. I yanked my jig stick upwards, expecting a tiny little perch to come flying out of the water. Instead, my rod doubled over, as if I had just set the hook into a log, and my drag began screaming out. My eyes widened in disbelief! I knew exactly what I had hooked into, a giant smallmouth bass!!!
( Background Info: There are probably a dozen SMB over 10 inches in the pond and at least three of which are TANKS. I have had many encounters with these fish during the summer time and it is real struggle to get them to bite. They are the smartest and most powerful bass I have ever encountered in my life and they are experts at avoiding capture. I have only caught one of the three monsters before and let me tell you, it was chaos! The fish measured 19 inches, but you would’ve thought that it was a world record by the way that it fought. They fight so hard that you have to be careful how long you play them for, in order to avoid exhausting them. )
I felt helpless as the fish peeled out a good 25 yards of line, 3 pound mono to be exact. It took me about 2 minutes to even get her anywhere near the hole. Suddenly, I saw a surge of water come sloshing up out of my 4.5 inch hole and I knew that she was getting really close. It wasn’t until I saw her massive head at the bottom of the hole that it hit me. I wasn’t going to be able to land this fish. It would be tasking just to fit her mouth in the hole, let alone her entire body! I went over the outcomes of this situation in my head as my rod and heart throbbed in sync. I could see the jig tucked neatly into the center of the fish’s upper lip, but with +12 inches of ice, there was no way for me to dislodge it. The fish made one last kick and my rod tip shot up into the air. It had broken the line at the knot. DARN! I had the biggest bass of my life only 12 inches away from me for a good 15 seconds (I would estimate the fish to be ~21 inches long). So close and yet so far. I had been defeated, once again, by the craftiest smallmouth alive. Next time I’m bringing a bigger auger.
Looks like my Dad and I are taking a break from fishing for this weekend due to the excessive snow in the NEK. We were planning on hitting Stiles, but my Mom told me that Waterford got a fresh 20 inches of snow in this last storm, so... Maybe that's not such a good idea.
Good Luck to everyone heading out this weekend!! Tight Lines, PB
