Tonight I had the pleasure of float tubing a small kettle pond that is literally overun with largemouth bass. The setting is an ideallic 28 acre kettle pond surrounded by tall whispering pines providing much protection from wind.
There doesn't seem to be too much in the way of fish forage for the bass. They seem very keyed in on the bugs and I often find them feeding like trout on whatever hatches maybe occurring whether its midges or mayflies.
Tonight started very windy with a very comfortable dry NW/W wind providing much desired relief from humid tropic like conditions of the last few days. I was fortunate to have some time to get out and fish after work as I have been wanting to get back to this pond with the float tube again. Last visit was brief but I caught many LMB on my synthetic streamer. The last day I was there it was windy too and the fish were feeding on bugs and ants blown onto the waters surface. After that visit I decided to go back but with a more full flexing rod as the average fish is only 12 inches.
The fish range in size from 10-14 inches and there are a ton of them. Other than the occasional pickerel I haven't caught much else there. State records indicate a 7 pound largemouth was once caught in this pond so it is possible there are bigger bass but I have yet to see anything over 15 inches.
The fishing tonight started off slow and steadily got better as the sun sunk in the western sky and the winds abated. The fish came out in droves feeding steadily on the surface with nonstop topwater activity after 8pm.
I fished a streamer until I finally woke up and put on a small bass bug I had with me that was just perfect. That was a total hoot and wish I had thought of it sooner.
The bass were just mental for anything on top. Small bass were flinging themselves in the air for anything flying near the waters surface. Skating my streamer brought agressive attacks.
This is a great pond for a 4wt but I don't have anything that small. Tonight I fished my 7ft Phillipson Master with a 6wt Wulff Triangle Taper ridge line I bought on closeout. This was the first time trying this line on this rod. I haven't fished the Master in a while and it was like falling in love all over again. This was a dynamite combination. The two were well paired and the casting just perfect for the setting. I could have and maybe should have tried a little dry fly fishing!
Anyway here are some pics. Enjoy!
Bass Thumb
