Thursday, June 6, 2013

New Personal Best Flyrod Largemouth Bass

Just caught a 20.25” Largemouth Bass while flyfishing during my lunch hour today.  On a MICROJIG! 

First I went to one pond that I sometimes enjoy fishing, but there was a boat on the water spraying the shoreline with chemicals to kill algae.  So, I went to a second nearby pond, which I don’t really care for much.  Just goes to show…you never can tell!

The grass had been recently mowed there, the water was super-muddy (which is typical for this pond).  Common Carp were rolling/jumping out in the middle of the pond.  Some were pretty big, and THAT peaked my interest!  I cast to them for awhile, eventually gave up on them and started trying to catch some bluegills closer to shore. I went with a black microjig under an indicator.  Not much happening at first.  Something rolled right in front of me, and I saw a small pod of tiny fry.  I also glimpsed the fish turning away, twice.  It looked pretty nice.  I figured it was a bass, but HOPED it was a big Crappie!  In any cast, it was trying to feast on those TINY FRY!  They were hardly more than little black specs!   I worked the spot over for a minute or two with nothing going on.  I walked a few paces down the shoreline, made a cast or two, then plopped another cast back to where I’d seen the bass.  I was looking out at the rolling carp, checked back at the indictor, and saw it sinking beneath the water.  I set the hook, saw the bass as its headed lift from the impact, and then it took off for deeper water.  Fortunately, it only jumped once.

The fight lasted probably 5 minutes.  I was looking for a good place to land it.  Ideally I wanted a spot where the water shallowed up, so I could drag the bass up on it and let it lay on its side in the water while I reached down to grab it.  But there really wasn’t anywhere that was good.   In order to make the landing, I had to grab my leader and hold onto it (which I hate to do, because if the fish makes another run, it can break your line really easily).  I could tell the fish was wearing down, so I attempted it, and this time it worked!

I measured it and took some pictures, then released it and watched it swim away.


After that, I caught 3 crappies and 3 bluegills.  I also had a trio of crappies on that looked pretty nice, but they all shook free.

So… all that was pretty exciting.  Would have been nice to get one of those big CARP! I have a feeling they were rolling and jumping because they were feeding on those schools of fry too!  

8 comments:

  1. Nice! Records are made to be broken.. Good Luck!

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  2. Great bass! I saw something at Blue Heron today I don't believe I've ever seen before - a male crappie guarding a small nest and shad spawning around it.

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  3. Hey, by the way, what are the best sunfish waters near Ankeny? Especially out west of you.

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  4. Big Creek Lake has a good population of bluegills in the 9" range. Lake Anita is further west and is a Great Lake to fish.

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  5. That reminds me, I've got some jig flies I need to make for a tournament this Sunday. I've got to fill the box with something besides smallmouth stuff.

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  6. That's a hawg! Well done, sir.

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  7. Nice bass! That other pond is a sad tale, at least it would be here. Herbicides kill insects, period, and repeated use has destroyed both warmwater and great holdover trout ponds. But, it led you to that bass!

    Gregg

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