Reel Reel Reel Pause Twitch Twitch Pause.....

Stepping out to the garage, I slipped into my old gym shoes, tied on a Husky Jerk Rapala (Perch) and walked 200 yards down the street to the retention pond. A sweatshirt and a pair of jeans was all I needed to keep me warm on Wednesday afternoon. The breeze was light and from the south, giving the water a nice ripple and blowing some of the falling leaves toward the north shore. I started to make a few casts over the submerged weed beds with a reel, reel, reel, pause, twitch, twitch, pause, rhythm. The cadence was taking my jerk bait to optimal depth as I could feel the tops of the weeds ripping from the treble hooks as I retrieved each cast. Experience told me that I was going to catch a good one if I was patient and continued to stay on course.

I only had an hour and a half or so and Bryan would be getting home from school so time wasn't on my side. I continued fishing in and around the weeds, and when I managed to snag a few of them, was surprised to see how green they were. Other observations were made. The pond is quite low (for this time of the year) and concern is starting to set in that we might have a fish kill this winter, if it doesn't rain soon.

Cast after cast, twitch, twitch, pause, reel, reel, reel, pause, but I was losing confidence that my technique was going to pay off. Then, right on the pause I felt something different and I pulled back on the rod and set the hook. Fish on! At first I wasn't aware of the size of the fish, as it swam towards me and headed for the surface. I dropped the rod low to keep the largemouth from breaking water and succeeded to that point. The weight now felt hefty and I thought it would all be over soon. It was, but not the way I envisioned it. The bass must not have been hooked good enough and when I dropped the rod down toward the water it must have jostled loose and came free. The bass was gone.

I fished another fifteen minutes or so before calling it a day, returning home for Bryan. After not fishing for a few weeks, it just fueled the fire to go fishing again today. I will be heading over for another round around 3:00, with hope of another tussle with a good largemouth. This will be the last nice afternoon before the big cold front comes through and shuts things down again for a few days. Twitch, twitch, pause, reel, reel, reel, pause...