First MD Bass of 2019 - Non-Kayak

[DanMarino]

I used my new Kuying TopCaster spinning rod for the first time yesterday afternoon. I like the rod a lot and think it is a great value for the money. I hit a shallow shopping center drainage pond. The water was severely stained from the heavy rain storms we had last week.

The rod casts well. I did some drop shotting with a ribbon tailed worm at first and the rod threw that rig out a good distance with little effort. Since the water was stained, I decided to put on something that would be bright colored and have a lot of vibration. Out came the reliable #3 Blue Fox Spinner. The rod was light and sensitive and handled this largemouth bass. The bass was in about 18 inches of water and was hanging out right next to a bale of hay that was near shore. No other fish seen. Plenty of turtles out sunning themselves. The warm weather also had swarms of little black flies swarming around me wherever I went around the pond.







I brought the fly rod and cast it for a while, with no takers. Looking forward to getting out next weekend.

Tom

[Mark]

Tom,

The first bass of many for you this year, I'm sure.

But I also wonder how that bass got into a shopping center drainage pond. Do you think it was stocked?

[DanMarino]

I think Bignose or Howard had an idea about where the fish came from in past posts on this forum. I’ve found sunfish in several shopping center ponds. My guess is the fish get stocked by the County, State, or property developer. This pond does not seem to have a natural stream entering it. There are 2 smaller ponds that capture storm runoff and then dump into this one. The smaller ponds have lots of cattails along the shore and I haven’t fished them. This one is large enough that I’m considering bringing my kayak. I’m very curious to see how deep the pond is. It seems 5 feet or less.