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JUST ANOTHER POND FISHING STORY!

By: Ron Wilson

July 9, 2004…. Well yes and no. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s a pond, lake or river; one thing about black bass fishing is, you have to figure them out!

Professional Black Bass fisherman Steve Sapp checks his fish regularly on the delta. He experiments with baits, how they fall and if the fish will like it. He works on the presentation, slow, fast, hoping it, dead sticking, etc. He tries to set the dinner plate for the black bass.

He fishes for black bass at all times of the year and in all weather conditions. He wants to know where they are hiding, when they want to feed, what tides, and what colored baits. That’s what makes him so tough on the delta. He also attacks a lake or pond the same way and if he is in a tournament look for him to be at or near the top!

Ponds although much smaller then the Delta or any of our many lakes still require an angler to do his homework. You still have to figure out where they are and what they want, although on a smaller scale.

Stratos Boats Black Bass Professional fisherman Norval Pimentel of Modesto, Tim Paes of Turlock and I recently went to a private fishing club for a day of on the water camaraderie.

Our day started at 8:00 a.m. as we departed Modesto for a ride over to Oakdale for a leisurely breakfast and then the hour plus back road drive up to the ponds.

We arrived around 10:00 a.m., rather late for black bass fishing, but this was a day of leisure and we wanted to see if there was a good late afternoon bite at the pond anyway.

We launched Tim’s 20-foot Stratos bass boat and headed out on the pond. As we looked up on the hillside we could see the cows laying in the shade meaning the fishing would be tough. Mother nature works many wonders and if you pay attention to her she will help your fishing. Many an old-time fishermen will say, and I believe it, when the cows are feeding the bass are biting!

We tried all kinds of baits with very little success as we traveled down the pond. I think we had a couple fish in the first two hundred yards when we usually would have had a dozen. The fish were off the bite.

Norval said, “The bite should turn on around noon”, he had observed the moon while irrigating his almonds a couple nights before and said, “We should have at least two good fishing periods by dark.”

Around noon, right on queue, the cows started getting up to feed and the fish started biting. Moon phase, cows feeding, you sure have to pay attention when fishing and that doesn’t include figuring out what they want to eat!

Tim lost our first good fish of the day, one in the 5-pound class that ate a black Senko. A short time later I nailed a good one on a frog colored Senko. The bite was on as we worked our way around the pond catching fish. During the next hour we caught 17 fish with the biggest being close to 7-pounds.

I got a kick out of Tim when he set on a bass and said, “Its not to big”, that was just before the fish almost dropped him to his knees as he ran under the boat pulling drag. No monster but a nice one in the 6-pound class.

These fish are really beautiful and healthy. They are stocky with strong shoulders on them that are designed to pull a fisherman’s string!

After a flurry of catching and releasing fish, the bite died about 2:30 pm. I looked on the hill and the cows were back in the shade bedded down again. We struggled with a fish ever now and then but the action was slow.

Around 4:00 p.m. the cows got up to feed and the bite started getting better. By this time poor Tim was catching it from Norval who was fishing in the back of the boat and finding tough fishing. Tim and I worked the water over pretty well before Norval even had a shot at the fish. I think a boat owner should have to sit in the back of the boat every now and then just to be reminded how it is to fish from the backseat!

We kept giving Tim a hard time, “Steer the boat out this way, quit running over the fish”, etc., etc., etc. Norval and I have been fishing the pond enough to know where the fish will be lying and what breaks they should be holding on, while Tim is still learning the pond.

Suddenly Norval’s St. Croix Musky rod bowed over and the 80-pound braid was stressed to the max. The fish blew through the moss and ate Norval’s Snag Proof frog. It was a huge bass that quickly won the battle when the hooks came free. Norval had to take a step back to catch his balance; otherwise he would have gone swimming. Big man, Big Fish, action-reaction and Murphy’s Law all rolled up into a matter of seconds.

We ran the pond with frogs, Senko’s and worms. The bite would be hot and heavy and then suddenly die. Yep them darn cows went to the shade again!

Around 7:00 p.m. the bite picked up again but the fish seemed to have gotten smaller. The big fish disappeared and the 1 to 2 pound fish came out to play.

There is no night fishing allowed on the ponds, so we decided to call it a day just before the sun set.

The total for the day was 57 black bass which sounds like a lot but when you figure 3 guys fishing for 10 hours that’s less than 2 fish an hour.

The day was exciting as we broke off a few and landed seven fish over 5 pounds, everyone landed a big one and we should have had a lot more!