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Author:
PECo
Date:
Oct 25, 2010
Subject:
Batterson Park Pond 10/25
Message:
My kids left for the bus stop at 6:45 am and I was on the water at Batterson Park Pond by 7:30 am. My plan was to troll for walleye with my Hobie. The air was chilly, but I had bundled up pretty well because TurtleKiss (aka Kira) told me to after the last time I complained about the cold. I wore a heavy coat and my surplus Austrian Army Gore-Tex waterproof pants. It worked well; I never got cold. Thanks, Kira. There was green scum on the water at the launch ramp, but past the scum, the water was clear down to at least five feet. It was foggy with absolutely no wind. The fog got denser throughout the morning, but started to burn off around 11:00 am. By 11:40 am, it was all gone. At one point, probably around 10:00 am, I unknowingly pedaled my Hobie around in a big circle in the middle of the pond a couple of times, because I couldn't see the shore and the water was like glass. The water temperature ranged between 53 and 54 degrees all day. From the boat launch ramp on the south end of the pond, I trolled a shallow diving (i.e., two to four feet) three inch yellow perch Rapala stickbait north along the eastern shore. Almost immediately, within 30 feet of the launch, I landed a 10 inch yellow perch: [img:863ce29852]http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/5458/20101025yellowperchcorr.jpg[/img:863ce29852] I think it's kind of creepy that a yellow perch will hit a yellow perch lure. After I unhooked the cannibalistic perch, I threw in a deeper diving (i.e., six feet) four inch yellow perch Rapala stickbait to go with the shallow diver. I tried to troll at a depth of seven to nine feet. At about 7:45 am, I caught a second 10 inch yellow perch, also on the shallow diver, and at about 8:30 am, I caught a third 10 inch yellow perch, again on the shallow diver. By this time, I had looped the pond and was back at the ramp. I decided to make another loop of the pond at a depth of 12 to 14 feet. This time, I trolled the deeper diving perch Rapala stickbait and an even deeper diving (i.e., four to eight feet) yellow-bellied shad Rapala crankbait. When I was halfway up the east shore, a green jonboat motored by me. I was about to yell that motors aren't allowed on Batterson when I realized that it was a DEP boat. By the time I was turning around at the north shore, the DEP boat had looped around the pond and came up behind me. Yes, I answered a survey and provided my Conservation Identification Number (i.e., fishing license number) for the third time. Thankfully, I knew the DEP guy from the last time I was stopped. It was Kira's buddy from Black Pond. So we chatted about fishing for about 30 minutes. He told me about a few nearby lakes and ponds that I still have to explore! After he left, I tried to finish my loop, but soon discovered that I was turning big circles in the heavy fog out in the middle of the pond. When I finally got my bearings, I headed down the west shore to the southwest corner of the pond. I got absolutely nothing during my second loop of the pond. And my finder didn't mark a single fish all day! I decided to work my way up the west shore to the beach in the northwest corner of the pond. I stayed in about four to six feet of water most of the way up the shore. I threw a swirlytail grub jig and a wacky smoke/red flake Dinger, but got nothing. In the first cove up the shore from the south end, I found a partially eviscerated four inch sunfish twitching in the glassy one and a half foot deep water over the rocks next to the shore. I put my wacky rig hook (i.e., a Gamakatsu size 4 octopus circle hook) through its lower and upper lips, and pulled it along behind me as I slowly worked my way up the shore. Neither it nor the grub jig got any hits. As I got closer to the beach, the bottom rose until the depth was only a couple of feet. I put a five inch green pumpkin/red flake Senko back on my wacky rig and pitched it toward the cattails on the shore. I got only a few nibbles from a panfish. At about 12:30 pm, I texted Fishface (aka Tim) and asked him how he had caught the largemouth bass at Hall's Pond this weekend. He told me that he caught them on a spinnerbait in deeper water, away from the shore. I told Tim that I was only going to fish for another 30 minutes and began pitching the wacky Senko away from the shore. When I reached the white dock off the beach, I got a few nibbles from a panfish, but the Senko fell off on the next cast. So I put the Dinger back on and pitched it out. I got a nibble and thought that I must have hooked the panfish. But as I began reeling it in, it started to pull steadily to the side around my boat and headed for the shore. It was definitely not a panfish. It pulled harder and harder, and when I first caught a glimpse of it about ten feet from the boat, I thought that I had hooked a really good keeper walleye. As I worried that it would snap my braided line with its teeth, I got it next to the boat and realized that it was a largemouth bass. A [b:863ce29852]BIG[/b:863ce29852] largemouth bass. I reached down and lipped it, and it was a whopper: [img:863ce29852]http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9775/2010102522inch5pound2ou.jpg[/img:863ce29852] It was 22 inches long and weighed five pounds, two ounces. It's my new personal best largemouth bass. Whoo hoo! :D As I headed back to the ramp, I trolled the yellow-bellied shad Rapala crankbait and caught a fourth 10 inch yellow perch about 50 feet from the ramp. I was off the water before 1:30 pm. But now I can't wait to get back out on the water. Last weekend, I heard that an Indian Summer was forecast for this week. If anyone wants to hit the water during the day this week, just let me know.
Author:
SeaDog1
Date:
Oct 25, 2010
Message:
Hi Phil! Woo-Hoo!!!!!!! Now you have to change your avatar! :D :D Good going on your new PB :!: SeaDog1
Author:
Daryl
Date:
Oct 25, 2010
Message:
CONGRATS PHIL :lol: That's one nice fish!
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