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Mark, John Rentch, and I visited Trap Pond state park this week. We arrived Mon afternoon. All three of us spent Mon night in the park. John and I came home this evening while Mark stayed for another day with several flyfishing friends.
I don't fish freshwater lakes very often and am still trying to figure out how to fish for those species. On Mon afternoon, we put in several hours on the lake. I threw a 3" paddletail on 1/8-oz jighead, a Bignose spinner, and a popper. I had no touches on the paddletail or popper, and just a few fish on the spinner -- I caught no crappie yesterday. I thought about things overnight and decided to try a smaller lure this morning. I switched to a 1/16-oz jighead with smaller hook and a 2" twistertail. In the first 55 mins of fishing this morning, I got my Trap Pond slam (largemouth, pickerel, bluegill, crappie). I had brought only a few small soft plastics. When the tails got bitten of the first three plastics, I tried larger plastics and stopped getting bites. The fish wanted small, slender profile, and preferred dark colors. When I stopped for lunch I was pleased with my catches.
After lunch I headed out again and used the last of my green 2" twistertails. Over the next three hours I caught many fish. I made an afternoon slam too. My total count for the day was very good compared to my usual freshwater success. I had 6 largemouth, 3 pickerel, 5 bluegill, and 30 crappie in six hours of fishing. All were caught on an ultralight rod with small jighead and plastic tails. Downsizing my lure today made all the difference.
John Rentch made some mighty tasty wursts for dinner. The burgers looked great too, but I could not resist having a second wurst. The view is from the deck of my yurt looking out on the lake. We beached our kayaks right behind the yurt for easy water access.
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I don't fish freshwater lakes very often and am still trying to figure out how to fish for those species. On Mon afternoon, we put in several hours on the lake. I threw a 3" paddletail on 1/8-oz jighead, a Bignose spinner, and a popper. I had no touches on the paddletail or popper, and just a few fish on the spinner -- I caught no crappie yesterday. I thought about things overnight and decided to try a smaller lure this morning. I switched to a 1/16-oz jighead with smaller hook and a 2" twistertail. In the first 55 mins of fishing this morning, I got my Trap Pond slam (largemouth, pickerel, bluegill, crappie). I had brought only a few small soft plastics. When the tails got bitten of the first three plastics, I tried larger plastics and stopped getting bites. The fish wanted small, slender profile, and preferred dark colors. When I stopped for lunch I was pleased with my catches.
After lunch I headed out again and used the last of my green 2" twistertails. Over the next three hours I caught many fish. I made an afternoon slam too. My total count for the day was very good compared to my usual freshwater success. I had 6 largemouth, 3 pickerel, 5 bluegill, and 30 crappie in six hours of fishing. All were caught on an ultralight rod with small jighead and plastic tails. Downsizing my lure today made all the difference.
John Rentch made some mighty tasty wursts for dinner. The burgers looked great too, but I could not resist having a second wurst. The view is from the deck of my yurt looking out on the lake. We beached our kayaks right behind the yurt for easy water access.
006.jpg 007.jpg