Scouting Ponds 6/18

The air sure smells fishy today. At least that is what I thought standing in my driveway twidling by thumbs this morning. A quick change out of the work clothes and I was on the water. First stop, the backyard pond. The water was way too dirty so I left after a few casts. Next stop was a pond down the road that Yami and I fished for a few minutes in April. More stained water and dead carp on the shore and carp stirring up the shallows. That is all I needed to see and left after about 15 minutes. The next honeyhole was posted "No Trespassing" so I passed it up and went to one across the street. There were no signs, but it was on the property of a large corporation. I gave it a go for about 20 with a few short strikes, probably pannies. A few employee cars drive by and no one says anything but I leave just to be on the safe side. I am pretty sure I am good to go there and the water looks great, but there are more spots to scout on my list. The next spot is a very large pond and I decide to try a long skinny arm. Way too much water to scout without a full day. My second cast with a Yum Dinger and I get a large boil on my bait. I reel up the slack and there is nothing there. I keep reeling till I find that the fish has already crossed my body and is heading the other way. I set the hook into a heavy fish and instantly start thinking 4 lb plus bass. After a few quick turns, headshakes, and rolls I realize it is a cat. I was not too disapointed because it turned out to probably be in the neighborhood of 5 or 6 lbs with a beutiful golden hue.



I then noticed an area with some riprap so I made my way over and fanned a few casts across it with nothing stirring. There was really no structure and I was thinking if there is a bass in this arm it should be on this spot. I cast back and picked up my retrieve keeping the dinger at the top of water column and better late then never....



I cast around the bland shoreline a bit with no action other then a few startled carp. I finally found a PVC pipe sticking out in the water and had a decent bass on the first cast. She shook off and the next cast netted a plump gill. A few more casts with nothing doing so I deadsticked the bait right in front of the pipe. The line starts peeling and I set the hook on the nicest bass of the day. It ended of being a gentlemen's release at the bank. Not a bad few hours. I am glad I found one spot that has a few fish. Next time out I will fish a different part and hopefully find some more structure and fish.