Went out this past sunday to my favorite impoundment in Maryland otherwise known as Loch Raven Reservoir. Started out from the fishing center at 6:10 a.m. with the temperature at 34 degrees with a little wind keeping it cold all day. I'm thinking with the rain and temperatue drop from the night before fishing deep and slow will have to be the plan. I'm figuring no fish until at least the sun comes up over the trees and starts warming the water around 9:30 or so and according to last years fishing log that I keep that was exactly what happened last year at this time.
Apparently I have a lot to learn about bass behavior because around 6:45 my buddy, Doug, locks into a 2.5 pound largemouth on a crankbait near the shore. What the heck! I think this must be some kind of insane fish because it was really cold outside and the water wasn't much warmer. My other buddy, Pat, has on a crankbait and he's getting followers and one fish on and lost, but still very active fish. We head into a cove that was slightly protected by the wind and Doug proceeds to throw a spinnerbait on at a tree that is in two feet of water and BAM another largemouth locks onto his spinner and he lands a pounder largemouth.
I'm thinking what is this? Early summer pattern? I of course don't waste anytime and my rods are now loaded with crankbaits and spinnerbaits. We fish later on into the day without much success when we start fishing a little deeper letting the wind blow us down a bank when Doug locks onto a 2.9 pound largemouth with yet another crankbait. This time the fish hit a little deeper but still it was on a crankbait. I had no idea crankbaits would work in post front conditions.
Noon approaches and I still have no fish and I'm pretty much giving up because I have 6 hours of fishing in and not one fish, nibble, or even a follower at this point. I try another crankbait out, cast it way out there and much to my suprise FISH ON. I fight it a little bit and then the fish stops fighting and I figure the way it feels it's just a small fish. Either the fish was extremely tired or I had him hooked weird but he was just waterskiing on top of the water while I'm reeling him in. The fish gets closer to the boat and I realize he's not that small after all. It's in fact a 3.3 lb largemouth fish that we get in the boat, get the pictures, weigh him, and let him go. I'm ecstatic that I caught a fish but a little bummed because there wasn't that much of a fight. But hey, I'm on the board with a nice fish. About a half hour later, same crankbait, waayyyyyy out there I get another fish and this one is heavy and putting up a fight. I must of been fishing in some deep water because he took off and dove deep, put up a nasty fight, but in the end was no match for my rod and reel. I finally pull the fish onto the surface and into the boat and it was the biggest pickerel that I've caught in my life. We snap pictures and because the fish was extremely spent from the long fight I had to get him back into the water before we could put the tape measure onto him. I know at least he was over 24", my buddies think he was closer to "30 but I'll settle for 27". I might have to do a reenactment and try and measure based on the pictures. All I know is he was big and he was thick. I was pumped after not catching a thing all day and now I had two fish within a hour. The day ended without anymore fish caught but I believe we found another spot to fish so it wasn't too bad of day at all.
Score: Good Guys 5, Loch Raven 0 (no lures lost, no trolling motors fried, no overboard fisherman)
I have pictures to post but I can't find the e-mail to send them to. Is it possible that someone could help me out with that so everyone can get a look at these guys.
