Solo at the Pits

I seem to have a lot of friends that flake on me. Not really sure what is going on there. After Charles flaked on me last minute last Friday I took the trip to the pits by myself. I arrived with three new kastmasters. Two bright green and chrome and the other Chrome and a darker green. The chrome and dark green was a ½ oz lure and the others were identical 3/8 oz lures. I decided to try out the Chrome and dark green just to see if the fish liked it as well as the bright green. I ended up bringing my ugly stik which has 10 lb line on it, ready in case I got into the big one. 

I lit up a cigar, cast out my lure and as soon as my lure hit the water, I already had a fish on. A couple casts later there was another fish on. As it turns out the fish liked this lure better. I spotted a couple of big boys in the shallows but they weren’t in the mood to eat. Or maybe it was the fact that they could see a big guy tossing out a lure tied with heavy line that controlled their appetite. Either way, they wanted nothing to do with anything. 

 I continued to reel in fish after fish in the short amount of time I had so I put out my cigar for later. I was hoping for a big 7 lber or maybe even a 5 lber but unfortunately it did not happen on this day. At about 7:20 it started getting  dark  but they were still biting so I continued. The last fish of the day was also the biggest and it came in the most impressive fashion. I tossed the KM as far as I could with no bite and when it was within 2 feet of the bank at about 2 feet deep it smashed hard! I was hoping for something bigger but the 2 lber was still fun. 

After that I took the long quiet walk back to the car. I finished my cigar while looking at the stars out in the middle of field land, not a soul in sight. The peaceful night after having slayed some bass was perfect. 

Total Fish: 16 Largemouth Bass

** After these 16 bass, my largemouth bass total for the year is at 88. The number of bass I have caught has officially surpassed the number of panfish I have caught this year.

Ivy's First Bass!

You have the days when you are super focused on slaying fish and others when I am more focused on the fishing experience as a whole. And while there were still plenty of fish to be had, the fishing definitely seems to be slowing down.

We arrived at the Pits at around 430 pm. The fishing crew consisted of me, Russell and his girlfriend Ivy. Charles decided he would join us after work. Our main objective was to get Ivy into some Largemouth bass because :

#1 she had never caught a bass in her life

#2 she had never caught a fish on a lure before. 

Fortunately we had a spot loaded with fish and I knew how to catch them. Now Russell is a lifelong fisherman. That means nobody is going to tell him how to catch fish and he was going to be the one to show Ivy how to catch fish. Even though we mostly wanted Ivy to catch fish, we had to throw a few casts before she had a line in the water, after all, we are fisherman! Russell drew first blood with a small one on a swim bait. 

A bit later I got into a nice bass on…drumroll please… a Kastmaster! That seems to be the lure that works for me there and after losing my green and chrome one last week I searched all over town for a green and chrome KM but couldn’t find one anywhere. Instead I bought a blue and chrome and a solid chrome. The color that worked on my fish was a solid chrome Kastmaster. 

After catching my first fish I grabbed a beer and relaxed a bit and instead gave my chrome kastmaster to Ivy and told her to cast with it. She wasn’t having any success with the swim bait that Russell had given her so I hoped this would change her chances. Sure enough after a few casts she says, “I think I might have a fish.” Russell told her to reel it in and within a few moments she killed two birds with one stone; she caught a largemouth bass and she did it on a lure. A bit later she caught another one and then Russell took that pole and started casting it himself and got into one of the nicer bass of the day. 

A bit later Charles arrived with his friend James and they tried to get into some fish as well. Charles ended up catching about 4 fish and James got skunked. We wrapped up and walked to the cars where we cracked open a couple of beers and enjoyed the cool breeze. In all we had about a 25 fish day, which isn’t bad at all. Also I drank some beers, got Ivy into some fish and caught some fish myself so scratch the “not bad” thing, it was a fantastic day! 

As cold weather creeps closer I’m trying to get out bass fishing as much as possible. So far that has been once a week. I’m hoping this Friday will be another day on the water but I will have to wait on Charles and see if he is down. 

Total Fish: 8 Largemouth bass

Let's Go to Work...

1st blood

It had been a while since I had fished with Russell so we decided to get together and fish for some bass. Only problem is that I already had plans to fish with Charles so I had to combine friends… always dangerous! I have friends I can easily mix and others I can’t. Charles is easy going but Russell is a little more particular with strangers so I worried. 

nice one

I introduced the two of them and we walked to the pits. Russell was a bit quieter so I feared the worst. We had a good amount of minnows and we started the day with them, just to make sure we wouldn’t get skunked. A minnow under a bobber for each of us killed the skunk and got the day started. After that we went to work. 

last one of the day

This pond is different than most. Bigger lures that you use in other places won’t necessarily work here. Crankbaits, spinner baits, topwater poppers are for the most part ignored. Charles has been here a couple more times than I have so he has already figured out that some smaller swimbait minnows work here. I tried a little of the above mentioned and then I finally went for the green and chrome kastmaster and that’s when the bite turned on. 

Charles' largest

Meanwhile Charles got into the biggest fish of the day and this is what caught Russell’s attention. It brought him over to Charles to start asking questions about what he used and telling stories about bass. I was glad they began to get along. 

I cast out my KM pretty deep and I felt a hard tug. I had it on my crappie rod with 6 lb test which is the same one with which I lost “The great white buffaloes” so I was worried. In fact, later on even Charles would tell me he was hoping for me to land this one because he saw me lose the last couple and it was bad! This fish was a fighter but didn’t feel nearly as large as the GWB. Nonetheless I slid down the hill, continued to reel and within a few moments I brought in a nice 3 lber. 

pot belly on this one

3 lber put up a great fight

All of us continued to catch bass and take pictures. One thing that irked me was that at one point I was going for a long cast and my line snapped, launching my lucky green and chrome Kastmaster into the middle of the pond.  We finished up with a rather nice fall day with at least 35+ bass between the three of us.

 Total: 13 Largemouth Bass