We didn't make it to championship Sunday baseball this time...so we woke up, backed up the boat, and headed out to a familiar pond that is just down the road from us.
The morning air was thick with moisture, a heavy blanket of humidity clinging to the skin. Some rain persisted last night and into the early morning hours saturating the earth and infusing the atmosphere with a damp, earthy scent. As dawn approached, the sky remained overcast, with a thick layer of clouds blocking out the sun.
Many times when we go to this particular pond in these types of conditions there is an undeniable magic. The fish, it seemed, were sensing the impending heat and the post-storm bounty. They were on the move, and they were ferocious eaters on this day. It was a morning tailor-made for fishing, a perfect storm of conditions that produced some really nice bass. We caught 2-3 dinks, but all of the other bass were bigger bass on average of 2-3 pounds and very healthy.
I have noticed this year that the pond had a considerably less amount of grass and foliage in the water compared to other years. I was able to drive our little Bass Raider all over this pond without getting the trolling motor jammed up with grass. Normally, during this time of year there are thick grass mats that have formed and they have been so thick in the past that you cannot even punch through them with a 2 oz sinker.
The Strategy That Won:
Zoom Super Flukes in the baby bass color, and even white color were getting it done on this day. The bass were chasing minnows to the surface, but they were also deeper on this day. Lil'Shaka, who is not little anymore and I were experimenting with different weight (gauge) hooks. The bass seemed to hit on the drop, and they wanted a faster drop, hence the heavier, thicker gauge hooks that we were having success with. ShakaJR caught all his bass with the Flukes on this day.
I was also having a lot of success using the Googan Krackin' Craws in the 4 inch Okeechobee Craw color in the Texas Rig scenario as well. I was using a very light sinker (around 1/16 or 1/8 of oz). The idea is to keep everything weedless in a grass pond or lake, and let it create the falling effect. I caught several nice bass with this rig on this day.
Summer Tactics:
I did catch a nice one with a Zoom Trick worm in the Green Pumpkin-Chartreuse color running in Texas-Rig mode. I think worms would have worked just fine on this day as well. I was dragging, and shaking these worms off the bottom and the bass were slurping them. But I decided to more to a craw in the Texas-Rig mode instead. I am glad I did because the bass were really going after the craw. I MISSED a really big bass that caused the drag on my bait caster to rip through! We never got a look at it. Buried itself into the bottom grass and I only pulled gobs of grass back.
Final Notes, Don't Do This:
Been a long while since this happened to me, but from time to time...the dreaded rats nest backlash of the bait caster happened. It was a double whammy where you break off your bait at the tip of the pole on the cast and your reel backlashes itself even more, rendering your rod and reel done for the day.
