Air Temperature: 62-70
Water Temperature: 68-74
Water Clarity: Stained/ 3-4ft
Skies: Overcast
Wind: 0-5mph
I had a few hours free before work this morning, so I figured, why not take the kayak out? I really wanted to maximize my fishing time, so I chose a small 55 acre pond right down the road from my house. I've never fished this body of water before, and didn't know much about it, other than the fact, that it's pretty much choked out by lily pads. I looked at the forecast last night, and it showed mostly sunny skies. I figured today would be a perfect opportunity to brush up on some flippin'/pitchin' in heavy cover. Well, when I got there, the sky was still gray, so that means the fish should be more active, so I'll save the flippin' for a sunny day.
I had a good feeling about the frog today, so I began throwing deep into the lily pads, and varying my retrieves to best decipher what the fish would be interested in today. I saw some swirls on the outer edges of the thick vegetation, so I tossed the Booyah pad crasher a little beyond the disturbance. I got my first blow up, but no fish to show for it. I moved a little further out and found an area of open water, surrounded by some serious milfoil. My brother Josh told me about the monstrous crappie and bluegill this pond holds, so I decided to throw a small Berkley power grub (approximately 15 years old) on a 1/16 oz jig head. The first cast yields a toad of a bluegill. I took a few more casts with the frog, and got another blowup, followed by a hook up. Just as I was horsing the bass across the top of the weeds, my lure comes flying back at me and zips by my head. So it's going to be one of these days, huh? Fortunately, two casts later, I was able to land my first bass of the day.
I kept at it with the frog, and kept getting short struck, but the fish were very unenthusiastic about it. Most of the time, the fish would just "kiss" the bait as it was going by, but wouldn't actually take it down. The pickerel were certainly interested in it though, and I was able to toy with one for a minute or two. I had him launching out of the water at my frog like a trained dog, but, I didn't want him to actually grab hold of the hollow bodied frog, as it was the only one I had. I wound up missing a couple more fish on a Cobra Bait deadbolt, and had one spit the hook on a jump. After catching a few more crappie, pickerel, and bluegill on power grubs and rooster tails, I figured it was time to relocate in search of some more bass.
There is a small bridge, where the road goes over the pond that I wasn't too sure if I would make it under, but I put my rods down, and slipped under with ease. When I got to the other side, I noticed an oily brown film on top of the water, and the water temperature was a few degrees cooler. There was a mix of milfoil, peppergrass, and lily pads, and no visible transition between the three. However there did appear to be small pathways through the weeds, so I cast my frog into one of them and immediately caught a nice 2.5lb largemouth.
I caught a few more on the frog, nothing special, the rest were probably around a pound. I found today, that the fish responded best to a hop hop hop pause retrieve. Or if the pads were REALLY thick, I could just reel the frog across the top and allow it to get slightly hung up on the pads and when it frees it self, it mimics a frog jumping from pad to pad. Both seemed to work equally well.
Look at the gut on this little fatty!
Lately I have been experimenting with follow up baits, or as some refer to them, "second chance baits". When I would miss a fish on the frog, I would flip a creature bait right where the bass hit. I had a few strikes, and had one wrap me up in the milfoil and come off, and didn't land any fish like this today. But, it is a highly effective way to catch bass. By throwing a follow up bait in immediately, you have a good chance of catching these short strikers. They think they injured your initial bait, and now it's coming down to them for an easy meal. I have found, the sooner you throw it in there, the better chance you have of getting bit. It was my intention today to really work at this, but it didn't work out in my favor.
All together for today, I ended up with 8 bass, 5 bluegill, 3 crappie, and 3 pickerel. I was satisfied with the outcome, seeing as how this was my first time fishing here.
However, as with every fishing trip, there were a few things I wish I did different.
First, I was running a 20lb fluorocarbon leader on my flipping setup. I'm not sure why really, with vegetation that thick, and dingy water, line shy fish should have been the last thing on my mind. I had been fishing a lot of clear water, so out of laziness, I just left the leader on. This really bit me in the butt when that fish wrapped me up in milfoil. I believe, had I been running the 65lb braided mainline, this would not have happened, and I would have had one more fish to show for it.
Second, and this goes back a few days, I wish I grabbed that different color Booyah pad crasher when I was at the store the other day. I almost bought it, but put it back at the last minute. I think if I had changed up the color of the frog, those bass that just "kissed" the bait, may have really whacked it.
Third, I should have pegged my sinker, on my flipping rig. I was having trouble with the sinker riding up the line, and weeds were getting caught between the hook and the weight.
On the bright side, I learned a lot today, and had a blast. Frog fishing is one of my favorite ways to catch fish, as frustrating as it can be, the good far outweighs the bad.
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