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Author:
TurtleKiss
Date:
Sep 28, 2010
Subject:
Hopeville Pond 9/26/10
Message:
Got to Hopeville at 8 a.m. Way later than "usual" for me, but since it's a state park/campground I decided to follow the rules and arrive when the park opens to the public on weekends. Turned out no one was there to take my 9 bucks and I could have showed up at 3 a.m. wearing an outfit made entirely of sleigh bells if I wanted to. I hate following the rules, only to find out I didn't have to. The park gate/boat launch access road [i:88fb028daa]supposedly[/i:88fb028daa] closes for the season on September 30th. My intention was to catch my first pike. Of course I didn't want to get skunked either so I started off by throwing a black/red 7" T-rigged worm into the bassy looking areas, which were pretty much everywhere. About 2 hours in, I hooked into a lovely little bass. Best fighter of the year by a long shot. When I got it to the boat I wanted to weigh it, but my spring scale is garbage. So I measured it (21.5 inches) and put it on a stringer, then started looking for the 2 gentlemen who arrived at the launch right after me. They were fishing for pike ahead of me, but I found them pretty quickly. 4 lbs. 12 oz. according to their Berkley digital. Didn't beat my PB, but my best for the year by a pound. [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville18.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville1.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] After landing that as my first fish of the day, I no longer wanted to fish for pike. However, I was reppin' the eastern CT Pike Party so I started throwing the spinnerbait anyway. The 2 aforementioned guys caught nothing, but when they headed for the launch around 1 p.m. they shared some pike wisdom and their remaining shiners with me. At one point the spinnerbait/shiners routine got monotonous, so the black worm made another appearance. I caught this, then returned to the pike plan. [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville3.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] Hopeville Pond is a widened section of the Pachaug River, so it starts off wide and gets narrower and shallower until it becomes a little stream, and eventually it meets Pachaug Pond at a waterfall. There's lots of twists and obstacles to navigate around, but it was beautiful...perfect paddling trip for kayaks and canoes. The pigeons freaked out every time I went under a trestle. I would have thought they'd get used to boats passing through. Here's some photos I took on the way to the waterfall. [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville4.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville5.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville6.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville7.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville8.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville9.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville10.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville11.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville12.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville13.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville14.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville15.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville16.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville17.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] OK, the whole point of going all the way to the waterfall was for pike. I figured they'd be there because Pachaug Pond is stocked with them. My theory is that the dumb pike don't look where they're swimming and end up going over the waterfall. Turns out I was right. If I didn't scare them into hiding with my oars, you'd be looking at a photo of a metric assload of pike swimming around in stained water next to a waterfall. I could have just caught them from shore instead of boating for 9 hours. I threw the yellow spinnerbait a few times, dragged it slowly through the weeds and within 2 minutes, I had a pike in my net. 26 inches and pretty cute. I was expecting it to thrash around like a dramatic pickerel, but it didn't. Theoretically, this pike was one of the stupid ones, so maybe he doesn't know what's expected of him. Fought like a glorified trout with a rating of 70% basspower (BP.) [img:88fb028daa]http://www.turtlekiss.com/hopeville2.jpg[/img:88fb028daa] I could have caught endless pike there if I wanted, but I had to head back to the launch before dark. Took me an hour using 5th speed most of the way. Oh, and I got pelted by acorns, which hurts a lot even though it's kind of funny. :P
Author:
PECo
Date:
Sep 28, 2010
Subject:
Nice!
Message:
But, damn, now I have to go all the way back there. I've been on Hopeville Pond twice and have no idea where that waterfall is. I went up to the dam on the north end with Flipper, ahem, The Pike King, but never got to the culvert underneath Bidgood Road on the south end. I assume that you headed south past Bidgood Road to get to the waterfall. I wonder whether The Pike King has ever made it down to "Pike Falls".
Author:
SWfish
Date:
Sep 28, 2010
Message:
Nice report...I like the ones that make me laugh. Great pictures too.
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