Weekend Report

[Mr. Pike1]

Well it was a good weekend as I got out on Saturday and Sunday. I am off on Monday and plan to hopefully get out again.

On Saturday I had to mix in some family time with fishing and with the calm weather I decided to take my kayak to a metro pond that I have always thought looked like it might hold bass. The pond was very weedy but I found one side to be all lily pads and very fishable with weedless plastic or topwater. To my surprise/horror my number one and number two combo (Senko and tube) did not produce. I went to a spinner bait and nothing. Could I have been wrong, was this the reason I was the only guy on this pond and see a canoe or small watercraft only out there on a rare occassion. I was somewhat concerned. I decided on another favorite of mine. My trusty tiny torpedo prop bait. I gave it a toss and yes indeed the pond did hold fish. I got clubbed and the way the fish took off and ripped drag I thought for sure it was a pike. Turned out to be a nice 18-19" bass. I ended up up getting 5 or 6 more nice ones on the topwater, called it a day, and now have a new little 18 acre pond to get my fix in when needed. I could have had 5 or 6 more I still have trouble controlling my reflex of the top water slash and setting the hook.

Sunday I decided on some river fishing for small mouth bass. I joined my friend on his boat so needed to slim down my poles from 15 or down to 6. I went rigged with the senko, tube, white spinner, tiny torpedo, x-rap, and a storm wiggle wart to cover by basis with some addition cranks etc to toss if needed.

It was a gorgous day and we started to work some of our usual spots. My fishing partner is a senko guy as well and we both started tossing our favorite rig. He however decided on a weighted hook and and some cheesy two tone watermellon and white senkow which looked like a small garter snake. I thought no way that weird looking weighted combo was going to be effective. However after his first couple casts produced some nice smallies I stated to second guess my more tradition bland senko.

The bite was odd in that the fish would on many occassions actually chase the senko or tube and many hit it on the real in, on top of the water, or right at the boat. This made us think they were very agressive so we went with a more agressive spinner, topwater, and crank bait presentation. However, these presentations yielded very minimal results so we stuck with the senko and tube tossed in the nice shaddy vegitation and wood. It was an average day for numbers and size with no fish hitting the 20 inch mark. We also again got into some unbelieveably huge rock bass. I keep forgetting to bring out a little Berkley scale to confirm the actual size. I know the state record rock bass is 2lbs. I am 99.9 % certain that on many occassions on this stretch of the river we have tipped the scales on 2lb rockies.

[Ray Esboldt]

Pike,

Thanks for the report.

I really need to flip the little boat over this summer and dunk it in some small water.

[Mr. Pike1]

Ray I highly recommend the kayak or small craft on those calm evenings or mornings to chase bass. One does need to make some minor adjustments. You need to downsize. No big tackle box or 20 rods pre-rigged. Ones need to plan three or four poles and and small gear box with the needed supplys. Other then that the benefits on some of the many small ponds or lakes for that matter is great. Easy quick access with no lines at a launch. No hooking up and unhooking of the boat and trailer etc. Just hit a local body of water near by, drop her in, pound a few bass or species of choice to get your fix in, and keep the wife happy by doing this early in the morning or late afternoon and have the day free for family time.