Last Minute Lunker
Went out to Farm pond this morning. Got there around 9 am. Sunny and dry, wind was calm (at first). Very slow bite today. Started out fishing a Strike King Bitsy Bug jig with a GY Flappin Hog trailor. I was killen em' with this rig yesterday but today nothin doin.
I thought about trying some topwater baits, but I saw no fish surfacing probably due to the chilly air last night so I switched over to a 5" senko.... Still nothin.... Continued working my way down the eastern side of the pond when I finally connect with a small LMB. He was sitting in the shade under a tree about 5-7 feet away from the shore. I'm thinking "ok finally got somethin' goin here" so I stuck to the same general area for a bit, throwing the black no flake senko.
I wasn't getting any bites but felt confident there were more fish in the area. My plan was to switch to a different color senko and if that didn't work, switch back to the jig. I switch to a watermelon black and red, cast out about 30 feet and BAM! A fish instantly picks it up and this time its a good one, a real good one. I almost had her to the boat when just like that, POOF! She was gone. My heart sank.
Feeling utterly defeated I continued to press on. I knew that due to the slow action of the day, that may have been my only shot at landing a lunker, but I was determined to have another go at boating one of these infamous Farm pond piggies.
I fished all the way to the southern end of the pond with barely even a nibble to show for it. At this point the wind began to pick up big time. I decided to switch to a jig and fish the western side of the pond on my way back up..... No dice.
I got back near the northern end of the pond and since the wind was coming out of the northwest, the water was much calmer there. I switched back to the senko and let the wind take me down a little. I finally hooked up on and landed a chunky 1lb 3 oz Largie. He hit as I was reeling in and gave a nice little fight. Not the fish I was looking for but, hey, the way things were going I was just glad to get a keeper sized fish in the boat.
I fished for some time after that in the same vicinity and didn't get anything else. It was about 2:00 at that point and I had to get home, so I pretty much decided to call it quits. On the way back I noticed this big pile of mud and muck sticking out of the water in the area near the boat launch. This is just about the best structure your gonna find in this pond, so I suspected it may hold a fish or two. I cast my senko in front of it, looked away for a second and then looked back to see my line had darted off to the right. I set the hook and it was ON! The way it was fighting I thought it might be a big pickerel at first, but then it made a spectacular leap out of the water. Definitely NOT a pickerel. She was a big, beautiful LMB! And this time I wasn't going to let her get away! I loosened my drag, in case she tried to make a run for it she jumped clean out of the water two more times and swam under the boat. I finally tired the fish out and got her in boat. I had hooked her perfectly right in the middle of her lower lip. 4.2 on the scale. Thing had a nice big bucket mouth. Perfect release too. I watched her swim away and that was that. Sure am glad I decided to make that last cast!