Trophy Bassin’

I went paddle fishing this weekend and had some luck.

I’ve been eyeing this pond on the side of a warehouse for some time now. I’ve driven past it numerous times, almost feeling it stare back at me as I drove past. It has a sister pond that I’ve often seen anglers fish, but I’ve never seen anyone on this pond. Sunday it all changed.

The pond itself has nothing that stands out. It’s rectangular in shape, about one football field wide by two long. Now that I have a paddle board, water that was previously inaccessible is now accessible. The entire edge of the pond has a 15 foot or so “lining” of grass, reeds, and growth from the bank to the water. I put the board in about 10 am; push the board past the barrier with the paddle and fish along the “inner” grass line. The water is about 6 foot deep along that edge and the visibility is great, I can see the bottom.

I catch a few here and there, not too bad of sizes either. Three and four pounders instead of the usual one and two pounders. My target is bedding fish so I’m using soft creature baits and throwing on beds or holes that can be used as beds.

Paddling along the edge I could see several submarines down there- that’s the only way I could describe them. Big, shadowy, hovering, and silent. They were so big I thought they were Carp. However, they didn’t act like Carp; they didn’t spook off and they hung around an area. I spent at least 30 minutes on each one I saw but could not get them to bite. Until one did …

I pitched a black/blue rage craw at a clear spot that looked like a bed and a shadowy submarine raced toward the lure and I was almost pulled off my paddleboard it took the bait. I set the hook and the freight train took me for a ride.

Luckily for me, its first instinct was to run towards the middle of the pond; my rod doubled over as it did and I’m loosening the drag as quick as I can to prevent the line from breaking – not the easiest thing to do on a paddleboard juggling the paddle, rod, and fish. The stress on the rod relieved a bit, the fish is now taking drag instead of me. I’ve caught a few big bass in my life and they usually have quick fights, about a minute or so, but not this monster. It was on the rod for a few minutes. It jumped three or four times, nearly giving me a heart attack each time.

Finally, it gets tired of dragging me around and it comes up to the surface. I sit on the board and slide the freightrain of a fish onto the board. The board is 36″ wide, you can see how much of that width it took. Rod still in one hand, knowing no one would believe me without a pic; I reach back in my tackle bag and get the phone out for pic. Luckily, I also had my scale in my tackle bag and was able get a weight for you guys too.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it …