4/23/16


Rule #8:  Always clean your guns each time they're fired.


Today was my first trip of the year to "Fisher Pond."  That's not what it's officially known as, the Family doesn't even own the place anymore, but let's just say that this pond and I go WAY back, even before the Doc and I started to fish together, when it was Dave showing me what he knew about fishing.

CONDITIONS:  Today was almost as cold as yesterday, the difference is that today I was ready for the weather.  I wore my thick Notre Dame hoodie, fingerless gloves (DIY, of course!), and even remembered my polarized sunglasses because I wanted to see if the fish were nesting in the shallows or not.   The temperature was probably close to 50 degrees, but the wind was gusting up into the high 20's, low 30's.  The water temperature was 55 degrees on the eastern shore.  When I first got there, the wind was blowing consistently against the eastern bank, so I started there, but after an hour or so, it began to whirl around indiscriminately.  I began fishing south of the little square "jetty," where there are some big boulders close to the bank and a groundhog hole amidst the smaller stones.   The small cove to the left of that bank is a really good looking area, and I expect to see some nesting sites there in the next few weeks.  I only saw one certainly new nest--on the northern side of Goose Shit point--that green finger that sticks out from the far bank in the picture.  If I had to guess, I would say that the fish are beginning to move shallower with an eye toward picking out areas for spawning.

This is the first fish I caught today, and I was proud because I got him on a "Galati" bait rig!  I finally got the damned thing tied last night and it cast very well.  The only difficulty I had with it is that it was so windy today, I really needed to fish that rig exclusively.  I'm not skilled enough with it to leave it for any length of time.  As it was, I had to just bite the line off, as it had swallowed the hook completely before I could get to it.

It wasn't the biggest bass I've ever caught, but I got him on my UL 7 1/2 foot pole, so he felt like a "lunker."


I caught three more, but all were in shallower water, maybe two to four feet.  I caught the remaining three fish (no pics, 'cause my phone went out, so you'll just have to trust me!) on a small lipless crankbait, all white body, with an orange belly.  All three of those fish were caught on the other rod I brought with me, the 7 foot, bronze BPS Micro-Lite, Light, with 6 pound mono on a Pfleuger, Presidential reel.  They gave me good fights!

The only thing that went wrong, is that I should have brought a cooler or stringer or something to take my catch home.  Two of the fish might not make it, and that just makes me sick--I hate wasting fish!