Well the temperatures are well into the 90s and getting close to 100 on occasions. Fortunately the smoke has cleared up a bit and we have right at 30 miles visibility. We are normally much clearer and can enjoy the more distant vistas.
I've been in the experimentation mode as of late. Mostly using creature baits as those tend to draw more attention than the simple worm. It seems the compact size has something to do with it too. I'm guessing that it more convenient to chow down on for the fish. It does also confirm that the lighter weight the bait is, the more interest is generated.
My intention is to try 6 lb mono on a bait cast reel. Given all the memory and looping of the mono-filament being spooled on the bait caster should not be such an issue. We'll see in short order. I'm hoping that I've amassed enough skill to diligently operate this setup without too much fussing about.
The initial impressions were promising. I drew down the well used 10 lb mono that was currently on the spool to about the 1/3 to 1/2 point. Clipped it and attached the 6 lb mono and proceeded to fill the spool back up. Amazing just how much of the smaller diameter line will fit on that. It almost exhausted my supply. I'll eventually need to stock up on some of that bulk spooled 6 lb test line. Might even get lucky for one of those father's day bargains. Ya never know...
The warmer weather, school summer release, summer time activities, have all contributed to increased activities at the pond. Now with the pending closure of the National Forests, might even see more folks out there. With that fishing as slowed down a bit. Still getting the occasional LMB but the predictability is challenging. The pond is drawing down quite a bit due to lack of rain. So the pond has limited visual structure for the fish to associate to. The only green vegetation is a small concentration of algae and some sparse weeds. The cattails appear to have suffered greatly from that killing frost back in late January of this year. Having been to the other lakes in the area and viewed the effects there, the cattails all had a distinct line where there was a frost kill and the new growth below was working its way up. At our pond the cattails are all brown right to the roots. None of them are showing any signs of any green content. You would think that even after all this time some parts of the plant would have survived. The brown stalks are all that are standing there as the water line continues to recede.
The water has been quite turbid lately. There are areas near the center of the pond that are less dense. I'm guessing that it is all due to the wind churn. We've had our share of wind power this whole season. That dry hot blowing about that continues to evaporate even more moisture from the area. The stained water has made for some really exciting fishing. Many of the bites have been right along the shore. Recently I had two notable incidents. It is so thick that you can't see the bait when it is submerged beyond 1 inch. I had made a parallel cast and was retrieving it slowly. Just as I was making my final movement before lifting the bait out of the water there was a very light tap. I hesitated to see if there would be a follow on. After a two second pause the follow on came only this time with a bit more emphasis. It also followed with a protracted take which gave me the opportunity to respond. It was wild to tension up on less than 2 meters of deployed line. Fortunately the drag was there to save the day. Once I got connected the fish was rather upset and peeled off line in a brutish manor. I'm guessing the extra effort was due to the proximity of the shore line. It took off straight away for the deeper water. The aggressive behavior surprised me.
The other incident occurred yesterday when I had a similar retrieve that was just about to reach the weed ring. I paused for just a touch before starting to lift the bait. The weed rig exploded as the bass apparently was right there in the weeds and simply rolled on the bait. The pole loaded up but the second roll by the fish was enough to throw the hook. So I never really got the hook into it. However that was sure exciting and fun to experience.
So we'll give this lighter bait casting setup a go to see how it runs. I'm looking forward to casting it about to get a feel for it. I'm thinking it might be just the way to go when using mono.
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