interesting day...

Started by Farmer Ted, May 17, 2007, 09:57:39 PM

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Farmer Ted

I hit up a different Fort Collins pond today. This one is a little deeper than the ones I was fishing earlier in the week. Water is more stained and it has different weed growth (species) although it will soon be matted with weeds just like the other ponds.

This pond has a partner which completely winterkilled. I was bummed about this because that was one of my favorite ponds to fish. It essentially has no shore access which means me and my tube just kill the bass...and they're big. But they're all dead now so I hit the other pond.

Last year at this time (post spawn) i killed 18-19" bass deadsticking senkos right down into the depths...let them sink the 5-6 feet for 30 seconds, twitch, etc. This year, they weren't having that.

I hit some shoreline hiding spots with the senko but nothing was happening....I could see bluegill and carp all around but no bass...the bluegill follow me in schools in the tube, they must think I'm their leader or I'm going to protect them from the bass...

Finally I was like  ~xyz bass! and I did something I don't usually do...go out into the middle of nowhere and start randomly chucking lures. A few casts in, a nice fish hit my Storm Thunder Stick that was running a foot or two down (in 5-6 feet of water over the emerging weeds) I was all kinds of crossed up and not really expecting a hit...I fought the fish for a few seconds and it jumped and spit the lure out...it looked to be around 16".

I tossed the stick a few more times and then went to a spinnerbait which I would let sink and rip through the weed tops about 2 feet down. A 17" hit it and put up a good fight...interesting. Then...nothing. I did this all over the pond and didn't have any other hits...I was getting ready to go and decided I'd give it another 15 minutes with a good old texas rigged plastic worm. As I was ripping this through the weeds a fish just destroyed it. That was a great fight. The fish was only 17" but it had to weigh 5lbs or over...it was huge.

Apparently the post spawn females are laying in the emerging weeds out in the middle of the pond...I thought it was interesting. I actually noticed this to a degree yesterday on the different ponds I was at as well.

It's pretty hard to fish "structure" in a 2-5 acre pond that's shaped like a dishpan and full of weeds which is why I tend to fish ambush spots instead...the fish just sitting out in the middle of nowhere kind of threw me but there you have it. Water temp was around 68 degrees. Only caught those two fish...no little dinks or anything which I thought was interesting. Maybe it's because I was throwing some pretty big hardware but that usually doesn't stop the little guys.

I find the differing pond chemistries, weed species, water clarities, etc interesting. I put most of the ponds I fish in to 3 categories...

#1 clear water, weed species that grow to the top but don't mat and fish species that include LMB, 'gills, and shad...carp too but they're not as prevalent. sandy to muddy bottom.

#2 green stained water, different weed species that do mat, LMB, carp, crappie, cats, 'gills muddy to mucky bottom

#3 brown stained water, sandy to gravely bottom, no weeds, shad, tigers, lmb, gills, cats, carp

anyway...here's the fish:




This fish was all about GIRTH. it was quite impressive...look at the gut on it!
The Milky Way
              is a character in my play

Catch and release largemouth and smallmouth bass!!!!

PaulRoberts

Ted,

Good report. Thanks.

I'm trying to get a better handle on bass behavior myself. I've been doing as much, or more, observing than fishing.

I've noticed post-spawn the females seem less apt chase, even with the water temp up. This'll change (can't wait to start burnin' 'traps!). I've also noticed females really like to heat soak -catch sun near the surface. On sunny days I see them either very close to the shoreline, or suspended in the upper two feet of water -usually relating to a piece of cover -a submerged branch, a weed clump, or a shoreline (terrestrial) tree. It's panned out in my fishing too. We are in a warming stretch now (80's again this weekend) so I expect to see more of this. Yesterday I did not see this in the pond I fished -but the day was hazy and clouds would roll in often. I'm not seeing them relating to bluegill colonies yet.

What I'm still seeing is what appears to be some spawning behaviors. I'm beginning to wonder if it's not the males that end the spawning by being locked into guard duties. I've been told, by a very good source (Ralph Manns), that females can grow more eggs and spawn again if they have sufficient food. I'm seeing and catching some females with swollen bellies -if it were two or three weeks ago I'd have called them gravid.

Let me know if you see this too. Or anything else of interest.

Paul

HogMaster

Nice Job!  Need to get my new boat up north!!!  Have either of you hit BoDecker,Union,LongHagler or Lonetree?
HOGS ARE MY BUSINESS!! AND BUINESS IS GOOD!

joe4theavs

Great report Ted.   I will keep an eye on this too.

HogMaster, I've been to Union.  its hit or miss there.  Some good wipers in there too!
Time is never wasted, when your wasted all the time!

HogMaster

Joe did you shore fish or boat Union??
HOGS ARE MY BUSINESS!! AND BUINESS IS GOOD!

kryonkid

I went out to lone tree about two weeks ago, I didn't have a boat and the weather was pretty bad, but would love another shot at it soon. Hope you guys have better luck than me


bassineveryday

Thinking about heading up north this weekend for some pike might hit union as well I will let you know how I fair if I go