A bittersweet evening on the ponds

Saturday evening my wife, son and I decided to go out to the ponds and see how things were looking. The bass should have spawned by now but would still be aggressive along the shoreline. the evening was nice (weather-wise) for a change - no tornadic thunderstorms, no cold rain. We went to the upper pond first. This is the bass and gill pond. We were the only ones there and the surface was calm. I decided to see if I could catch some bass on an old reliable lure. (More on that in a bit.)

The fish were right where I expected them to be - from 1' - 5' off the banks. And I could see by the swirls they were chasing gills away from their beds. I went with a topwater the entire time, and I really did forget how many fish I caught. All largemouth. Some smaller males and a bunch of nice , spawned out females. These fish would have gone another pound to pound and a half heavier a couple of weeks ago. Suffice to say I got around 20 largemouth - enough to tear up my thumb unhooking them.





Now - about the lure I used. You can see it in the mouth of the 2 bass I have posted here . The first person who comments below with the correct name of the lure - name of the bait and the lure manufacturer - will win a new Lucky Craft Pointer! 1 comment per person.

We decided to go to the lower pond and see what was happening there. This is the mixed bag spot - cats, bass, gills, crappie, trout, walleye. The way to find out who is hungry here by throwing a 1/16 oz. jig head with a 2" grub - everything eats it. Tonight was a really odd mixture of fish - maybe the strangest I've ever seen. I ended up with 14 walleye, 9 crappie, 2 gills, and 1 small bass. No trout or cats. A truly bizarre mixture, but fun nonetheless. I only fished here for around an hour and a half, until it got dark.





So - why the title - a bittersweet evening?? Well, I recently (last week) accepted a job offer from a different company and am in the whirlwind process of selling our house, buying a new one, moving the family, and starting a new job.

[HEY - that's right - some of you said you wanted to buy my house when I posted pictures from the pond across the street. Good bass fishing! Here's your chance!!!!]

Getting back to the point of the post - the ponds are located on a club property to a hunt club my current employer is a member of. When my last day passes - this coming Friday - I won't be allowed access to the ponds anymore. This may have been my last chance to fish these glorious ponds. Oh well you'll have to bear with me as I embark on learning some new areas and fisheries. I told you this would be a journey rather than a destination. And the journey continues!



The sun setting on the ponds, both literally and figuratively