The fish were biting. I knew it in my bones. Us fishermen somehow know that success is written into the day. I don't know if it is the temperature, or the wind, or the light after daylight, and maybe it is ALL of it. Written in our psyche and genes about when conditions almost guarantee you to get a meal out of the water. Like Friday...
I met my bud on the bridge and the rascal already had the good spot. I had to park at the east end, where the county has so magnanimously provided a parking pad on either side of a water source that had been sold to the public as a future recreational asset. Way back when. Where now the only public access is three bridges. Yeah, typical. The young have forgotten all THAT stuff. And why the old men stand and look across the water. And talk quietly among themselves. I have had some amazing conversations on that bridge.
Looking across the water is soothing though, and the morning was spectacular. There was fog on the lake and the clouds were glowing in the rising sun. I even saw an alligator after the sun got up. Big one too. Who needs fish? But I had forgotten my camera on the bar at home. And wouldn't you know it, the ducks I have been trying to get a pic of were RIGHT THERE.
There is little traffic on Big Point Road and the speed limit is low, so even with fog off the water, there isn't much danger to the fishermen and everyone gives us a wave as they pass. That's just the South for you, and besides, we know a lot of those people passing. So I made a couple of casts and got a couple of nibbles to no effect. Meanwhile my bud is steady pulling bass out of the water at the other end. I edged closer during a wane in the action and he told me, "They're under the bridge."
Aha! That calls for a different fishing technique and so I did the pendulum thing with some hand-held slack, and flipped it underneath the road I was standing on for a while. I got a couple of more nibbles but still nothing. He called me over and showed me a smoother action while casting my line underneath our feet, and then handed me the rod. I thanked him while I was taking up slack on the line and felt it immediately. He'd put it right in the mouth of a hungry bass.
And this wasn't a nibble, either. You KNOW, transmitted through the rod almost like electricity.
We were fishing Carolina-rigged worms in the light current. Mine was medium green with a small amount of sparkle and a more prominent lighter tail. His was a darker green all over and muted sparkles. With Eagle Claw worm hooks. Sharp as a razor with 3/8 oz weight. The old Ugly Stick rod has seen its day but it still transmitted the vibrations of that fish gobbling up that worm and running. Yep, right in its mouth, too.
There's nothing quite like sticking a bass. Reel until you line is tight and then yank. If it is able to yank back, it's a good fish. This one did and doubled the pole while darting toward the bottom and the piling close by, and I countered, pulling the fish higher in the water column. It was a real, high-intensity fight for a short while until I got the fish on top of the water. Where it proceeded to jump and shake across the surface.
Yeah, that'll get your blood pumping!!!
I drug the fish up the nearby shoreline and nabbed it for the inspection. Maybe 3 lbs! A decent fish! I think he caught 10 or so and I added two more to his supply. At least I didn't have to filet fish.
My kind of trip :)
I have been tying flies lately and fishing for mountain trout. I enjoy wading the river's clear cold water and being in the mountains. I have been fishing a new 13.5-foot Tenkara rod. It collapses down to 22 inches, and the line attaches to a small piece of string at the tip called the lillian. It's a fixed length line and no reel on the pole. You cast it much like a fly rod and line. It is a Japanese design rod that has been around for a very long time. Originally made of bamboo with a horsehair line. I also have a 10-foot pocket Tenkara rod that collapses down to 11.34 inches that I carry in my vest as a backup and for very tight casting on smaller streams. I like the simplicity and the fact that they are so easy to walk the trails next to the river when collapsed. Rather than constantly watching the tip of a full-length rod to avoid breaking it on a tree. I also use it for bream, crappie and bass in warm water. The new rod can land a 20" fish.
I have plans to fish tomorrow and Wednesday. I only go once or maybe twice a week. Mostly on those special fish should be biting days. It's a 2.5-to-3-hour drive to get to where I fish. It makes for a long 12-hour day with about half of that driving. Most of that is on back roads and small towns except for Anderson, SC. I do know the way some days just speak to you about the fishing. Right now, the water is in the low 40s.
The fish felt like ice cubes coming out of the water! I'd love to fish in the mountains some. Very different from here but it would have a charm all its own. That place is FULL of gators. Some real monsters in there too. That one I saw was bordering on 10 ft and that's not nearly the biggest I've seen. And to think when I was young I waded around in that place fishing! There weren't as many back then though, but there were more snakes :o